95 Legacy L AWD Transmission Leak

[Skyuest]

Bought my first Subaru a couple weeks ago and love it, but today things have taken a turn.

 

It's a 1995 Subaru Legacy L Wagon with the 4EAT transmission and AWD. Im 90 percent sure it's the EJ22 2.2L engine as well.

 

I drove it to work like normal, and I noticed a good amount of smoke behind me going down the highway at 70. Then it started doing it at any speed, or when I was stopped. When I got to work I checked the fluids and noticed the ATF was low. As well as white smoke appearing to come from under the engine in the front. (Video link below) I went into work and came back out to find nearly a whole puddle of red ATF on the ground. Checked the ATF dip stick and there was nearly nothing on it. Luckily I keep a spare bottle in the back so I threw in a quart and drove it home, with it still smoking. (I use Castrol Import transmax ATF). Now at home im sure it's completely out of ATF.

 

I check my fluids often and almost always look at the driveway when I leave to see if my cars are leaking anything. So this happened pretty quickly!

 

Video #1

Video #2

 

In the first video you can see small drops of ATF on the ground under where the smoke is coming from, and after I got home that is where the larger puddle formed after sitting for awhile. The second shows which section is showing the most fluid drops. Like I mentioned before, there was nothing in my driveway when I left in the morning for work.

 

In my best un-educated opinion, it's a seal leaking ATF onto the exhaust and thus we have white smoke and red ATF on the ground.

 

What do you all think? Which seal could it be, and how hard would it be to fix?

 

I do all my own fluid changes, filter changes, flushes, etc. but have yet to take an engine apart to fix seals or do anything more major than brakes or alternators.

 

And if you do not think I can tackle it myself based on which seal it is/ whatever the issue may be, how much do you think it would cost to fix at an honest mechanic?

 

I appreciate any advice and can answer questions about it. Thanks everyone!

[doublechaz]

I would not drive it if it is leaking down that fast. If the level gets low then the clutches may start to slip and then burn up, and then it is new trans time.

 

Extremely hard to tell what is the source from way over here, even with the video.

 

You would really have to get under it to have any chance.

 

I would drive it up on ramps, let it cool off, and get under there, clean everything up, and then run it for a minute to see where the leak appears without road wind blowing it all over everywhere.

 

I think, from the video, that it did not look like it was coming from the front where the input shaft is. That is good. It seemed to be coming from the side. For it to start that quick, I'm going to risk a guess and say that the fitting where the fluid leaves the trans under slight pressure to go to the radiator for cooling and then returns to the trans is where the leak is. This should not be a big deal to get squared away unless the hard line is damaged.

 

The other likely place would be at the extreme rear end of the trans for the output shaft, but I don't think you would have fluid anywhere near that far forward if that was your problem.

 

The least likely place would be one of the sensors on the side of the trans, but they wouldn't have pressure behind them so they should only weep unless you won the road debris lottery and something bounced up there and smashed it.

Edited June 7, 2021 by doublechaz

[Skyuest]

 

I would drive it up on ramps, let it cool off, and get under there, clean everything up, and then run it for a minute to see where the leak appears without road wind blowing it all over everywhere.

 

.

 

Done, cleaned it up and with a little help of my more mechanically inclined neighbor, we traced it to what I think could be the over flow for the ATF? I have included a picture, and a video of it dripping out/ under the vehicle.

 

Its located on the passenger side near the firewall, on top of the transmission. There are two tubes and the one closer to the front is spewing ATF onto the side of the transmission and the exhaust system right below.

 

As soon as you turn the engine over it comes out pretty fast and continues to do so. My neighbor said it best: "god dang that's comin out like a volcano!" There's even some pooling up under the tubes.

 

In the video at 2:25-2:35 you can actually see it dripping out of this tube.

Picture Of the Leaking tube

 

Video of the leaking tube

Thanks so much for the help so far, @doublechaz - I hope this is helps steer us in the right direction, any further advice would be awesome.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Skyuest
Added the comment about the pool of ATF below the tubing

[doublechaz]

The only two reasons I can think of why ATF would come out of the breather like that is if 1) it is way over full, or 2) there is a failure in the heat exchanger allowing coolant to push into the ATF passage.

 

I think if there was coolant mixing in you would not have clean red looking ATF. Let's start with busting out the owner's manual and making sure you are checking the level correctly. If it is too full you will have to drain some out. Running it too full will also froth it up so it will not really be possible to get an accurate reading until it has sat long enough for all the air to come out. Watch out on the fluid. There is a dipstick for the front differential that I think takes gear oil on the 4EAT, and another one for the ATF for the trans. Be sure you are draining and filling the correct one with the correct stuff.

[Skyuest]

Double checked my owner's manual to make sure I've been checking/ filling in the right spot. Since I owned the car I've always seen red ATF fluid from this same dip stick spot whenever checked. (driver side of the transmission near the firewall) It also mentioned how to check it, which are the steps I believe I performed after I got to work when there was nothing on the stick, even when hot.

 

The weird part is since I've owned it nobody has added, or drained any ATF fluid. It's not leaked a drop either up until now, which leads me to believe it wasn't ever too full, because it would have caused me issues before now right? I've driven it nearly 4000 miles and no problems, no leaks, only work done was an oil change at a shop while I was out of town without my tools. Then it suddenly starts to dump it out of the Oil Pump housing breather hose with no indication it was going to happen that morning.

 

Once I topped up less than 1/4 of a quart to the steering pump reservoir about a week ago in which I used the same ATF. Don't know if that has any bearing on this.

 

Also, I spoke with my diesel mechanic friend on the phone, he mentioned that possibly the torque converter had failed somehow and was clogging something- causing this. Or maybe a vacuum line fell off and a pressure hose is going crazy. His disclaimer was that he works on ford cummins engines, and he was not sure. Thought I'd offer that thought.

 

I'll be off work early today and should have some good time to work on it this afternoon, going to drain the fluid on my friend's advice and check to see what it looks like coming from the bottom of the drain pan. If it's all clean I'll put the specified amount back in according to the owners manual. (2.6-3.2 quarts)

[doublechaz]

Sounds like you got the check stuff right and the level right. Had to double check as through the net diags are really hard to do. Yes, if you overfill you'll know pretty much the next drive cycle, so can't really be that. The steering part is not connected even though it uses the same juice.

 

I like what you've come to for next steps. We'll keep working on it until it's solved.