i had my oil changed the other day and i asked the guy where the oil was coming from under the car. he said it "seemed" to be the front seal on the tranny..it wasnt bad, just wet..yesterday i drove to Des Moines ( about 60 mile trip ) and i noticed smoke behind me..when i stopped smoke was coming from under the car and i saw drops of tranny fluid dripping on the exhaust. i checked the fluid level and it wasn't low. it just dripped on the exhaust and made it seem worse , because of the smoke.
My car is a 1990 300E with 83000 miles.
two questions...
1. is it save to pour in leak sealant to take care of the leak
2. where do i find info on changing the front seal. ( i checked braingear.com, but didnt find it)and how much will it cost to get it replaced?
thanks for the help...
Do not under ANY circumstances add magic additives that stop leaks, improve shifting, etc. The only time I would pour that stuff into my engine/transmission would be if i were stranded inthe middle of the Mojave Desert or some other life threatening situation.
<Quote> It wasn't bad, just wet.
I see that you are in denial. A leaking seal IS bad.
In my experience the lip seals on our cars are somewhat substandard. (That is, if you consider leaking 15+ YO seals to be sub-standard.) Here is the trans rear seal on my 88. Lots of radial cracks. Why?
thank you for your advise. i have not taken the car in to a transmission repair place yet, but i am planning on doing so. the shop is about 30 miles from here...do you think it is safe to drive there?//it doesnt seem to leak very much oil. not enough to drop the level below minimum anyways.
man..i feel so anxious about this , its not even funny...
thanks again for taking your time to respond "augapfel" ( cool name , btw) !!
You might want to get some Dexron III / Mercon Automatic Transmissionn fluid to put in the transmission oil container before going. When we had the original transmission seal replaced last year they put the new one on incorrectly and it split along the center, leaked badly and there is more assuradly no way of fixing that, just get a new seal.
Are you absolutely sure it's the tranny front seal leaking?
If the tranny is overfilled, it dumps the excess fluid out a drain and you observe a leak. Make sure the tranny fluid level is correct before jumping to conclusions.
actually, i am having a hard time reading the dipstick, with the engine running and the motor warm, it does look like there is oil past the upper mark, but its really hard to read..if its leaking out the overflow, where would that be located? i would love to have that be the cause
The location of the overflow must be near the front pump seal because mine was doing the same thing. I thought it was the seal but now that the tranny fluid level is correct, I haven't seen a wet spot in over 20K miles.
behind me..when i stopped smoke was coming from under the car and i saw drops of tranny fluid dripping on the exhaust. i checked the fluid level and it wasn't low. it just dripped on the exhaust and made it seem worse , because of the smoke. 
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