Leaky topic...AX-15 specialists needed!

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while, and now I've returned to seek help/info on my leaky subject.

My 99 XJ has a leak coming from the AX-15...somewhere other than the obvious. Not the front or rear housing seals, not the vent, and neither of the fill/drain plugs. Its not a bad leak, but it seems to be getting a tad faster, and its starting to worry me....especially when my $15.00 a quart synthetic is slowly disappearing.
Ok...the fluid is only accumulating/dripping from the 4 bolts that secure the tranny to the crossmember/skid plate. I found a "weep" hole just above this area (where I originally thought it was leaking from), plugged it, sealed it, and cleaned the entire bottom of the tranny with brake-clean. Two days later, I've got fresh fluid again on those bolts...and nowhere else.
Upon further inspection, I noticed what appears to be a gasket between the tranny and the cross member. Its too thin to be a bushing, so I'm assuming its a gasket of some type. I called the dealer, talked to their best tranny tech, and he seemed puzzled. He doesn't seem to think there is anything to be sealed where the tranny bolts to the crossmember. Why is there a gasket there? My hunch is that there actually is a small port at that specific place to access tranny guts, but I've never seen an AX-15 on the bench before.

For all you tranny gurus' out there :lecture: that have had this problem or know this AX-15 unit inside and out, please let me know whats going on! I would like to fix this leak! :wierd:

AX15 has no gasket on the bottom. My leak looked like it's coming from the bottom where the two pieces meet, but it turned out to be the rear output leak that got caught in a small area that exists between the tcase and the tranny and then out the weephole it went and it ended up on the bottom.
If you don't want to be hunting for the leak consider adding the additive used for chasing leaks to the oil and then chase it down with the black light.

It very well could have been coming from the weep hole and you are just seeing residual fluid already leaked out before you sealed the hole. That gear oil doesn't move very fast...it tends to collect all over the top of the mounting plate bolted to the bottom of the trans, and it may just still be coming off courtesy of gravity. Maybe take it to a wishy-washy and blast the bajesus out of the mount/X-member area and watch it some more to see...
BTW, that weep hole is there to let you know that the output seal on the rear of the trans has gone bad. If that's where it was leaking from, you need to pull the TC and replace that seal (bout $5 from NAPA, but they list it as a "rear extension housing seal" for some reason....)
HTH,
Jeff