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CyrusL · 07-20-2017, 04:28 PM

We have a 1993 Fleetwood Jamboree 22' on a Ford E-350 Chassis. Last weekend, the weirdest thing happened on a trip to a friend's family vacation house in the Sonoma hills. We drive 2 hours to dinner. Then drive 1/2 hour (most of which was uphill) very slowly to the vacation home. When we got to the end of the driveway, we noticed that we were leaking fluid....a LOT of fluid. This scared the heck out of me as I initially thought it was oil. I put a bowl underneath the rig right under where the leak was and checked fluids. Everything looked fine. I was able to determine that it was transmission fluid.

By morning there was almost a pint of fluid in the bucket (plus whatever we lost on the ground). The streak of fluid was only about 20 feet long so it wasn't leaking for long. However, it was leaking a lot when it did leak. The transmission fluid dipstick showed that we were at exactly the top of the "Full" marker for a cold engine (again at morning when the engine was indeed cold).

I started up the engine and drove it 2 hours home (stopping regularly to check the fluid level and make sure there were no leaks). It hasn't leaked since.

So, I'm thinking maybe the transmission had too much fluid in it? Does that make sense? Would a transmission empty out if there was too much fluid and it got really hot from going uphill? I did have it looked at about 8 months ago to make sure everything was good. It was a shop that specialized in transmissions. They said it was in good shape, but the fluid was old and durty so they replaced it.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

the trainguy · 07-20-2017, 04:43 PM

We run a fleet of Ford F250/350 utility trucks and found that the ones having the E4OD transmission would vent their tranny fluid out the top vent when severely overheated.
Usually they could be topped off and continue in service for awhile but some had burnt clutch packs and had to be rebuilt.

Bob

the trainguy · 07-20-2017, 04:44 PM

Most of the time this happened during snow plowing season.
Bob

brucenem · 07-20-2017, 04:48 PM

I suspect the trans was overfilled and the hard drive overheated the fluid and forced it out the vent. Have the fluid changed again using a Ford approved fluid, not a generic, as it is probably burnt. Is this an overdrive transmission (E40D) ?

CyrusL · 07-20-2017, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brucenem

I suspect the trans was overfilled and the hard drive overheated the fluid and forced it out the vent. Have the fluid changed again using a Ford approved fluid, not a generic, as it is probably burnt. Is this an overdrive transmission (E40D) ?

Yes, it is an overdrive transmission.

Nick-B · 07-20-2017, 05:10 PM

Known Ford problem as already noted. Sometimes they puke out the vent but often they will spit fluid out the front seal. Change the fluid and put an auxiliary trans cooler on it.
These trannys will also puke fluid if ran hard in reverse, like backing up a long steep hill.

RCCFleetwood · 07-21-2017, 08:08 AM

Interesting reading this thread... Our 1997 Fleetwood Pace Arrow on Ford chassis has done this twice, including yesterday, arriving at campground and having to back up several times to get into the best position for our jacks. First (and only other time) it happened was after driving home from our first trip, and backing up hard in our driveway. I checked fluid last time and it was OK. Have not checked yet this time.

RCCFleetwood · 07-21-2017, 08:19 AM

I just checked my transmission fluid level and it's fine parked and level. We left quite a trail on the ground here yesterday though.

CyrusL · 07-21-2017, 09:15 AM

Thanks for the info everybody. I think my course of action at this point will be to have an oil cooler installed. I was already thinking about this, but now for sure. I would like to tow with this at some point so even without this experience it would have been a good idea.

Cyrus