Transfer case leaking

99 4.0L auto w/ Selec-Trac

A couple of months ago my t-case sprung a small leak. Still had a warranty, and I had the seal replaced, no problem.

Yesterday, I moved the Jeep to wash it, and noticed drops on the ground (some fresh, some old) from the general area of where the t-case is. Didn't think much of it, contributed it to my paranoia of it still being somewhat new to me, and to the leak it had in Jan.

Well when I looked at it this morning, I noticed a couple more fresh drops. Got some on my finger, and it has no smell at all, so I don't know what it is.

My question is, how often do these things leak? It's only an average of a couple of drops a night, mainly after it's been driven. Checked at school this afternoon and nothing was there, and it doesn't do it at work either. The color is a dark dark grey, with once again, no smell. I know I need to get my tranny fluid changed, but I don't have the $$$ for a complete flush at the time.

It's also hard to tell if it's coming from the top or the bottom of the t-case, if it's leaking from there at all. The differentials and the t-case both have that "wet" look at the bottom, but it's getting about that time (from what i've heard from various other Jeep owners, and noticed from my observations) for them to start looking like that.

I would really like to know if any other have experienced this and what they did to solve it. I did break down and buy the FSM last week, and got it in the mail today, so I can look up any references in there that some might make.

Sorry if this is a repeat or if i'm leaving anything out. If you need any more info, let me know and i'll do my best.

So far we have not heard 'crawled under it with a flash light and looked it over' thats will give us a better idea when you can describe it better...for all we know it's drips from strawberry slush you might have run over at the local wawa... :laugh3:

What you could do is go pick up a bottle of Mobil-1 ATF, the correct hex socket and check the level in the TC. To fill take the atf bottle and an empty water bottle plus about 2 or 3ft of clear hose. Drill a hole in the water bottle cap about the size of the clear hose, tight fit, force the hose into the water bottle all the way to near the bottom. Then drill a smaller hole next to the big one in the cap, 1/16" maybe. Fill the water bottle about half way with ATF. Remove the plug from the transfer case and stick the hose in, put your finger over the small hole in the cap and squeeze the bottle, this will force atf up the hose and into the transfer case. When you run out of 'squeeze' release the hole and let the bottle suck in air, repeat as necessary till the fluid dribbles out the filler hole. Do this a couple of times to get an idea of how much, if any, it's leaking..put the plug back in :laugh3:

Have you blotted the leak onto a paper towel to determine the color? Oil picks up road grime pretty quickly so it's hard to determine sometimes with a finger test. ATF (tranny and t-case) is red but brown or blackish is typically motor oil.

Didn't you post up recently about vibes? Excessive or prolonged vibes from the driveshaft can overwhelm the seals and destroy them in no time.

Didn't think about the vibes destroying it, and yes, that was me....lol.

Now that there's not 60mph winds anymore, I can crawl under there. Will do this afternoon when I get out of school.

Been running errands, waiting for her to cool off some before i start messin with it. Noticed today that i now have a rear end vibration, almost like a deep deep grinding on acceleration. Really seems to do it after making a turn (say turning onto the other street).

Really hoping everything is not going to be breaking at once on this thing. ANy idears?

Well, it's definately the t-case. And it's leaking EXACTLY like it was a couple of months ago. Which is leading me to believe that it was a pretty crappy seal that was put in there by carmax. I took a pic of the condition of my t-case and will have it up shortly.

Here's the pic. If you look right above the red arrow I drew in, you'll see a drop of fluid in the same color I described (maybe a bit darker) about to fall off the t-case. Any input/suggestions are welcome. I see a tranny/t-case flush in my future now.....

http://img190.exs.cx/img190/4830/leakingtcase14zk.jpg

You really need to check the level of the fluid of your t-case asap. Remove the top plug on level ground and see if any fluid runs out. If not, you may need to add a little.

My old 88 XJ used to have a drop hanging from it every once in a while but it was such a slow leak (didn't affect the level of fluid) it don't bother me. This is why it's important to check all of your fluids periodically, like at every oil change.

I just bought a 00 XJ and the tcase seems a little "wet" too but I haven't noticed any drops.

So where is it leaking from on the pic the entire end of the TC is covered with fliud. Is your upper vent hose connected?

It was hard to tell yesterday. Looks like it's leakin from the top and running it's way down the right side. Couldn't really get a close enough look to determine exactly where. Sunday I am planning on putting it up on a lift so I can have a better look at things. Not really gonna need 4X4 for a while, so i'm not as concerned as I would be if this were motor oil leaking, but still, NOTHING should leak out of a vehicle (atleast by my rules).

Is this a general thing on all 4X4 cherokees? Or mainly a selec-trac thing?

Thanks for the responses and keep them coming. Guess this answers my question of if Carmax put the old fluid back in or not when they had it apart for the seal. If it's low on fluid, that would be carmax's doing.

