It's raining ATF!

[Righty Tighty]

I was playing with the timing yesterday and took the Barracuda around the block. I pulled into the driveway, and when I got out, saw a good, solid trail of ATF going down the driveway and all the way down the street. That's probably not a good thing, since I prefer the fluid stays inside the transmission instead.

I need to find out what went wrong, so my question to the forum is this: what's the most efficient way to pull the trans?

I have new headers on the way, so I'm considering pulling the engine and transmission together, so that I can just drop the engine in over the headers. I don't think I'd enjoy just dropping the trans while keeping the engine in the car, because those upper bell housing bolts are a real pain. What would you do?

Setup is a 440/727 in a 74 Barracuda.

 

[70chall440]

I would not be pulling the trans just yet, you probably cracked/broke a line. Fix it and drive on.

 

[Righty Tighty]

That would be great if that was the case. I’ll jack her up and have a look.

 

[Righty Tighty]

I checked the lines, and they are intact and not leaking. I replaced the stock steel lines 2 months ago with nylon braided line.

I checked the fluid level with the car at operating temp, level ground, in neutral, and surprisingly it was only about 1/3 below the full line. I ran the car around the block, and no leaks. Not one drop. (Okay, maybe a drop or two, but that has been the baseline.) Could it be that the trans was overfilled, and when it warmed up while I was setting the timing, it ran out through the vent? But if that's the case, I'd expect the level to be higher than 2/3 full.

I inspected the trans as thoroughly as I could, and couldn't see evidence of a leak anywhere other than from behind the converter. Obviously I couldn't visualize the pump, but I could feel with my fingertip some fluid that had gathered inside the bell housing.

 

[AUSTA]

I have had the fluid come up out of the dipstick hole when hot when giving it gas ,have fitted an oil cooler seems to have overcome the problem.
When full the oil comes up the dipstick tube so if the dipstick tube O-ring is loose they constantly drip oil