woke up this morning and found this under the car... never had a ****** leak before, just curious if anyone has any ideas on the cause. its a turbo 350. any help is appreciated. thanx
not yet but i sure will, never had a problem in the past and the car has not been driven since late sept.
also if the car is jacked up check were at and see if maybe you have a ****** line or any other parts in a bind( driveline, rearend, or motor tilt)
yes the car is on jack stands but it has been since late sept. what is the remedy if that is the problem beside getting the car back on the ground. do i need to drop the ******? or just put it back on the ground and top it off w/ fluid?
Three most likely places that an AT will leak: 1. Front seal 2. Rear seal 3. Dip stick tube seal This is ***uming that the cooling lines are good and not jury rigged, and that the pan bolts and gasket are in good order. It's been awhile since I lived in a cold climate so I can't speak to the detrimental effects that freezing nights may have on a trans. I have a Jeep that leaks only when parked facing nose-down...it's the dip stick tube o-ring, I know it's bad so I just park level or uphill... :~)
prob a dipstick shifter seal or a detent cable "o"ring when a 350 turbo sits the fluid settles in the pan from the torqueconverter and the valvebody nothing to worry about .... look to see where it is leaking from next time you have the trans pan down replace the seal "o' ring or just drive it more !!
Charlie's on it. Most of the leaks I've seen are at the dipstick seal including mine. If that's the case, I suggest using the sleave-style seal (recommended by Squirrel)....good advice! Just wipe it down and check back in a half an hour or so. Then take the pic if you aren't sure the name of the leaking piece. Bryan
My TH400 in my '31 Plymouth leaks big gushes like that once in a while and I never figured it out. It'll be fine sitting there with the floor bone dry for months, and then suddenly one morning there's a big puddle underneath it. I clean it all up and it'll stay dry again for months. My transmission was built by TCI, so I called them to see what they thought, and they said something about how "the seals can dry out when it sits there for extended periods". That explanation didn't make any sense to me. I think maybe it's somehow due to heating and cooling cycles where fluid expands and shrinks and somehow air pockets build up or something and pressure builds up somewhere or something until it pukes out and starts over. I have never figured out exactly where it leaks from. I just add more fluid and then it's fine again for three or four months. I never lose fluid while driving it, only while it's just sitting there in the garage for a long time it just suddenly decides to take a dump. I'd be really interested to follow this thread to see if anybody has some brainstorms on this problem. It's a big mystery to me.
this is the newer style seal, needs to be used with the newer style dipstick tubes (no o-ring groove on them) also the TH350 can leak out of the kickdown cable seal, or the cable itself (!) Letting a ****** sit, full of fluid, for a few months will definitely help you figure out if it leaks....
here are some pics from this morning after i wiped it down... i saw a little trickle out from the dipstick tube, but i did notice some on the cooling lines??? need some advice on what to do. the dillhole at lee myles transmissions said he donesn't know and would have to have it towed over. i'm broke, looking for a low buck fix. thanx
yeah...it's gonna leave a puddle! that dipstick tube is too short to hold the fluid in when the converter drains back into the trans. Looks like everything that can leak is in pretty bad shape. pan gasket, kickdown cable (is it cut off or just hiding behind the vacuum hose?), servo cover, dipstick, shifter, etc
i'm not too familiar w/ the different parts you mentioned on the ******, maybe someone can educate me. thanx again ... any help is much appreciated
the kickdown cable end and the servo cover are pointed out here, and the shifter seal is on the shaft that the shift lever attaches to on the other side of the trans. There's an oring that seals the servo cover, doesn't look like it's leaking but with all the crud on there it's been in a while and could start leaking soon. The kickdown cable housing has an o ring on the end of it, that could be leaking, and the cable itself could be leaking, they get old and the plastic gets hard and cracks. Also the dipstick tube is way too short, it is not sealed at the top where the dipsick goes in, so it will leak out there pretty easily, its' supposed to be a couple feet long. The shifter shaft has a metal clad lip seal that is a press fit in the case, there's a special tool you can use to remove and replace it from the outside without pulling the trans apart. Probably you should just not worry about it until the cars is on the road...but save up your pennies to get the thing rebuilt some time...or find a friend in town who knows about this stuff and could help you learn how to replace the seals on it, it's not rocket science, but there are some tricks that make the job easier. There isa pretty good TH350 book by Ron Sessions you might find at a bookstore to look at and learn more about these transmissions.
FWIW mines a leaky pig if its not driven for a week or two. resealed EVERYTHING on it and it still leaks when left parked for any length of time
As Vette Man said-the torque converter drains back when the car sits without being started.Start it once in a while ,better yet ,drive it!
thanx everybody... the car has been sitting because it was time to tear it all down and do everything the right way, i also decided to ditch the coupe body for a t roadster body. this car ain't no trailer queen... it's a driver. the coupe body was in pretty bad shape... i found the car below and the guy was selling just the body, i got it for 1500 and it kinda broke the bank.
mine looked just about yours...changed the pan seal and filter...no leaks...super cheap at the autozone...dont over tighten
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