Transmission fluid leak

[christopher.lafollette]

1985 Suburban 5.7 350 with TH400 transmission. Tranny fluid leaking everywhere, front drive shaft is soaked, flywheel cover, starter and all over the tranny pan. Any ideas? Maybe need a new gasket? seems like an awful lot of fluid to leak out since about 2 weeks ago the fluid level was fine and now it's below the cross hatch marks on the dipstick.

[bake74]

      It might seem like a lot of fluid, but with any kind of oil based fluid, a little goes a long way.  I would wash everything down really good, start up your vehicle without moving it or taking out of park and see if you can see a leak.
      If you have to drive it to get it to leak, that is a different story, since fluid will travel backwards a lot because of the forward motion and air blowing on a driven vehicle.  If you have to drive it, drive it for a short distance and stop and re-inspect to see if you can locate the leak and report back.

[Greybeard]

Might also check the fluid cooler lines near the starter, maybe one had a hole rubbed in it. Oil generally doesn't move forward when you are driving so the leak is toward the front of the majority of it like bake74 said. So if it's on your starter my guess is the cooler lines if that's the side of the truck they are on. If not....