Help please , auto box pressure build up .w460 280 ge
Hi there , new to the forum and am looking for some help .
Recently bought a 280 ge Lwb . 1984. I noticed a smell of transmission fluid in the truck , and tracked it down to the speedo cable leaking out fluid into the drivers foot well !! .i am assuming that the auto box breather is blocked and so it is just building up pressure and finding an easy out via the speedo .?
Do you guys think this is the case ? And if so where is the breather ? Or is it something worse ....
Any help much appreciated .
Thank you
The speedo is driven off the transfer-case, not the auto gearbox, and the two are separated by a transmission shaft.
Looks like you'll need to replace the seal in the speedo worm drive, attached to the transfer case and then check and change the fluid and filters in your auto box as part of a service. This is a good thing to do, if not sure of the last time this was done. If using regular transmission fluid, every 2-3 years will keep the gearbox in good condition.
The oil you are smelling and seeing will probably be transfer-case oil. After repairing the speedo drive, it would be good practise to drain and change this oil too, as well as that in the front and rear diffs.
I don't think that the transfer box has a breather. The auto gearbox does, I believe.
Is your gearbox oil red when measured at the dipstick? And also red as leaking from the speedo cable?
If you go under the car you should be able to see the connection for the speedo cable at the side of the transfer box.
Check that you have the correct oil in the transfer box, which should be an 80W gear oil or 75--85W.
Ok will check , I think the oil was green in colour , it smelled just like diff oil ,( pretty nasty especially when it is all over your feet while driving !)!.
The gear oils are generally golden in colour and should be quite viscous. If your leaking oil is really green, I'd check the transfer case ASAP, as maybe it's been filled with some hydraulic oil that is too thin and hence leaking out. (Some hydraulic oils like Pentosin are green and smelly. Auto-transmission oil is generally dyed red.)
You may also wish to determine that the leak is not coolant (green/blue) from some broken heater hose or similar under the dash.
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Arnie thank you , this is really helpful. I left the dipstick half out on the auto fluid level and it stopped it from coming out of the speedo cable , why did this help , are the transfer box and auto box on the same breather ?
Thanks again