Jared,
First, if you haven't already, wipe all off the excess oil on the tranny
and anywhere else, check to make sure the oil filter and plug are tight
(hand tighten the filter) and then check under the car in a day or two.
This will tell you if it is just left-over residue from an oil change. If
more fluid appears in the same locations you have a leak someplace.
>From your post, I couldn't tell if you had a manual or automatic. If you
have a manual and you have oil on the forward part of the transmission (the
clutch housing or bell housing as some of us old-timers might call it). My
guess is that you have a oil leak (or coolant leak) in the engine. I say
this because there is no fluid in the clutch housing, of course the front
seal on the transmission could be leaking which is possible but based on
the age of your truck I would guess rear seal first.
I just had the same type of oil residual on my truck about a month ago. As
a result of two trips to the dealer, they replaced the head gasket, the oil
pan gasket twice before they got it right and replaced the rear main seal.
If you have an automatic, after you wipe the oil off, I would suggest along
with checking for leaks you monitor both the engine and tranny fluid levels
to determine where you might be losing fluid.
If it is in fact a rear seal, some on the list have suggested replacing the
seal no matter what while others have suggested, depending on how much oil
you have to add between changes, to live with the leak. I offer no opinion
on this, I'm sure others will.
-- Miles Harris III Simi Valley, CA 01 Silver Dakota CC Sport, 2.5L, 5speed 01 Gold Saturn SC1 (3 door coupe) 1.9L SOC, 4speed auto http://www.spikesautos.homestead.com/Dak1.html Profile: http://www.twistedbits.net/WWWProfile/dakota/PfCA4R1zO470wJared Kaplan <blizzard@gis.net> wrote in article <4.3.1.0.20010409170624.00ae0e30@pop.gis.net>... > Hey Everyone! > > Well it was the first 60+ (in fact 70+) day of the season with a temp of 72 > this pm. This time yesterday it was 38 and this time tomorrow we're back to > upper 40s so I figured I'd take this opportunity to do a little under the
> truck inspection. When I looked, everything looked fine with the exception > of some sort of a thin, oily, oderless (or so it seems) fluid along two > "seams" of the tranny. I'm not sure of all the names of the different part > of the Tranny so i'll try to explain as best I can. From where the tranny
> meets where you drain the oil, it's wide and then it gets narrow as it gets > closer to the drive shaft. At the widest part (the far end near the engine) > there is a metal plate closing off the tranny from top to bottom (adjacent > to where the oil is drained from). Between this plate and the rest of the
> trany it seems damp. In fact one of the bolts has a little liquid around > it. Then along a very fine "seam" in the center on the wide part of the > tranny there is a little bit more fluid (this is again along the center of > the wide part with the "seam" going from the engine to driveshaft side (but > not all the way down). It's not a crack. My question is, could there be > just a little fluid leaking from these places, or is it more likely just a > little oil from the last oil change mixed with water from the ground. I > haven't noticed any wet spots under the truck after parking it overnight. > > Also, the tranny felt quite warm (hot after touching it for about 5 > seconds) after the truck was off for a good hour. Is this normal? > > Thanks for any help, > Jared > 1994 Dakota Sport V6, 3.9L K&N, Mobil 1. > >
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