i just changed the fluid in my transfer case today. when i removed the fill plug, lots of fluid literally spewed out! i have no idea how so much fluid was put in there to begin with, and not only that, it didn't smell anything like ATF. anyone have an idea as to why?
i drained the rest of the fluid with the drain plug and refilled it with ATF until the fluid level reached the bottom of the fill plug.
is that right?

 

It's possible your getting oil from the trans. Auto or manual?

 

auto. it didn't smell like atf though. and i drained the transfer case after changing the transmission's fluid...

 

What could be happening is the seals between the trans an tcase are bad...and it's just seeping fluid across. What did the oil smell like? Burned or?

 

that's what i was expecting... but it didn't smell much like anything. it was brownish red though

 

That's bout all it really could be. I'd just fill it to the level and keep an eye on it.

 

Probably some cobbler over serviced it with gear oil. That's what the deal was with mine. I cleaned real good flushing it as best I could with mineral spirits then serviced it up with Mercon.

 

i still don't understand how you overfill the transfer case. the fill plug is horizontal. the fluid had to come from domewhere else.
the only information i'm finding re transfer case seals is about the driveshaft seal.

 

Should be a seal or two between the trans an tcase. Both a bear to replace. If that much extra came out I doubt it was an overfill jobber.

 

Sounds like you can pull the tcase down, see if a load of oil is in the intermediate case.