Hello all, I am new here and I am new to Monte Carlos. I bought one this past week (from a used car dealer). Its a 2000 LS with of course the 3.4 liter engine. It has 165,000 miles on it. I got it for a pretty good deal, and now maybe I know why. When I test drove it, I didn't notice any kind of slippage whatsoever in the Tranny it shifted smooth. Well about two days later I noticed some slight slippage, so I set up an appointment for next week with my transmission mechanic. Well last night on the way home from work the tranny started whining something awful, (the whine wasn't present before) I barley got it home (the slippage got bad) and checked the fluid level and there was smoke coming out of the place where you check the fluid. The fluid was empty. I had checked it earlier in the day and it had been a little low but not to bad. I put some fluid in it and tried to put the car in reverse, and it would just barely engage into gear (at first it wouldn't go into gear at all.) with some coaxing, I backed it up and got out and looked where I had parked and just about all of the tranny fluid I had just put in had drained out.

My question is do you all think the tranny will need rebuilt, or does it need to just have the leak fixed, (it hadn't leaked before tonight) Or maybe the torque converter has gone bad. I LOVE this car; but this issues has me pretty depressed, I have the extra cash to get it fixed if it needs rebuilt, but I was planning on using that for extra things for the car. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Update: I got the car over the pit today, apparently the output shaft seal on the drivers side is where the leak is coming from. I will be replacing the seal (probably do both sides) and doing a fluid and filter change.

 

I hope the seal is all it takes to fix it, and that more damage wasn't caused by it being ran so low on fluid.

 

Wow man that sucks... I'd check to see if you have any local lemon laws...