00ES--3.2L Intrepid Mystery Fluid Leak Near Transmission

Greetings,
Had my 00ES (3.2L) up on the rack for an oil change yesterday and noticed fluid in a strange spot.
It was above the transmission pan. If you look on the passenger side of the transmission, there is a number stamp and to the right of that is a hole. I didn't see any threads to indicate that a screw/cap came off. It appeared to come from there.
It definitely wasn't transmission fluid (not red). If I had to guess it would be gear oil (color and location).
Would this "hole" be some sort of "safety" blowout area in case of heat or excess fluid?
Haven't noticed any drivability issues. One thing to note is that we came across WV a couple weeks ago on I-64. My wife was driving and had the cruise control on. Well, going down those hills (mountains to us in the east) the transmission down shifted to try and maintain speed. So, of course the transmission is turning 3500 RPM. Anyway, maybe excessive RPM without any gas/acceleration (letting the engine coast) caused some sort of "safety" blow?
Ideas?
Thanx

 

Rich, before jumping to conclusions about the mystery fluid,
consider that it may have flowed to that location from
somewhere else. For example, when removing the oil filter
on that car, it's almost impossible to keep some engine oil
from dripping down where it will keep moving somewhere else
in small quantities. So it is possible that your leak might
have been caused by something similar. See if you can find
anyplace else where there is also oil, such as the brackets
and frame under the oil filter.

 

Thanx for the reply...
It seemed to come from the area around that hole. The oil filter hadn't
been removed yet.
I can't rule out the possibility that the fluid came from some other area of
the engine, it just seemed odd/obvious/coincidental that the fluid had it's
origins around that hole. I guess knowing the function/reason for that
"hole" would definitely help.

 

| Thanx for the reply...
| It seemed to come from the area around that hole. The oil filter hadn't
| been removed yet.
| I can't rule out the possibility that the fluid came from some other area
of
| the engine, it just seemed odd/obvious/coincidental that the fluid had
it's
| origins around that hole. I guess knowing the function/reason for that
| "hole" would definitely help.
|
| --
| Rich Arnold
| http://www.stpauls-portsmouth.org
| http://www.callcarolyn.net
| | >
| >
| > Rich Arnold wrote:
| >
| > > Greetings,
| > > Had my 00ES (3.2L) up on the rack for an oil change
| > > yesterday and noticed fluid in a strange spot.
| > > It was above the transmission pan. If you look on the
| > > passenger side of the transmission, there is a number
| > > stamp and to the right of that is a hole. I didn't see
| > > any threads to indicate that a screw/cap came off. It
| > > appeared to come from there.
| > > It definitely wasn't transmission fluid (not red). If I
| > > had to guess it would be gear oil (color and location).
| > > Would this "hole" be some sort of "safety" blowout area in
| > > case of heat or excess fluid?
| > > Haven't noticed any drivability issues. One thing to note
| > > is that we came across WV a couple weeks ago on I-64. My
| > > wife was driving and had the cruise control on. Well,
| > > going down those hills (mountains to us in the east) the
| > > transmission down shifted to try and maintain speed. So,
| > > of course the transmission is turning 3500 RPM. Anyway,
| > > maybe excessive RPM without any gas/acceleration (letting
| > > the engine coast) caused some sort of "safety" blow?
| > > Ideas?
| >
| > Rich, before jumping to conclusions about the mystery fluid,
| > consider that it may have flowed to that location from
| > somewhere else. For example, when removing the oil filter
| > on that car, it's almost impossible to keep some engine oil
| > from dripping down where it will keep moving somewhere else
| > in small quantities. So it is possible that your leak might
| > have been caused by something similar. See if you can find
| > anyplace else where there is also oil, such as the brackets
| > and frame under the oil filter.
| >
|

I had a situation once where the mechanic ran through a puddle of
transmission fluid in the shop and it splashed up in a unusual place. That
created a head scratching session. Are you showing fluid loss anywhere?

 

No. It was only in that area. You could tell the area from around the
hole, down to the transmission pan and over to the left part of the
transmission pan was "moist"/or showed that had been wet at one time. I
know it wasn't transmission fluid because this was tan (oil) colored.

 

Didn't the older version have a weep hole for AT or transaxle fluid?
Haven't seen it mentioned for a while so I think it was the old and
don't know about the new.