Odd transmission fluid leak

ManglerYJ

ManglerYJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Lexington, NC
Might be power steering fluid - hard to tell on the driveway. Anywho - when I have to warm up my 1999 Dodge Caravan on mornings such as this (which is EXTREMELY rare, but I had to take the kids to school this morning instead of my wife who normally does) I have noticed a small puddle under where I'd guess is the transmission cooler fitting. I can't seem to see where it is actually leaking from.

Problem is that it only appears when I warm it up on cold mornings where it's sitting idling. It's not even enough of a loss to be a concern at oil changes. I never noticed any leaks when I'd let the van sit and let the A/C cool the van off in the summer time.

Ordinarily, I'd just roll on and say, "Just don't warm up your vehicle and don't worry about it", but we are getting ready to take a road trip to Michigan and I'll HAVE to warm it up there.

Any idea why it's only leaking when it's cold? Suggestions? (other than get rid of the mini-van and get a real manly vehicle - I got kids. Lots of them and unless someone starts handing out Suburbans, the mini van will just have to suffice.)
 
transman731 said:
they are terrible about the hose clamps at the radiator and the trans. the cooler line get hard and brittle and start to shrink, then the hose clamps are no longer tight. the reason it's doing it cold is that the fluid is much thicker than when it's hot.
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So should I try to track down and tighten them, or is this one of those, "If it's not broken don't fix it, because if you fix it, you'll break it worse" kinda things??? With it being bitter frickin cold outside and me not having a garage to work in, I REALLY don't want to make things worse and render the vehicle un-drivable.

Not sure if it's related, but occasionally the transmission has some rough shifts. No rhyme or reason to it. Not excessively dogging the transmission, sometimes when warm, sometimes when cold, you name it. It never seems to "slip" per se, just a rough shift. No error codes and at every oil change since I've had it, they have showed me a sample of my trans fluid and it looks really clean. The previous owner was meticulous about maintenance, so I'm not all that shocked. The van had 58,000 miles on it when I bought it and it's a 99. It now has 83,000 miles on it. I've seen online that the trans used in the caravan (3.3 liter) is electronically controlled and the speed sensor is what acts up in them, but it usually has other symptoms as well, so I don't want to just "throw" parts at it.
 
Just like Lee said, those cooler lines tend to leak in the manner you are describing.
Replacing them is honestly really, really easy. Grab a couple quarts of ATF+4 while you're at it.
The solenoid pack tends to leak on those too BTW. It is underneath the tranny cooler line fittings on the transmission.
 
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