Thanks to everyone for the help on this problem.
The Van is my brothers and as soon as he attempts
the fixes presented I will let the outcome be
known! Thanks! Tom Czerniak

Markus Benne wrote:
>
> My pop's bus appeared to be leaking some oil but we nor my fathers
> mechanic could
> find the source.   When driving, smoke billowed out of the uper rear
> vents.
>
> Most concerning.
>
> On Sunday, there was suddenly a huge puddle under the bus, but the oil
> level was fine.  The tranny started behaving very odd with erratic
> shifts, and sometimes delays before going into gear.
>
> Pop had it towed to the mechanic as we were now sure it was tranny
> fluid.  How might tranny fluid rear the exhaust headers you might ask?
>
> Turns out that there is breather valve or something like that on the top
> of the auto tranny.  Apparently as the fluid heats up it also expands
> and air is forced out fo the tranny.  If this is blocked (as appears to
> have been the case on my dad's van) then with no air able to get out,
> fluid travels up the filler tube and pushes past the tranny dipstick
> where the tranny fluid the drops onto the cylinder head and from there
> onto the exhaust header.
>
> THe mechanic cleaned the valve and all appears fine again.
>
> Hope this helps someone.
>
> ...Markus