Don't get your mind set on the rear main seal leaking just yet. Your pics are all from the bottom but I think your leak is higher up that what you are thinking. Remember the first and most important rule of plumbing. S### rolls down hill. Somebody with an auto transmission help me out here. Is there a weep hole somewhere around the bottom of the bell housing that would allow a rear main leak to drain without building pressure in there. If it does, a rear main leak would drip straight down and wouldn't put oil all over everything else.

Also, as far as flush and fill goes, the easiest way to go about this in your driveway is to pull the drain plug on the transmission, capture all of the fluid that comes out in a clean container. What you are doing here is measuring the volume that came out and examining it for discoloration or contamination. Next, compare that volume of oil to the correct refill capacity for the specific transmission. If you have too much in your drain pan then start thinking about the possible causes for the overfill. Next refill it slowly through the dipstick tube with a little bitty funnel. Don't try and put the whole refill capacity in there because you won't ever get all of the oil out through the drain plug and you will overfill it. Start with about half, let it set for a minute so all of it gets down the tube and then check it with the stick. Go a little at a time until you get it where you want it. Let it set for a while again and record your final measurement on the stick. Also note the color of the new fluid. After that, run it for a few days and see if you are starting to see the fluid rise on the stick. If it does, suspect coolant as the source of extra volume. I don't know the refill capacity for this transmission so maybe somebody else can post that information.

How is your coolant level? Does it look discolored or smell odd? I would really like to see a picture of a few ounces of your transmission fluid in a clear container as well as your coolant. If you are getting coolant into your transmission you MUST get that addressed or your transmission's days are numbered.

 

Coolant smells normal to me at the radiator cap

Pics of trans fluid, 1 in bottle, other on white board

 

And what my reading was at while vehicle was warmed up red mark is reading, blue is were it should be

 

Have not had an automatic in a long, long time but one thing I do remember with them was that allot of manuals would state the total refill capacity. The thing to remember is if you are just draining, changing the filter, you want to be careful because quite a bit of fluid is held in the torque converter and it would not drain out with a normal oil change. So it was easy to overfill them. Some torque converters would be equipped with a drain plug which would allow one to drain the oil from them.


Check your cam plugs and valve cover gaskets closely.


Cheers
Andy

 

Andy is right. Check those cam plugs. I didn't mention that the other day. They are on the back of the heads just under the valve covers. You will not see them leak without a mirror. I changed my valve cover gaskets a while back and only later realized that my leak was not at the valve cover but at the plug. It will drip oil down right were you are seeing it. That has to be the number one place for oil to leak onto the exhaust. If I remember right, you said you smelled oil burning in one of your earlier posts.

 

I checked the valve covers last night. Rear bolt on each side was pretty loose. I will look arohnd for the cam pug as well

 

Even if the valve cover bolts are tight they can still leak. Oil comes up over the top edge of the gasket where it rides in the valve cover groove. Kind of hard to explain.


Cheers
Andy

 

if you had blown the entire engine/trans clean at the car wash you would have been able to tell if it was leaking from there.

judging by all the fluid under the bell housing, you are probably burning some of that off on the exhaust pipe/cat.

 

Rear main seal, oil pan, drain bolt.. considering the amount.. Im going with rear main seal.

 

That is your Rear Main Seal leaking.

 

I know this is an old thread but did you ever figure this leak out? The bottom of my truck looks exactly like these photos but its only started after dropping in a rebuilt engine with all new seals so i highly doubt its a rear main seal. Im assuming it’s the oil pan for me but trying to see if there’s anything else before I drop the front diff to repair it.