Hey everyone, I have a 2 speed Mile-O-Matic / Ford-O-Matic / Merc-O-Matic / Cruise-O-Matic from 1959. Just yesterday after running my engine, getting it hot, and running though the gears ford good measure, I noticed a small but steady leak coming from the rear of the transmission. I stopped the engine and investigated. I had just the from of the car on jack stands from this point. There was a good amount of fluid around the pan and its bolts, but it appeared to be coming from the reverse servo cover (driver's side servo cover) I wiped her down and decided to wait until today to see if anything else had seeped. Well, I get under there to look earlier and everything is pretty normal, not dry but nothing out of the usual for this tranny. Maybe just a little seepage from that serve cover. So I decide to jack up the rear end and run her in the air. I start her up and put her in reverse and I get a huge overflow out of the filler tube. I shut her off and wipe everything down / do a little online research / look in my Ford-O-Matic manual and see that causes of this are: aeration of the fluid; coolant in the fluid; and a blocked vent tube. Well, aeration I guess could be a factor. I did just recently do a complete fluid change on the tranny along with a complete empty of the torque converter. But I dunno. Coolant is a definite no because I have an external cooler. And blocked vent is maybe. I eventually did locate the vent tube and cleaned it up with a rag, seemed ok. So after all that, I start her up one last time, all while in the air, and let her run through reverse / drive/ neutral / low / and back to park. I don't get any more overflow through the tube, and that small but steady leak kinda disappeared. I'm going to do a little more investigation this weekend, but I wanted to throw that out there for now and get your guys opinions. Thanks in advance for the help everyone.

Overfilled is the first thing that comes to mind.
Is the dipstick original?

Gary - 1958 Star Customline and 1940 Ford Deluxe Hotrod

I'm pretty sure its the original. Looks like the ones in the manuals and other cars I've seen.

as others have said it would suggest that you have too much oil in the trans. Did you drop the oil pan to drain it and did you completely drain the converter.

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

Yeah, when I drained it I dropped the pan and completely drained the torque converter. It's weird how it just started doing this though. Last week I took the car on a half hour drive and nothing happened out of the ordinary. Level was just below full and no leaks when that drive was through.

So I guess I'll drain out a quart tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. If I am getting drain back from the torque converter, does that mean the drain back valve is defective? If so, I'll have to drop the tranny to fix it right?

Okay, update. I drained out a quart today and ran everything until it was at operating temperature. No leaks present, but now I am not getting a reading on my dipstick. Maybe it isn't original? I'll post a measurement in a bit.

Looks like the measurement of my dipstick is 17 and 1/2 inches from the top of the riveted metal downward.

It happened again today after a long hiatus...

You,and everyone else on here,are going to think I'm nuts,but I've had 2 FOMs that had that same problem.I cured it by simply putting the dipstick in backwards.I know it makes absolutely no sense,but it works.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO