T20 leak

[fomocoguy]

Ok fellas, I need some opinions. My 2000 Max had about 10 hours total on it when I bought it in the spring. I took it out for about two hours a few months ago and had no problems. The last month we took it camping and it got about 8 hours of hard use. Today I pulled everything out to clean and lube her and I noticed probably a quarter of a quart of what smells like gear oil in the tub (should be the factory fluid). It seems to be leaking from the center of the trans. So, any thoughts? Is this a common place to leak? If the plunger o-rings were dried up would it leak from there? Thanks for any advice!

[Mike]

It could be leaking from the O-rings on the plungers but if it is you should be able to see fluid around the bottom of at least one of the orings. After you have it cleaned, fill it back up with fluid and drive it around for a while to see where it is coming from. If it isnt leaking around the plungers then you could just be leaking between the two cases. To me that isnt as likely unless some of the bolts holding the cases together worked loose? There is just a small paper gasket between the two cases and if you have never had the transmission open there probably isnt anything wrong with that.

The final thing that comes to mind is the fluid level itself. If you or someone else overfilled the T20, when it gets hot it can puke out some of the overfill through the vent in the top fill plug. You may have never noticed it before since you havent driven it for hours on end like you did this time. So perhaps start by pulling the bottom plug and make sure fluid isnt above that. If it is, drain the fluid down to the bottom plug on level ground and try it again.

[fomocoguy]

Thanks Mike! The beginning fluid level was something I was wondering about too. I haven't been able to get a good look at it (since it seems you need to be double jointed and stand on your head to look at everything down there) but I will, and I'll check the fluid level before I take anything apart.

On another note, what I found was most definetly gear oil. It had a reddish tint and may have been something thinner than 80w90, but it was not ATF. Do you know if any of these left the factory with gear oil in them? I highly doubt it has ever been changed; when I bought it everything was seemingly untouched and it had never even had the chains lubed or had any dirt in the tub.

[Mike]

If you take out the bottom plug and no fluid comes out then you arent overfilled. Its hard enough to get to with a wrench to take the bottom plug out and I dont think anyone could see in there without a mirror.

No T20s were filled with gear oil but it sounds like you actually did have ATF (it is a reddish color) in yours so I wouldnt worry about that.

[fomocoguy]

Ok, good news! (I think...) So today I went and bought an extendable mirror tool and was able to locate the plugs. Sure enough, it looked as if fluid had been coming out the vent on the top plug. So, I pulled the bottom plug and about a quart of fluid poured out all into the tub. I placed a rag under it to catch any drippings, but so much for that! It was enough to run all the way up to the front by the steer sticks. I do believe it is ATF; it's just old and smelly.

SO, my new question is how harmful is it for it to be ran that way? My guess is that it left the factory overfilled, because the plug was very tight and had no marks on it to indicate it had been wrenched on before. The scary part is that even though it's got about 15 hours on it the plug had a lot of gunk stuck to the magnet. No big chunks, just gooey gunk....

[Mike]

It doesn't harm anything as long as the vent allows excess pressure and fluid to come out like it did in your case. Just change the fluid while you are in there and then go have fun.