playgames1970

Axelburg, you are officially my hero now! All hail the stick shift!

Now that I think back on it, I did have a Plymouth Champ way way way back that I had to do a clutch job on, but as you said, that's cheap as heck by comparison, and quick to do. Once a trans has to be cracked open and put on a bench and all that, it's days on end before you have hope of getting back behind the wheel.

This Escort is The Last Automatic Ever for me.

IgottaWoody

Was it serviced recently? Could be the vent if......overserviced..and/or the TQ Converter is draining back into the trans and overfilling it......so once its started back up the fluid is drawn back into the TC and reads low........you say it only leaks while parked,correct? I'd have that looked into then.....

Don06

I would hope that they looked and found the leak but just in case; something you can do that won't cost you much. While the vehicle is sitting on a level surface, check the fluid level to make sure it is at the proper level. Look in the owners manual, if you have it, to see how the fluid level is supposed to be checked. Fluid should only leak out of a vent if the transmission is overfilled, the fluid gets hot[it should turn black] or if the fluid foams up.

Get some brake cleaner and an inspection mirror at a local parts store. See if somebody you know has ramps to drive it up on so you can get under it. Use the flex head mirror and a light to find the highest point where there is fluid on the outside. You can rinse it off with hot water and dish soap first then spray it with the brake cleaner and let it dry. Look closely at the cooler lines that enter the transmission and the fittings they connect to. Once the transmission is clean and dry, have someone start it while you look for fluid leaking. Again, find the highest point that fluid is coming from. If the transmission cooler lines are leaking, they might be loose, they might be cracked or they might have o ring seals leaking. Permatex has a spray on product that can seal some gasket seepage.

I suspect the previous owner had stop leak in the unit and changing the fluid removed that, making the leak worse.

playgames1970

Thanks for the responses and advice, all. As of a few days ago, however, it's no longer an issue. I just went ahead and sold the car off. I took a bit of a bath overall financially on this thing, but I didn't want to keep throwing good money after bad, and while I HATE how many miles I'm going to have to ask the HHR to do every day, week, month, year, at least I'm not facing that worry constantly about things.

My new plan is to try to pay off the HHR as early as I possibly can while keeping it religiously maintained, and I see if I can snag a 2011 model before they go away, so I will have two HHRs at once, and they can each share the miles, rather than ask a car that already has over 100,000 on it to take the beating without further repairs/maintenance. I'm not sure if I can pull that off, but I'm going to try!

Thanks again for all the tips and advice; they are appreciated a great deal.