I seen a small amount of what I thought was oil under my truck earlier today and climbed under to check it out. Its dripping off the bell housing and I looked up further to see if I could follow it up. Then I noticed my inspection plate looks slightly damaged and it seems to be leaking from there. I know next to nothing about transmissions but I'd guess tranny fluid would be in there. It didn't have a red tinge to it though. I checked my engine oil out and its a little low but still in the ok I'm due to change that anyway. So then I drove my truck 3 miles to warm up the tranny fluid and parked it with the truck running shifted up to park then all the way to 1 back to park and then to neutral with the parking break on like suggested and I am low on fluid. Going to pick up a bottle after my mom gets home and top it off for now.

Can someone confirm I'm leaking trans fluid and how do I go about replacing the inspection plate? im guessing i got to pull the trans.

I have a 93 3.9l auto 2wd

 

the factory service manuals have a section showing how to remove the cover. and make a thin plate to go up under the Torque converter to catch oil from the front trans seal. it is very important to know which oil is leaking. but the first thing i would check is the engine oil sender unit. its cheap and easy to replace.

 

Thanks Moe. Ill be sure to check out the oil sender unit in the morning.

 

If it isnt the sending unit, its the engine rear crank seal. Yoiu didnt say it it was a 5spd or an auto, if an auto maybe the pump/ torque converter seal or manual, input shaft seal. Any of those require removing the transmission and if the trans works fine then it is not worth it just keep topping it off as needed.

 

I did say It's an auto. I didn't have a chance to check the sending unit today. My neighbor did say it was tranny fluid though and suggested it was the torque converter seal. I never had signs of shifting issues even with it being a little low. I topped it off today and drove for about 2 hours total running errands. Still no shifting issues. Starting a new job saturday so no time to be down a dd. I know if I were to pull it to do the seal and put it back id have issues so I think ill leave it be for now. Im planing on saving for a 318 swap so I guess it will be an issue to live with until then. the truck just rolled over 86k original miles today. Only issues ive had was dry rotted sensors from it baking in the sun for years. I also had to do the fuel pump at 74,666 miles. Runs like a top though.