In an earlier thread of mine, you can read the details of my transfer case saga. Basically I had the fluid changed around October 2012, after which I could see TC fluid leaking out and constantly smelled burning fluid. After being without the car for about two weeks, seals were finally replaced and everything has been fine.

At least that's what I thought...

Fast forward 6 months later and I still smell burning TC fluid after driving at highway speeds for a little while. I understand that it takes a while for the TC fluid to level out via the vent, but I would think that by now everything should be set. Granted, I live very close to work and only put between 5,000-7,000 miles a year on the car, but I've taken it on the highway trips several times in the past six months. When I say highway trips, I mean I've made at least 5 or 6 1-hour-long trips cruising at 75-80 mph, as well as at least 20 or so trips in the ten minute range, but at the same speeds, when visiting my parents. Each time I have smelled burning TC fluid venting onto the exhaust for about a minute right after leaving the highway and, for instance, stopping at the first traffic light.

The shop where I had the drain/refill done doesn't return my calls. I had called at least 3 times after having the TC done to see if they could do my strut mounts and not once did anyone pick up or return my call.

Am I SOL here? I'm hoping they didn't do any serious damage to the car. Is there any way I can just let out all of the excess at once to be sure it's filled to the proper level?

Looking forward to any advice from you experts out there. Thanks in advance!

 

Evan, what I would tell you to do is to pull the drain plug (car sitting level) and then you have 2 options on the refill. The one is to keep the passenger side tires on the ground and then lift the driver's side tires till the bottom edge of the body is about 24" in the air (or the tires about 16" off of the ground). From there, you can pour in about 500 ml of fluid into the transfer case (it will come right up to the edge of the fill hole) and at that point, you can put the fill plug in. The other option is to get your hands on a brass radiator drain valve that has a collar on it (will look like a .38 casing sitting on top of the valve). Then you will also need a 1/2"NPT to 1/4" NPT reducer (can be had at a local hardware store for around $2). From there, you can screw the drain valve into the reducer and then you will need to file/grind off the flats on the reducer (leave the flats on the valve itself). Make sure to use a sealant when attaching the valve to the reducer. From there, you can insert the valve assembly where the drain plug was. Then you just have to run about a 3' piece of tygon down through the engine bay so you can put it in the end of the valve (where the casing is, ensure the tygon tubing just fits inside the casing). From there, you can have the valve open, add the 500 ml of fluid through the tygon tubing (either by cutting a little off of the end of the bottle and fitting the tygon to the end of the bottle or you can fit a funnel on the end of the tygon and pour the fluid into the funnel. Once you have the fluid in the transfer case, close the valve and then remove the tube (yes, a very small amount will still be inside the tygon tubing). From there, you should be good to go.

 

Thanks as always, Chris

I was considering another drain/fill on the TC to see if maybe that would solve this issue. My biggest concern here is that it's still smelling 6 months down the road. Is it normal for this much time to go by and to still have the burning smell?

When there was a bad seal, and for a little while after the fluid was changed properly, I would often smell it burning when stopped at traffic lights, regardless of the speed I had been travelling. Now it only smells after driving at highway speeds for at least a few minutes, but I'm concerned that it hasn't stopped yet. You may remember that one of the seals had to be replaced when I took it into the shop in October. So I'm hoping they didn't damage anything, like the seal between the TC and tranny, causing tranny fluid to flow into the TC.

Is there any way I can check to make sure all my seals are good before doing another drain/refill? Again, I'm hoping it's just that it was overfilled and it's still leaking out since I don't drive that much, but I'm concerned that this is still going on 6 months later

 

Evan, because you don't drive a lot, it may take awhile to burn everything off. I know when mine spit out some fluid, it took awhile to get everything cleaned off. You may want to consider getting the front end of the car up in the air and then using some stuff like SImple Green or some other grease cutting solvent to clean off the fluid that is on the exhaust pipe and then see what happens at that point.

As for checking the fluid, unless you are getting spots on the driveway/garage floor, it would be hard to say. Your best bet would be to drain the fluid and then put in new. Then you can collect the fluid into an old mayonnaise jar and then you can let it sit for say 24 hours to let the fluid(s) settle out. From there, you will be able to see if you have any water, tranny fluid, and/or 75W-140 gear fluid. Then that will give you a lot of answers.

 

Good ideas

I think I'll clean it up first and see what happens. If it continues I'll collect the fluid and wait for it to settle.

Thanks again!