Re: 1951 (24 Series) Ultramatic Leak

Posted by DrewLA On 2012/9/12 2:44:29

I have a 25th series Patrician 400 that has been sitting for the past 8 weeks or so (I've been making some repairs under the hood), and having never leaked before, all of a sudden I started noticing transmission fluid on the ground. First a little bit, and then, as the weeks wore on, more and more. I got under the car this evening to pull the dipstick and found fluid dripping out of the dipstick hole the moment I loosened it -- indeed, the fluid was up to the top of the fill hole and had been leaking out (slowly) from the dipstick. It turns out that when the ultramatics sit for several weeks, particularly if the have some miles on them (mine has 40k on it), the torque converter starts to drain back into the pan over time. If you keep the transmission topped up to the full level on the dipstick, having the converter drain back into the pan will result in overflowing. The solution is to either run the car regularly (even just starting the car and running it in park will cause the pump to re-fill the converter), or to let the fluid leak out and then start the engine, check the level, and refill to the correct level once you're ready to start driving your car again.