Wipe it all clean and spray with white foot powder. Makes a big mess, but you can then see the leak as a red track in the white rather than attempting to see the remains of the trail of tranny juice.

Low fluid will allow air into the valves and clutch packs, and will cause troubles since it compresses and expands, unlike tranny fluid.

Dollar to a donut it's something associated with top or third gear, servo cover or accumulator cover.

Take a look at the power flow diagrams for the tranny and locate the associated accumulator and servo covers OR fluid passages -- I've seen a post where someone had a problem with a factory "blind" seal plug coming loose and leaking.

Doesn't take much fluid to move the car -- Big Blue (the 280 SE 4.5) made it down the drive, around the corner, and to the garage on about two cups of tranny fluid in the pan -- nothing came out when I took the filler tube off to drain it! This was after a cooler line cracked and coated the engine compartment with fluid a couple miles from home. Didn't even slip much!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!