Yeah after I posted I re-read what you said. If it leaks while just sitting there, it shouldn't be that hard to find fresh red fluid. There's not many places up high that will leak on them, even if you over filled it. Wipe it down and see if it keeps leaking. You likely just over flowed it and didn't wipe it all up.

As for fluids, people can use whatever works for them, in the end it's all about the same. I prefer the Mobil 1 for price and the fact that I know it's very close to the original $16/qt stuff from Chrysler. That, and it seems that most of the transmissions I rebuild that have problems with the shift forks delaminating were ATF transmissions. But that's not a very scientific way to tell what caused it, just my observation.

For the noise, it depends on where it's coming from. Generally if it's inside the trans, you can guess what it is all you want but in the end to be 100% sure, you gotta take it apart. And if you want it fixed, it definitely has to come apart anyways. Or you can take a chance with a junkyard trans but I've blown up more than my fair share of junkyard transmissions, plus I have a few shelves full of transmissions with no diff pins in them anymore, you can tell by looking through the fresh window they opened when they left!