When traveling down the highway at 65 or 70 mph all is well. When we travel at
80 mph for an hour or more there is an oily film all over the back window and hatch. Also noticed what appeared to be tranny fluid dripping. Any thoughts other than don't travel at 80 mph?

All good advice, but no one mentioned rear,or front seals. Both will eventually begin to leak (tell tale is oil droplets/wetness at bottom of timing belt cover/ transmission bellhousing. If flame trap is gungy, it adds to the problem. Since all is fine till you attempt Mach speeds, I'd check there, as well as all other oil/fluid lines. My 89, 245, daily driver needs both replaced. At 327+++, I figure it's about time.

Enjoy.
--
84, 242GLTi, 167K, 4+OD, still in rehab; 89, 245 DL, 323K, M 47, daily driver; 93, 245, auto, 167K ; and other toys.

Notice that on non-245 wagons many have a little body part "eye-lid" extending the roof an inch or two beyond the rear vertical plane?

The eyelid is to break the partial vcacuum that forms behind the car. That vacuum isn't very strong, but at 80 mph it might be enough to suck upwards the little drops of ATF from your leaky tranny.

Check for leaks where the tranny cooler go thru a clamp at the bell housing. Common place for a pinhole leak. Easy DIY fix.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

Seriously, the recommendations other folks have made to try and find the leak are great, I'm sure one of them will lead to the solution. Since I didn't see what year your car is, I don't know if it has a converter or not, so I will assume it does. If no one mentioned checking the trans cooler lines where they are clamped at the bell housing flange, check it.

Back in 96 I had an auto trans cooler line blow out on a Cherokee, the fluid poured out and splashed back on the catalytic converter. After about a minute of white smoke pouring out of the back of the vehicle at freeway speed, the fluid finally ignited on the cat and the smoke was replaced by fire. We had enough time to pull over, grab the fire extinguisher (all of our vehicles have two of them now... one back then), and managed to put the fire out... vehicle saved except for the dripping plastic! Seriously, big oil or trans leaks have the potential to kill.

Besides, anyone following you will appreciate not having their windshields oiled up!

jorrell

It might be the rubber plug in the back of the head, if it blows out you will loose quarts of oil in a short period. Dan

pcv system needs service - replace breather box, check hoses and flame trap too.

pressure builds up at high rpm and oil sprays out under the car according to the air flow and hits the back window... I bombed along I90 for a couple of hours like this, and had about a quart of oil left when I had to stop to fill up - no ill effects, can't kill these things.

probably oil filler cap is where your "leak" is, but it is just the pcv system - search for this.
--
Stef (scotia blue 81 245 B21A SU M46 3.91 350000km)

"Any thoughts other than don't travel at 80 mph?"

ummm, yea.....find & fix that leak ASAP ;)

My 245 did the same thing after I did my tranny swap. The culprit was the return line from the cooler. Once I secured it, no more leaks. But there are several places the leak could come from. Your best bet is to degrease you trans.(I'm assuming its covered w/fluid) and then take it for a ride and re-inspect it to find the leaky source.

This one has my vote. My transmission fluid return line developed a crack where it goes through the retaining clamp. Other than getting a very oily back widow after driving on the freeway, would also get fluid ocasionally dripping on the exhaust downpipe. Check out both lines and you will probably find your problem.