Any chance you could set up a camera to try and catch it? Go pro mounted in the engine bay.
Have you got the car up in the air and taken all the covers off the bottom and looked? Have a close look at cam seals, valve cover gasket integrity, front seals timing area and crank. Look for loose oil hose fittings and oil lines sitting on those weld on posts designed to mount retention clamps. Check the oil cooler for leaks. Oil on bumper means coming from engine inside = bad. However, if you have a real flood in the engine bay it can be whipped around enough to make it outside. Another sign of engine death is oily film on bumper with black dots that look sooty. I hope another 355 motor has not gone south. You see this bad karma for missing the stooge bar-be-que.
Cam seals are dry all the way around Valve covers dry Timing seals dry Power steer pump dry Whole engine dry Bottom of trans on ps wet Trans axel wet on ps Ps quite wet around trans axel Boot ok on ps As Bruce guess boot on ds broken all the way around but dry (unrelated I think) good guess thou. Rear cross member pass side very wet After leaving it sit for a few hours bottom of trans has drips on the Finns on center and pass side inspection covers. Firstly I think I misrepresented the oil. I now am pretty sure it's trans oil. I wrongly thought my trans oil was red because when I drained it to do the transmission it was red. I had it replaced with redline transaxel oil and it's probably similar color to the mobile 1 I use. Sorry for the screw up.
That being said thank you to all for the guesses. I think my transmission might be leaking but why would it only do it when I'm pushing it.
Bruce what does the axel seal do. I think it is transmission oil so if this seals in transmission oil maybe it could be that. The only thing is the axel boot on the trans side is quite dry and does not appear that the leak is near there. Although I originally would have argued that it was engine oil and it smells sweet so pretty sure it is transmission oil. Ps sorry for the screw up of which type of oil. I would have thought if the transmission was leaking though it would leak even if it idled for a while. Only saying this because of my experience last time when I had a transmission leak it leaked until the oil cooled off.
Also checked these oil to tank hoses before I realized that it's transmission fluid and they were good. Thanks Bruce. Now I need to figure out why transmissing is leaking. Would rpm and ground speed change the volume of a transmission leak?
Trans cooler pump works off mainshaft speed (?), therefore road speed (?), not rpm of engine(?). Check me on this, I could easily be wrong, but it's late and I'm tired. If it's gearspeed, as opposed to roadspeed, I'm betting it's related to the cooler lines or cooler itself. Any oil in valley?
OK, here it is. You've got a pinhole leak in a trans cooler line. The tranny needs to lube itself based on gearspeed, so pressure builds as gearspeed increases. That's why you only get it pushing it. Higher rpms in lower gears. Pinhole doesn't leak til pressure builds, then really squirts. Done deal! G'nite.
Grant Check the vent tube on top of your transmission.Your heat exchanger may have gone south and you may be getting water in the gear box and over filling it and it may be coming out the vent.
Sorry FBB you guys are to smart if given the right info I was just trying to exercise your minds. So are we in agreement then it's possibly the the oil cooler or transmission oil lines. Now what I do know the whole engine is dry no leaks noticed. The drivers side cv boot cracked all the way around, not related and not throwing oil or showing signs of leaking anything. Axel shaft wet all the way around on pass side Bottom of transmission where inspection covers are is quite wet and dripping once stopped after accelerating up to the top of fourth gear . Rear cross member very wet but only on pass side Front cross member dry Valve covers both dry The amount of smoke is substantial, initially I was worried of fire, at 120 mph obvious smoke like spraying diesal on headers. Once slow down smoke starts to dissipate instantly , but am unsure if it's from engine rpm slowing or transmission speed slowing. I initially though engine but maybe it is road speed related. Driving home at 60 mph in 6 th no smoke and by the time I get home ,about 5 miles less than 2 once is left on garage floor in morning. Wiped off oil last night and tonight no visible oil on floor. What do you guys think I should try?
That was the first place I checked and it is ok, no visible oil or wetness around it but thanks. Anything else.
Bruce wake up its night time again. Is the transmission cooler the same as the transmission heater that sits between the plenums? Thanks
Yes. Put that sucker on jackstands and have the wife run up the revs in third gear til it starts smoking. Watch where it comes from. Wear old clothes and eye protection.
K I'll try it tomorrow night . But those hoses run up the Lhs of the engine and the rhs of the transmission is where everything is wet. I think I will also take the wheels off just in case.
Sorry I don't have time to read the whole thread, but you should check the transmission oil level. If overfilled, the LSD can froth up the oil and cause it to vent through the breather at higher road speeds. Because gear oil is generally clear, you can check this by wiping off the oil with a white cloth and checking the colour. Black means engine oil, gold coloured is gearbox oil.
+1 this is a good point and I had it happen to me once...the transmission was filled with a little too much oil and it bled throughout the breather. It could also be a bearing that is about to go in the transmission. I had that happen to me once, and a large amount of smoke would come out when the bearing was about to give. I also got a whine after some time, but it was almost imperceptible at the beginning. Good luck and keep us posted!
I had a front camshaft seal leak so badly that the whole transaxle, transaxle cover was just covered with oil and dripping. When driving it had blown the oil from the front of the engine all the way to the bumper. Shouldn't the transaxle fluid have a sulpher smell to differentiate it from motor oil?
It seems sweeter I guess. It does have that gear oil smell I will check the front cam seals though only check back ones. But it seems to smell like gear oil .
Sorry guys work real busy hoping to check oil cool and do a run up sat or Sunday will keep you posted.
