AW4-worth chancing after bad overheat?

Well today I pulled my rear driveshaft on my 1990 XJ to have a buddy replace the back U-Joint for me. I thought it was U-Joint that was causing the whirr noise I had been having. Put the driveshaft back in and the whirr noise was still there, but seemed less. Anyway not worrying too much about it I drove around like normal. About 50 minutes into my trip I was cruising along at 45 and started to see white smoke out my back window and smelled a burning smell. Turns out it was my tranny, started slipping bad about a minute after the smoke. I limped it home (going about 25-30 for 5 miles), looked underneath it and the rear ds was covered in fluid. I figured maybe when I put the driveshaft back in I screwed the transfer case output seal up. Went ahead and checked the fill plug and the level was good and the fluid red in the T-Case. Pulled the trans dipstick and it didn't even register on (or actually a very residual amount came up about 1/2 cm on the dipstick). Now to my question I suppose. It was not that rear output seal leaking, nor the cooler lines, or the pan gasket. It really seems to be coming out of the bellhousing which my buddy informed me is a pump seal probably. I had off and on white smoke for about 15-20 minutes while I was driving it home. Everytime I would come to a stop sign it would slip in and out of gear. I would hear and feel what I believe was the converter spin underneath me and then catch all of a sudden and it would jerk and then move. Was this simply from low fluid or is this meaning the tranny is shot? The other weird thing is though, the fluid that did register on the dipstick was still red, it didn't look or smell burnt. Is it worth dumping more fluid in and crawling underneath there to see where it leaks from? As of right now when I tried starting it up and putting it in gear (5 hours after the incident) it would barely move at all, and it's not even really catching anymore. I've got a spare AW4 in my garage for just such an incident, I would just rather not swap trannys if I didn't have to. Any insight on this would be great.
Thank You,
Collin

Did you fill up the tranny before testing it later? It wasn't clear. I'd say if not try that and then see where your at. If the leak is coming from the bellhousing you'll probably have to re place your front seal or torque converter and remove it anyway.:bawl:

88xjlover said:

Did you fill up the tranny before testing it later? It wasn't clear. I'd say if not try that and then see where your at. If the leak is coming from the bellhousing you'll probably have to re place your front seal or torque converter and remove it anyway.:bawl:

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No I didn't refill it at all because it was dark and I wouldn't have been able to tell much where it was coming from anyway. I imagine it will probably work again for a while if I refill it, the problem is I assume it will just leak it all back out. I suppose the only thing I can do is refill it and be underneath there while someone puts it in gear inside and watch it that way huh?

If it's leaking you may see it without it being in gear (safer if your under it!)
Clean everything off as good as you can and see where it's coming from and that should tell you if you have to pull it. The AW4 is a tough tranny and you may be o.k. if you can fix the leak while it's still in the vehicle. Good Luck!