Dried junk all over transmission - cause for concern?

[lordzeus]

2019 Ram 1500, 5.7, 110K miles.

Bought it ~5k miles ago, and found what looks to be old dried grease with a bunch of gunk on it.

I have no active leaks at all, and everything seems to be fine, but it's concerning that there's all this junk on it. It does not come from the engine bay, it's purely isolated to right where the transmission is.

I'm planning on going to a shop to have the transmission fluid replaced as I'm not sure when it was done last, and will have them look, but I'm not sure what/where this could originate from, especially since none of it is wet and it looks old, with no active leaks.

Any thoughts on what this is or where it came from?

 

[markabby]

power wash it off...see if it comes back

 

[DanAR]

Something weeped on it before unless someone sprayed it with fluid film or something. I would do as markabby suggested.

 

[stevenP]

Might have been slightly over filled, and now that the excess has leaked past the seal its done?

 

[Hardracer]

Looks like old sepage, maybe a previous fluid change thats collecered alot of dust over time...i have this on a few areas under my yruck..I live on a dirt road.cause for concern?,I dunno,wash it off as another has suggested and wait again...mine are leaks...I check levels,doesn't seem to go lower...but obviously it's there "leaking" on a micro level...my thoughts about your situation

 

[lordzeus]

Thanks everyone. Late reply, but I went ahead and power washed the hell out of it. Monitoring it now to see if any possible leaks show up. No active leak always is a good thing!

 

[huntergreen]

Dried mud from off road use ?

 

[lordzeus]

Dried mud from off road use ?

I think it could be a combination. I bought the truck maybe 7-8K miles ago now, and the bottom is SPOTLESS everywhere MINUS right on the trans. I ended up buying a ryobi power washer and going crazy blasting the trans. It's not 100% perfectly clean, but it's good enough for now. I'll probably crawl under it again and use some degreaser to clean the rest of it off just to make sure I can spot a potential fail point, if there is one.

My guess was some sort of fluid + mud, but the rest of the truck being spotless made me think it wasn't some sort of road grime.

 

[Wild one]

I think it could be a combination. I bought the truck maybe 7-8K miles ago now, and the bottom is SPOTLESS everywhere MINUS right on the trans. I ended up buying a ryobi power washer and going crazy blasting the trans. It's not 100% perfectly clean, but it's good enough for now. I'll probably crawl under it again and use some degreaser to clean the rest of it off just to make sure I can spot a potential fail point, if there is one.

My guess was some sort of fluid + mud, but the rest of the truck being spotless made me think it wasn't some sort of road grime.

Looks more like a sweating seal. The fluid used in the 8 speeds is more like water then oil,and it will migrate a fair distance if the seal is sweating,and consequently will gather up a pile of dust,and make a hell'va mess.

 

[lordzeus]

Looks more like a sweating seal. The fluid used in the 8 speeds is more like water then oil,and it will migrate a fair distance if the seal is sweating,and consequently will gather up a pile of dust,and make a hell'va mess.

Interesting! It doesn't look like a rear main seal based on location, so I'm assuming it's a seal within the trans?

I would imagine there's not DIY or cost effective method if replacing it if I needed/wanted to?

Learning how to become my own DIY mechanic as much as I can!

 

[Wild one]

Interesting! It doesn't look like a rear main seal based on location, so I'm assuming it's a seal within the trans?

I would imagine there's not DIY or cost effective method if replacing it if I needed/wanted to?

Learning how to become my own DIY mechanic as much as I can!

They aren't hard to change.There's several video's showing how to replace the seal.

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