Trans Dipstick oring

[willie3204]

Has anyone changed the dipstick o'ring? Looking for a quick guide on how to do it.
While parked I get 1 to 2 drops of trans fluid in a full day directly under the bell housing rubber plug. Fluid is still high and I'm thinking the dipstick oring may be the culprit. The inside of the bell housing seems clean and I think the leak is on the outside of the case based on this picture. oring seems most likely problem. I tightened up the torque converter plug for good measure already. Really hoping its not the front seal...

 

[xtriggerman]

Mine was leaking like yours but worse and it was in fact the dip stick tube O- ring. I had a trans shop do the J mod and they replaced it. I had them drop the trans to put in new seals front and rear. The rear was leaking but front was just precautionary. I would think you should be able to take the tube out with out too many expletives.

 

[willie3204]

Ran a dye test. The inside of the bell housing lit up slightly at the rear of the torque converter. I think this means I have to rule the dipstick oring out? The trans fluid was changed right before this started so I'm thinking either the wrong type of fluid or... ?
Any advice is appreciated. Again it's 1 or 2 drops a day.

 

[xtriggerman]

Those couple drops may be a lot more with the trans pressurized running down the road. Checking your dip stick level accurately in the same spot with it in running temp is a better way to see how much your actually loosing. A simple way to check the dip stick tube O-ring is get a can of easy start spray and spray the hell out of the wet area around where the tube goes into the trans, Immediately blow that area off with high pressure air to dry it. wrap a clean white paper towel around the tube where it goes into the trans body and tape it snug in place. Run the car for the day and pull off the towel. If it didn't absorb the bright red color of the new oil leaking from that rinky dink little o-ring, your good there. How many miles are on the Trans?

 

[willie3204]

170k and was rebuilt 30k miles ago. Didn't leak before the last fluid change a week ago. I'll keep checking the level like you suggested

 

[xtriggerman]

Another thing thats worth thinking about is when they did the oil change, did they drain the torque converter via the TC drain plug along with the standard dropping of the pan? Ford was good enough to give us a TC drain plug that will get at least some 4 quarts of ATF out of a trans drain than just a pan drop. Thats what the rubber plug is all about. If the tech did the drain plug and didn't put thread sealant or Teflon tape ( I do both on NTP's) on it when putting it back in, you would have the potential of having just what you describe. When I bought my 97, it had a really bad trans leak from the trans cooler lines going into the radiator. Some knuckle head had the Radiator out and when reinstalling it, they didn't put sealant on the trans cooler NPT fittings that go into the Rad. Thats a NPT plug in your trans TC. Just another possibility......

 

[willie3204]

Tightening the torque converter plug seems to have stopped the leak without the teflon tape
When I get a chance I'm going to replace the plug with a brass taped one.
Thanks for your advice xtriggerman!