Where is the oil coming from?

[Jeff F]

I pulled my trans out of my runner finally. (thanks Supratruck)  I knew there was oil coming from somewhere because the trans was covered in it.  The engine oil is never low, so I thought it must be the transmission.  I found that half of the oil slick was due to the rear output leaking, spitting gear oil all over the back half.  The thing that was strange was that there was oil in the bell housing.  I thought I would see what others thought of this before I go tearing things down to find the leak.  It looks like the oil might have been coming from the input of the tranny, but I can not be certain.  This trans was completely worn from the previous owner, wouldn't stay in any gear.  There is a very small leak from the back of the valve cover, not enough to notice a level change between oil changes, could this possible trickled down over the years and covered the trans, and leaked into the bellhousing?  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Just take a whiff of the oil.  If it smells like gear oul you know where it came from......

[Makohon]

like wt said..... i bet u that if it is engine oil its commin from your valve cover... just replace the gasket... dont be like the idiot i bought my truck from and just use rtv or whatever and apply it to 20 year old gaskets and expect it to hold up for that long.... there only like 15 bux!! i had the same prob with my truck...... oil allover... inside the bellhousing ect... good luck!!  

[79coyotefrg]

dude replace the input seal of your tranny, its like $4

[Jeff F]

I am swapping in a different trans, so fixing the old one is not needed.  I am just concerned it is a rear seal on the engine.  I am pretty sure it is the valve cover leak and time that produced the oil slick.  Everything else looks fine, and the flow seems to be originating from that region. 

[79coyotefrg]

stick a finger down and get some oil on it then smell it,    if its engin oil or tranny oil you should be able to tell the difference easy

[Jase]

I would replace the rear main while your in there (check the crank for a groove) and the gaskets around the valve cover, I had a similar thing going on and just decided to do both to be sure..no more oil leak.