everytime i go somewhere after a drive (it doesnt matter how long the drive may be), i'll park and leave my car, and i'll notice a small puddle developing from below my tranny. i check my tranny levels and notice that it does indeed leak a little. i'm not sure when the tranny was last serviced, the car has 119k on it, and the car shifts just fine, when i race it shifts slowly, it will never chirp first to second, so im guessing its in good shape. what is causing this leak? does it need to be serviced? i hear all these stories of people changing the fluid on their trannies and suddenly they go out soon after due to the "fibers" of whatever in the old oil, then when they change it to new oil the tranny falls apart. is the pan gasket crapping out? i noticed that when my car is on a slope and i change from park to reverse there is a considerable thrust. when my car is in park you can budge it about half a foot either way. what does this all mean?

 

the first thing to do is to crawl under there and look, if its coming from the tailshaft area (where the driveshaft comes out) then its a pretty easy fix, just pull the driveshaft out and the tailshaft will come with it then you just pry out the old oil seal and install the new one, then reassemble.

if its coming from the front of the tranny (near the torque converter) then its alot harder, the tranny has to come down and the torque converter has to come out of the tranny, there you will find a large oil seal, remove the old one and install a new one, reassemble.

if its the pan gasket the drop the pan and install a new one.