So,. heading to the trail today when I stopped at a stopsign the RPM would drop and then stall, this happened a few times. I figured bad gas or something so I added some de-icer etc....

Then, on the trail going up a fairly long high-angle slab I couldn't get front traction (lack of articulation combined with three amigos on and truetrac front) and tried a few times... then smoke started coming out from underneath and people assumed I was overheating the transmission... no overheat lamp on though, then someone yelled fire... I jumped out and put out a fire on the Y-pipe (thankfully I added an extinguisher a few weeks ago).

On the way home I had some shifting lag and just some odd feeling to the shifting...

My guess is that last month when I did the 60K tune-up the shop did something wrong and there's a slow leak in the transmission somewhere (things are currently mud-encrusted so I can't check until I wash things in the morning) and the added stress and high angle caused more to leak at once and land on the exhaust causing the fire and the rest of the hard driving during the day just made things worse. Does this make sense?

I'm also thinking that some heat shielding above that area (between transmission, transfer case, and exhaust) wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Does anyone have any other possibilities in mind?

 

might have nicked a transmission cooler line. I know mine go from steel to rubber and back again. Check all of the lines and make sure they aren't leaking. If you got a flush done st the 60K, they might not have tightened the lines back up properly.

 

Ah, thanks I hadn't thought of those. I really need to get the solenoid out/bypassed on the transfer case so I can get into low range too, that would have helped. So the gasket, the drain, the fill, and the send and return lines for the cooler. Anythink else likely?

 

not unless you ran over a midget with a handle of Everclear....

 

Hrm, I should have searched a bit harder could have found his pot of gold, that sure would have come in handy when my Amex bill arrives.

 

Oh, on-site the idea they put forward was that it could be from the breather tube, but I'm thinking that's a long-shot. Though, is that one of the breathers that needs extending for moderate wading?

 

So, the shop that changed the transmission filter did not correctly place the pan and pinched the rubber seal by overtorquing things. This caused a small leak at the rear, which under stress leaks more, and with the high-angle was just in the right place to spray onto the Y-pipe. Nothing else was leaking. I added a bottle of Lucas transmission fix and two litres of ATF to bring things back into spec. I'll get a new gasket tomorrow (and possibly pan, there's a ding in the rim too which looks like someone dropped it but I can't prove who) and helicoil the one hole they stripped and should be back in business. Then I just need to get the High/Low solenoid out so I get low-range to save the tranny a bit.

 

OK, got the pan off and it is in fact the gasket. The left rear is split right down the middle of the u-channel for about 6 inches.

Is there any harm in putting a SMALL amount of gasket sealant between the pan rim and the gasket? I realize the automatic transmission has many small valves etc and you really don't want to get anything clogging them so I mean a tiny amount.

 

or a little RTV

 

Sounds like they did a number on your pan [sm=smiley24.gif]. I've tried "repairing" a broken gasket on my oil pan temporarily with RTV. It didn't work, and I used a fair amount of sealant too.