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Took a look under my car and noticed a slight leak coming front the gasket between the oil pan and input shaft but I’m not sure if this is ATF or something else. The fluid is sticky and has the consistency of cold honey (transmission was warm but not hot to the touch). Has anyone else come across this before? If it helps, a full ATF change was done at a dealer about 4K miles ago.
first pic is after I smeared it, and the second is of an untouched area.
That's essentially a tail housing gasket micro leak.
What happens is over times of expanding and contracting the gasket starts moistening this area over time however it happens under specific parameters.
I'm willing to bet under extreme heat conditions, then this event ends and a moist case is left that with heat and dirt dry up and turns to this.
It is possible that this was some left over grease that has gotten dirty over time.
Clean that area and monitor it, this would not even be considered an actual leak in most peoples books.
You could clean it up and give it a quick dab of RTV for extra insurance.
I had that too on my transmission. I think mine was probably caused by the driveshaft since I kept changing out the differential and driveshaft (switching around between 2 different ones depending on which diff I use).
Building off what @BULL has stated, often referred to as a weep. Just monitor (take a look every oil change) at this time but no immediate action necessary.
You see this a lot on the AWD model transfer cases as well, mine included. Just micro seepage. Wipe it and keep an eye on it, but no real cause for consern.
I have not been back underneath since noticing it but have been checking for signs of any fluid dripping onto the ground. So far so good. I’ll probably take a thorough look at it later today. Thanks for all of your replies.