My 96 Dakota was recently hung up in the snow by my son. He says he was rocking it back and forth going from drive to reverse trying to get out. Needless to say it was still stuck and pouring tranny fluid onto the ground. It looks to be coming from the tranny pan gasket along with a hissing sound. Will I be lucky enough to just change the gasket or looking at a bigger problem? The truck is a 3.9 extended cab with auto trans. I know this can blow seals but I`ve not seen a gasket blow.

 

Obviously, you do NOT want to operate the vehicle (ie, do not even run the engine), with the transmission low on fluid. Bad, expensive things could happen.

When you get it out of a snow-filled area, take a good look at it for obvious damage.
Pull the transmission pan, clean it up very good. Inspect the pan, inside and outside, VERY well. Cracks, holes, the pan flange (where the gasket goes between the pan and the transmission) to make sure it's flat/not damaged.
Than, install a new pan gasket, reinstall the pan, and add fluid. Let it sit for a little while (so as, long enough that if there is a leak point in the pan/gasket area, you would be able to notice it).
After you've determined it's leak free, start up the truck and put the transmission in neutral. Check your fluid level immediatly afterwards to make sure it's not dry. Than, you can drive it around to warm it up, and check it again. (Proper way to check is: engine running, truck on level ground, transmission in neutral, transmission fluid warm [best to check after running thru all the gears] make sure the parking brake is applied and/or the wheels are chocked)

 

I have it out where I can see some of the leak. When I put it in gear it pumps a steady stream of fluid. It will pump out a quart in just a few minutes. I put my hand above the pan to see if there was any fluid coming from above and it appears there`s not. The hissing sound is at the front left of the pan and I see fluid coming from it but not sure how much. I`ll do that gasket and filter first and hopefully that will cure it. My thought is MAYBE the vent got plugged and it came throuth there instead of a seal. I just wasn`t sure if that was a possibility. There doesn`t appear to be any physical damage to the pan or flange.

 

These transmissions only pump fluid when in gear (anything but PARK, it will pump in neutral)
So, my thinking is, you might have a leaking line (which are located on the drivers side of the transmission), or from a pressure test point/something else that threads into the transmission.

 

The truck was blocked w/brake set then put in gear. Thats the only time it poured out.

 

I replaced the pan gasket and filter today. That was part of the problem. It looks like midway up on the drivers side a line goes into the side of the tranny. It is pumping fluid out at that point. It looks like the line is flanged and the fitting is leaking alot of fluid. I need to get a light into it to seewelland that won`t happen till tomorrow. Any help out there?

 

Your line is leaking (it's either the line going to, or from, the cooler)

FYI, the threads into the transmission are standard NPT (pipe thread). I don't remember the size (i.e. 1/4", 3/8"), but it's stadard NPT (non-flare)

You can either replace the whole line, or you can just get a fitting and short piece of AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID hose (don't use just any hose, there is a reason auto parts stores have different hoses for different fluids), and splice in a repair, using hose clamps on each side of the ATF hose.
Preferably, you would replace the entire line (as well as the other line), to make a permanent repair.