Fluid leak in engine compartment after climbing 5000ft

Went from sub sea-level in death valley to 5000 ft on a paved road. Stopped to watch the jets fly over at the top and noticed a burning smell. The fluid I believe is coming from one of the breathers, the larger one. Think the breathers are front diff/ transmission, or transfer case? Appears clear / slightly yellowish and doesn't seem to smell like diff fluid. No work has been performed on the trans. The diffs and transfer case changed out to 75/90 m1 at <20k, 40k on engine now. Any guesses as to what it is? Still shifts just fine. Not sure how much I lost and doesn't appear to be still coming out. Have a 10hr drive home wondering how concerned I should be. No indicator lights on dash, the trans pan felt hot to the touch, now I really wish I had programmed my ultragauge to monitor temps because thats the reason i bought it.

 

diff breather

 

you should be fine, first time at or above that elevation since fluid change? done any water crossings?

 

Definitely front diff breather tube and diff fluid. Not sure why it would expand that much that it would go out like that. An expert on fluid dynamics should be along shortly.

 

can you tell which one it’s leaking out of?

 

That's happened to me on my first gen before, breathers barfed a little up front. It may have been when I was in the Eastern Sierra going from 11000 down with lots of low range on steep, hairy grades. Just expansion after some hard work and big atmospheric swings.

 

Had that happen to mine when I was driving fast in snow 45mph in 4Hi. I checked my front diff and it was fine. Turns out if you fill the front diff till it runs out, like the manual trans/rear diff, it is actually overfilled. Instead it should be like an 1/8th of an inch below the lip.

 

Some fluid got flung into the tube and pushed up by a bubble from the elevation gain. No worries.

 

Coyote Flats perhaps?

 

Thanks for the prompt responses guys, I of course was scared I had fried my transmission, as the drive up the pass had some steep grades. At one point it seemed to hang up in fourth when i was on what i thought was a level section, I guess it was an optical illusion because checking the Gaia app I was gaining 10 feet every few seconds on that stretch. So normal behaviour from the trans. I'm going to check my front diff level as soon as I can. I believe it takes only 1.6 quarts and from the look of the spatter I lost at least a few ounces, if not more.

 

It seemed to be coming from the larger of the two breather tubes.

 

Mine has done that with the sub freezing temps and then driving, more than just around town.

 

Top of White Mountains/Bristlecone down Silver Creek back to Bishop.

From this


Down this, having to use 1st and 2nd low

 

Meh, nothing to worry about. Just keep trucking....