Emergency! Road Trip - Transfer Case Leak/Hot

[cleb]

I am on I-5 at a rest area just north or Everette, WA. I have been at freeway speeds for about an hour or so, and pulled in at a rest area about 15 miles ago, and noticed a bit of gear oil over the diff, and tires. I went to the next rest area and looked more closely. It seems the gear oil is coming from the thing that the speedo cable hooks to. I had just changed the fluid in preperation for this trip, and filled it to the bottom of the fill hole. It didn't come out, but it was right at the bottom. I pulled the plug, and now its about half an inch or so below. I believe thats where it should be normally, about .5 inch below the fill plug? Also, the transfer case seemed hot. I almost couldn't hold onto the fill plug to get it back in. Is this normal? Transfer case is not shifting hard, or popping out of gear. Drain plug had a tiny bit of very fine metal shavings in it, but I've always see that on any mag plug I've pulled. No odd noises noted. DO you think it was over-filled and coming out of the speedo adapter? Should it run hot? I am on a laptop with aircard, limited battery power, if ANYONE has an ideas, please call me at (Removed, issue solved) and or re-post. I'll check back here in a little bit, shutting down for now. I need to know if I should call it quits and drive it back home and take the car to school, or keep going. I have about 300 miles to go.

Thanks Much.

Caleb

 

[AaronW]

troubles

Not sure what to tell you. I know for sure that the trip up the pass is going to work it harder than you have so far.

good luck! Aaron

 

[DaveP]

My M35 t case runs about 75 degrees above ambient temp.

 

[cleb]

Thanks. I dont think its more than 75 over ambient so thats good. I had never felt it before, so wasn't sure if it being hot was normal. I noticed a zerc on the speedo adapter, could the grease have gotten flushed out with gear oil from over-filling and now its leaking because the gear oil is thinner, or is the zerc just for sending grease up the speedo cable? I goobered some RTV on there where it was leaking hopefully that helps. Vent is clean and moves freely and there wasn't pressure when I pulled the plug, so I think were good there.

 

[Rolling_Eudaimonia]

Thanks. I dont think its more than 75 over ambient so thats good. I had never felt it before, so wasn't sure if it being hot was normal. I noticed a zerc on the speedo adapter, could the grease have gotten flushed out with gear oil from over-filling and now its leaking because the gear oil is thinner, or is the zerc just for sending grease up the speedo cable? I goobered some RTV on there where it was leaking hopefully that helps. Vent is clean and moves freely and there wasn't pressure when I pulled the plug, so I think were good there.

So did you make it to your destination?

 

[dirtyfingernails]

Probably not much help, but mine leaked from the same location. In fact, it would fill the sleeve on that cable and leak after shut down. I could actually squeeze oil out of the sleeve. As I recall, tightening that coupling stopped the leak. It isn't easy to get to though. My tcase also got fairly warm to the touch. I'd say, tighten that nut and drive on. Check it every hour or so and fill when required. Good luck and let us know how it works out.
Steve

 

[wsucougarx]

Good luck and safe travels to the Palouse!!!! Keep us posted. Take some pics

 

[Rolling_Eudaimonia]

Probably not much help, but mine leaked from the same location. In fact, it would fill the sleeve on that cable and leak after shut down. I could actually squeeze oil out of the sleeve. As I recall, tightening that coupling stopped the leak. It isn't easy to get to though. My tcase also got fairly warm to the touch. I'd say, tighten that nut and drive on. Check it every hour or so and fill when required. Good luck and let us know how it works out.
Steve

There is hot within normal operational standards, and then you have overheating. That's the big question how much oil do you need to have before it starts to overheat and damage the bearings in the transfer case.

 

[SasquatchSanta]

On a recent 650 mile round trip to Minneapolis I noticed 80-90 was spitting out of somewhere on the top of the transfer case. I coudln't tell exactly where it was coming from. It was an 80 degree day the the t-case was too hot to touch for very long. Before leaving I had checked the fluids. When I got back home I checked the fluids and found the t-case to be one knuckle down (about 3.4 inch) which the old imers say is about right. I think it spit out 80-90 until if got one knuckle down then quit. I think the transfer cases normally run hot. Also, a little spilled 80-90 looks like a lot. I'd say monitor it and run it.

 

[cleb]

Update: I confirmed that it was indeed coming out of the speedo adapter, and put some RTV on it, checked the level, and kept driving. I saw all the oil, and felt the hot tcase and kinda thought it was all coming to a flaming end. But it wasn't! I am currently in Vantage, WA, and making OK time.Truck made it over the pass fine at 40 MPH, running at about 175-180 on the flats and 190 on the hills. I'm going to check the fluid level again and continue onwards. Its making a huge mess, and even making little dots on the back of the vinyl and tailgate. At least nothing will rust under there for a while! I got a call from both FMJ and Clinto, saying they had the exact same thing happen and it wasn't major. Thanks so much, this site is an awesome resource!

 

[wsucougarx]

I'm glad to see you're on your way. I was wondering what snoqualmie pass was like for the deuce...40 mph? Wow that's much better than I thought. Any overheating issues?
Hopefully you've made it safely

 

[rosco]

A good gear box, when working, can go over 200 F. A tough guy, can usually only hold his hand on the box up to 150F. Even then, you have to grit you teeth to hold it there. If it has that much oil in it - No Sparklies (metal flakes) in the lube, the in & output drivelines are good (no slop side ways), its not so hot the box is smoking - DRIVE IT! Its just your frame oiler working.

Lee in Alaska

 

[cleb]

Well I made it to my destination. wsucougarx: Truck ran right at 190 over the pass, pulling 40mph the whole way. It went down to 1700 rpm, and just sat down and went. About 5-10 mph faster than the C turbo truck I took over a couple weeks ago. Ok, so right after I made that post from Vantage, I got under the truck to check t-case fluid level, and noticed a puddle of oil below the bellhousing. Looks like the rear main decided to join the party. I've put 600+ miles on this truck this summer, on island, and one trip offisland with scrap, and no sign of anything wrong, just the normal "barely drips". Well, nothing I could do about the rear main then, except hope that it didn't fry the clutch and keep going. Got back on the road, and after climbing out of Vantage, the truck wouldnt run past 48 MPH. It would then suddenly starting picking up for 10-15 seconds, I knew it was getting more fuel, I could hear the turbo spool more, and the truck hit 50-51MPH. Then it would drag back down and only do 48. It was really odd, it just kept going back and forth. I can hear the in tank pump running, but it sounds way faster than it normally does. FMJ said that the shims on his fell out and did the same thing, so it might have been causing an intermittent problem. Because I'm running UMO/Gas, I'm sure the IP has a harder time pulling it (If the In tank pump was gunnysack), and that probably explains the loss of power. Eventually it evened out, and would do 50-52 consistently, but sometimes would start missing over 2200rpms or so. I tried to drain the primary but nothing came out with the truck running. I know crap likes to collect there, so it was that, or In tank not working. I'm going to pull the pump, and replace the primary filter to rule that out as well. I need to replace the O-Ring in the speedo adapter, and do a rear main. Any tips for the rear main? I think people said OD Iron has the newer better updated seal? It has a rebuilt tranny, so I would have hoped it was done with that, but who knows. School starts monday, looks like I'll be busy with school and the truck :/

 

[FMJ]

Cleb, glad you made it home, I'll post some pics of the failure on my in tank pump tomorrow so you can see what I was talking about, easy for me since I pulled the tank off the truck

 

[wsucougarx]

Cleb, whew!!!! I'm so glad you made it man. I was pulling for you while I was at work. I kept checking for your status. Sounds like everything worked out well. What you need to do is park your deuce on campus and give the UI police something to wonder about I'm eyeballing another deuce as we speak. Funny, I haven't even picked up my first one and I am already ready for a second. This OD FEVER might be real........

Mike H
WSU '99

 

[SasquatchSanta]

cleb wrote:

....FMJ said that the shims on his fell out and did the same thing....

I'd like to know more about the shims.

I've recently been fighting in-tank fuel pump problems. So I don't step on this thread I'm making a seperate thread/post to explain some of my frustrations.

Glad you make it home. Getting these old trucks on the other side of the curve (maintenance wise) can be a real challenge. The in-tank pump seems to be an Achilles Heel.

 

[Boatcarpenter]

FMJ, I know exactly what you are talking about. Had a primary fuel filter clog up that I had to replace by the side of the road and when I went to fill it and bleed it my intank pump was running but not pumping. Pulled it and found the screen and some shims at the bottom of the tank and was able to wire the pump back together and get moving again. Did a more proper fix when I got home.
BC

 

[cleb]

I took the in tank pump out today, and it was still together. The motor is making grinding noises, so I think what happened is the magnet in the motor that turns the impeller is coming off the shaft in there, and only pumping sometimes. When I stopped in vantage, I added 15 gallons of UMO/Gas, and I think the ITP was working sometimes, and the fuel was too thick for the lift pump in the IP. Once everything got warm from return fuel, life was better and it evened out more. Anyone have a good takeout in tank pump they want to sell?

 

[FMJ]

Guy's here is what I was talking about....

 

[daithi]

Yikes Caleb I am really sorry. I feel guilty too. I thought driving my truck over would have scared you off from taking yours over, but apparently not. I am really happy you made it safely! I am looking forward to checking it out!

And THANKS AGAIN!