Well i went to change my oil this morning and i noticed after i had gotten back from the parts store there was a puddle of tranny fluid on the ground. It looks pretty greasy on the cross member behind the transmission and it seems to be dripping off from it.


Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Take a look at the two transmission cooler steal lines, in the area where the engine/transmission meet. They can be repaired with brass compression fittings.

Look ~12 pictures down on this page:
http://cleanflametrap.com/oilpan/

 

My old 87 240 station wagons lines broke somewhere that it could drip onto the exhaust, so whenever i parked it from driving awhile it would start smoking.

I am going to take it to my local Mieneke place were they can look better than me on the ramp (plus they don't charge anything to look at it) good guys.

 

Another place to check is leakage from the tailshaft - where the drive shaft exits the transmission. If the transmission is pretty clean (no oil) in front of the tailshaft, then it may be leaking from there.

If it is the tailshaft, the seal can be replaced but most likely you need a tailshaft bushing as well. What typically happens is the bushing wears out which causes play in the tailshaft and causes the seal to leak. Check for side-to-side play by grabbing the drive shaft where it exits the transmission and doing a push/pull on it. There should basically be no play when you do this.

 

I took it to a repair shop and they said that the transmission oil pan had become loose, and snugged it up for me.

They also convinced me to get my shifter bushings replaced too, all in all 80$ spent.

But i could swear when i got home i smelled the familiar smell of burning transmission fluid.

could a loose transmission oil pan cause these symptoms?