Hi everyone, this is my first post in the forum!

I recently acquired a 1993 Explorer Sport, 4x4 A4LD. It was my grandfather's. He passed about two years ago now, and the car has sat dormant since. I know that the transfer case on it doesn't work, but I'm not too concerned about that(unless of course it's related to this leak).

Underneath the car was a puddle of trans fluid. It's no surprise to me that there was a small leak, and having sat there for two years I think that ALL of the fluid leaked out. I'm wondering where the leak is. I'm thinking that it's probably the gasket or the pan, which seems easy enough to fix. But I'm wondering how much fluid this thing needs? I looked in the manual and it says that the max capacity is 10 quarts and if I'm refilling after dropping the pan to put 4 quarts in. I just got the car today, plated and insured. What I've been doing is starting it and trying to pull away, if it struggles to engage then I add like a quart of trans fluid. I was able to get it from Dearborn to Allen Park(about 20 minutes, so maybe 15 miles or so).

Considering that it's sat for so long, I'm pretty sure that all the fluid leaked out. Should I just drain it and replace the gasket and filter and refill and just keep an eye on it for a couple of days? It's sitting in front of my house right now, and in the morning I'm going to go check on it to see just how much of a leak it is(provided it doesn't rain again). Hopefully it's just the gasket and nothing major.

Thanks for any help/advice in advance!

Michael

 

You have by now found the Transmission dip-stick, Located near firewall, passenger side.

Scale is read, engine/transmission warm, in N, and having been run through gears.

 

Yes, I've checked those things. Things worth mentioning that I noticed from driving it a little yesterday: When I put it in reverse you can really feel it, like it's shifting hard, and the RPMs drop to .5; A similar thing happens when putting it into overdrive, but only when it's at a standstill and it's not as hard feeling. Every other gear feels fine however.

I also had a mechanic friend take a look at it last night, since I suspected a leak, and he said that chances are I just wasn't filling it enough earlier, but that the levels were fine now, and that the fluid looked dirty but it didn't seem like anything serious was wrong. I'm guessing I'm going to just drop the pan and refill it. I checked under the truck this morning, but it snowed last night so I couldn't tell if the puddle I saw was from the truck or the melting snow. I moved it from the slanted driveway to the front of the house and am going to put a piece of cardboard under it and go look in a couple hours, or tomorrow morning.