C4 Problem

[mgweiss]

Took the bronco out 4 wheeling on Sat. and about 5 mi into a trail I noticed ATF leaking out of the bellhousing. I only had one extra quart which bearly got me back to the highway before the fluid got too low for the tranny to work. To cut a long story, I got more fluid, refilled the tranny and drove it home (50mi) with no problems. The next day I drove it down to the car wash to clean it up since I figured I'd have to pull the tranny to replace a seal. Anyway, the oil leak had stopped, so now I'm not sure if I need to pull the tranny or not? Is it possible that the transmission got too hot causing it to start leaking? The fluid did smell burnt, so I'm definately going to change the fluid and replace the filter. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

The C4 has a large B&M cooler, about 20k miles on it and about an 1800 stall B&M converter.

 

[74bronc]

Are you sure it wasn't being puked out of the vent on top of the tranny and running down the bellhousing? This seems like a classic example of overheating and puking. I would keep it topped off, drive it around town for a few hundred miles, checking the fluid really often. See if you can get it to do it again. If not, I would bet that it was just venting.

There are other guys that know the C4 better than I do, so I am sure they will chime in.

 

[Waverous]

Once I overfilled the tranny and had it do the same thing - looked like I was on fire driving down the highway

 

[mgweiss]

Thanks for the input. Hopefully it was just hot and puking out fluid, even though it did spit out over 2 quarts, it does seem to have stopped once I refilled it and it cooled off. I think I'll flush out the aux cooler just to make sure its not pluged, then maybe put on one of those deep aluminum pans. The extra capacity may help it stay cool when going slow off road.

 

[Kenny]

I know this doesn't explain the ATF leaking out of the bellhousing, but check the oil level in your transfer case. When the double lip seal in my T-case adapter housing blew, tranny fluid leaked into the T-case and overfilled it. The volume was enough to make my C4 inoperable. When I checked the T-case oil level, maybe two quarts of red fluid spewed at me.

 

[Guest]

Very common. Had the same thing happen to me on the going up snoqualamie pass. Tranny fluid expands alot upon heating. Some have even said not to run it upto the full line to give it room. It is also important to use ONLY type F in the c4 to avoid premature failure. I tried B&M trick shift once and it cause me many problems. My tranny guy is WA loves the nitrous cars and also says to stay with type F and away from ALL synthetics.

:-X

Mick
1977
c4 (nicely built)
351w