So some of you might remember my leaky transmission saga. But maybe not...……


I sourced my T5 from an 87 5.0 and had Hanlon Motorsports rebuild it. I must say, it was and still is a very smooth shifting transmission. After a complete tear down/rebuild of my 331, I got the car back and put about 700 miles on it until the tranny started making some odd noises when shifting into 3rd gear. It would do this mostly when the tranny was good and hot. Like after 10 or so miles highway cruising. Not really sure what prompted me to do it (maybe the noise) but I decided to see how much fluid was in the case. I dipped my finger in the fill hole and nothing. I pulled the drain plug all expecting red transmission fluid to come gushing out only to discover about a tablespoon full of the blackest sludge drip out.


Ughhhhh.


This all happened last season so I had the winter to get it addressed.


I new right away at minimum, the transmission would need to be rebuilt once again. I yanked it out of the car and brought it back to Hanlon's to have him take a look. After two gears needing to be replaced, back in the car it went. After another 500 miles, I noticed transmission fluid up and around the yoke and 4 inch tube. Bob had mentioned he had seen instances in fox body's where fluid would get past the pinion seal and spray the underside of the car. Like a fine mist. This scenario was always in the back of my mind. I decided to take evasive action and replaced the slip yoke (was original from 87) and installed a new Ford pinion seal. Now mind you, I have always noticed fluid in and around the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor) but dismissed it from what Bob told me.

With new yoke, and pinion seal installed, I put the car up on the lift to see the state of affairs after driving some very steep hills. Low and behold, transmission fluid apparent on the 4 inch tube. You have to be kidding me! However, the pinion seal appeared to be bone dry. Hmmmm. After some further inspection, I saw fluid on the VSS and on my speedo electrical wire. I don't run a cable. I got to thinking "can fluid leak from the VSS". After some internet researching, I found out that it was a pretty common problem with VSS using speedo cables.


My shout out to Paul (and trust me, he has saved my butt before) is a post on the other forum way back in May 2016


https://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fac...r-leaking.html


He was answering a thread from someone else and posted a picture of what the VSS should look like if your not running a cable. Darn thing has a plug in it and mine does not. It was a "No s... " moment. And as always, Paul provides a part number. I ordered that sucker faster than I could click on my keyboard and just installed the part. I do believe my leaking transmission issue is behind me.


Thank you Paul for sharing your experience with the rest of us. Saved my butt once again.


RickP