Well i found the source of the leak. It's comming from where it bolts on to the tranny. I can sorta see the seal hanging down lower in some sections more than others.

Didn't get a chance to check for fluid level, cause i gotta leave for work in a few minutes and I can't get all nasty before work. I've pretty much decided to do a fluid flush in the near future, especially since it's leaking. While i'm at it, I might as well go ahead and do a tranny flush, for peace of mind.

Here's my next, and probably stupid question. Is this the only/main seal for the t-case? If it is, this will be another freebie fix as I test out carmax's warranty on their warranty. Only thing is, how long before it starts leaking again....

Keep in mind this is not a dramatic leak, just a drop or two on AVERAGE, every night. Last night it didn't do anything for example.

Also, how come in the FSM the bolts in the picture for the 242 are pictured in different areas than what they actually are?

Thanks to all who have helped, and thanks to all in advance who will continue to help. Still learning about these things, so all adivce helps.


Sorry for the multiple posts, only have a short time to go back and edit one, so i'm forced to start a new one.

So, I messed with it this weekend, and it's such a slow leak, i'm not life or death concerned with it at the moment. I believe the official term for the seal is the "output seal". I will definately have fixed, probably do it myself, with in the next few weeks.

Here's my next question. I think i'm going to go ahead and do a fluid change. To do it with out pulling everything apart, do I just take off the bottom plug and let it drain out (into the nearest storm drain, of course...LOL), then when thats done, put the plug back on and somehow get it to go into the top plug?

Before draining anything make sure you can get BOTH plugs loose, nothing like draining and then stripping the filler plug and not being able to remove it to refill.
For the manual tranny and tc you can take a big water bottle, 3ft of clear hose and a drill with a drill bit a tad smaller than the hose and a 1/8 or 1/16" drill bit, drill two holes in the cap of the water bottle, on big, one small put the cap on the bottle, force the hose thru till it is near the bottom. Remove the cap, fill with fluid [atf for the TC or gear oil for the manual tranny], put finger over small hole, squeeze bottle. uncover small hole, let air in so bottle expands, cover hole and resqueeze. Or you can go buy a screw on hand pump but in my case I use mobil-1 and the mouth of the mobil-1 bottles is too big for the screw on hand pumps. Just a field expedient I use with the water bottle, the hand pumps get my fingers tired too...

Ok cool, but all I have to do to drain it is just get the plug off and let it all come out right?

Sorry if i'm being stupid here, never done this kinda shtuff before.

I'm a little confused. My NP231 on my 2000 XJ has a slow leak as well but it looks like it's coming from the seal on the rear retainer...or this black solenoid looking thing with wires coming out of it attached to the rear retainer. I can't really tell.

Everyone mentions the rear output seal going out. Is that in the extension housing?

A buddy who is a factory mechanic on XJ's says they have a lot of problems with the seal between the tranny and tcase where the two shafts join. With an auto and a tcase both using ATF, it can get pretty hard to figure out exactly where everything is comming from. I take a can of cheap carb cleaner and wash it all down until it dries white. Then check often before the oil has a chance to blow all over everything.

FYI, manual trannies have a weep hole drilled at the bottom left of the flange on the rear of the trans, while the auto's don't. The hole is designed to let you know that seal has gone bad (since it's internal and you can't see it). Problem is the hole is so tiny and tucked away it's hard to see it, and the gear oil leaks out and all over the trans mount and Xmember.
HTH,
Jeff

I'm pretty positive it's the output seal atleast, and probably the input also. If I get up close to it I can see the "slimey shiney" look from the seal all the way down to the bottom of the tcase. just gotta find the time to get it fixed. doesn't seem to be getting to much worse....

Mine is leaking from that black solenoid thingy coming out of the rear retainer, inches away from the fill plug. Does anyone know what that black thing is? Is it the speedo? It has one bolt holding what looks like a wire harness on and then another bolt with what looks like a clip is screwed right into the housing of the rear retainer. The actual leak is coming from where it's attached to the housing.

It seems to only leak when the jeep is moving. I see a drip or two after a drive but overnight in the garage it doesn't leak at all. Hell, even after 2000 miles plenty of ATF still runs out of the fill hole when I check it.

rumblebelly said:

Mine is leaking from that black solenoid thingy coming out of the rear retainer, inches away from the fill plug. Does anyone know what that black thing is? Is it the speedo? It has one bolt holding what looks like a wire harness on and then another bolt with what looks like a clip is screwed right into the housing of the rear retainer. The actual leak is coming from where it's attached to the housing.

It seems to only leak when the jeep is moving. I see a drip or two after a drive but overnight in the garage it doesn't leak at all. Hell, even after 2000 miles plenty of ATF still runs out of the fill hole when I check it.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the speedo sender unit. Mine is leaking slightly there as well.