I've been leaking tran's fluid over a quart and it's been getting worse. Preliminary inspection shows it leaking from the front seal, but my master tech' buddy says they usually don't leak, but he HAS seen some cracked aftermarket torque converters leak. Mine is a ZZP 2500 stall T.C.

A little history now. T his is my 3rd T.C. The general replaced the 1st under warranty at about 35K. Actually the main problem was a broken flex plate, being cracked from the center out. GM replaced the flex plate and the T.C. with one with a different p/n. At 53K, same thing, but this one they wouldn't cover. I'd done some mod's after the 1st time. This one the center was broke out of it almost totally. Enough of the factory stuff, I put in a ZZPerformance 2500 stall T.C. with an L36 flex plate to match. The ZZP T.C. is 8 lbs. lighter than stock.

Now at 135K, I'm leaking red stuff. So out comes the cradle, and then the tranny. Everything is sitting spread out on my garage floor. Tranny came out tonight. I haven't done a pressure check on the T.C. yet, but it appears it's just fine other than the sintered bearing pressed in appears cracked, and shows wear. The front seal is junk. WHY you ask???
BECAUSE ONE OF THE BOLTS HOLDING THE TORQUE CONVERTER TO THE FLEX PLATE WAS LOOSE!!! 2 tight, 1 not. I was under the car and had my wife start it, and I noticed what I felt was excessive wobble there. The flex plate is hammered at the loose one and will need to be replaced AGAIN! NUMBER 4 FLEX PLATE!!! I'm going to test the T.C., but replace the seals and bearing, clean things up, and I think it'll be good to go.

I ALSO found my lower motor mount had only 1 nut not even finger tight, and the 2nd was gone. So THAT was my annoying rattle no one could find. I had a loose motor mount for the last 1-2 years now.

4 flex plates! That just plain sux, I don't care who you are! At least I'm saving a ton of $$$ on labor. Hoping to get out of this for under $150 in parts. I'm hoping to put this back in this next weekend.

I'll post updates as I go from here. Had to vent.

 

Wow, that sucks man..

 

Wow Wayne...totally stinks. Glad you are able to fix it yourself.

When I first read this I thought oh know...in my mom's Bonneville we started to have a leak of tranny fluid, we crawled under the car to see that the transmission had literally ripped out of one of the main bolts that hold it in. So there was a chunk of the transmission case missing.

I'm glad your problem seems to be much simpler, even though the labor is always a total pain in the A**.

Good Luck!