My C5 transmission leaks drops of oil on the garage floor when backing out of my garage, but only after I have lifted the front end to do an oil change. I can back it out numerous times without any tranny oil leaking but as soon as I lift the front end for an oil change and lower it back down, that's when I get the drops of tranny fluid on the garage floor. I haven't lifted it completely to check the area of the transmission but I'm hoping it is just some loose pan bolts. Is there something else near the back of the tranny that could be spilling oil when I lift the front end?

 

Moved to C5 Tech for assistance.

 

Helps to mention what transmission you have. I see you mentioned pan bolts so I'm guessing an auto. After aggressive driving my manual trans leaks from the front weep hole where the trans meets the torque tube. Not too happy as the trans was recently rebuilt (twice).

 

had the exact same problem. Mine would leave a drip trail when backing out of the garage after the car was parked a few days. I found that because the torque converter drains down after a period of time that causes the trans pan level to rise. At the same time, there is more fluid that accumulates in the extension housing. Mine had a leaky hard extension housing seal that would leak into the housing between the rear of the trans and rear axle. After replacing the trans rear seal, problem solved. You gotta pull the rear axle to access the rear trans seal.

 

Last week was working on family member’s Nissan Cube with transmission issues, pulled pan and replaced filter, and another filter that’s more of a strainer.

It kept dripping fluid with new gasket, but it appeared to be leaking at the back of transmission because the front of car was on ramps.

Decided to try my smoke machine to help find where the leak/leaks were, put the hose that blows smoke in transmission dipstick/fill tube, found several leaks!

One big leak I carefully tightened a little more and more and the smoke stopped flowing out that area of pan, but there was another leak that couldn’t be stopped by tightening more.

The new metal/composite pan gasket on this Nissan is supposed to not need sealer, but after messing around so much pulled pan down again cleaned pan and gasket with acetone and used Permatex The right stuff rtv sealer with that gasket.

After bolting on ran smoke machine again and no more smoke leaking out, the right stuff rtv says ready to add fluid again after 90 minutes but waited over 12 hours to cure before adding transmission fluid just to be safe.

The smoke machine is a real cheap unit bought off Amazon this past spring to troubleshoot evaporative emissions code that kept going popping up check engine light.

You can use this to check for exhaust leaks, oil leaks etc, use baby oil, the smoke does stink.