It looks like my 87 auto coupe possibly needs a tranny reseal. Wondering if anyone had any problems having this done. Worrying about opening a can of worms removing trans at this point. Quoted $450 parts and labor also rear seal.

 

Well the tranny has many more seals than just the front and rear to begin with. However, the front and rear are pretty easy to change. The shop has to remove the entire exhaust system, drive shaft, c-beam, and take off the transmission. Now I'm no expert - I only speak from the experience I have from rebuilding my own 700R4, but this is what I think will need to happen. After they remove the torque convertor, they will have access to the front pump. The front pump contains a retainer clip and then the front seal which can be a PITA to get off even with the pump disassembled on a bench, ask me how I know. The rear seal is located on the rear extension housing and it might be able to get done with the tranny on the car. I don't know if they plan to just lower the transmission enough under the car and take off the torque convertor and have the cooler lines still attached (probably not). Regardless, there will be fluid that needs to be changed.

For the DIY version you will need the two seals, with new front retainer clip (cheap), a transmission jack or a regular floor jack with transmission adapter, ATF, a way to get the car at least 20" off the ground on all fours, some flare wrenches for the cooler lines, then you will have to flush the cooler lines, you will probably end up dropping the pan and changing the filter while you're at it also. I think that the price is very reasonable considering I was quoted over $550 for replacing the rear pinion seal in the rear-end which is less labor because they don't even remove the transmission, just support it when they remove the c-beam.

If you have the tools already to do it and the time, you would also want to get to know forum member PeteK if you don't already and give a call to Dana at Probuilt (do a google on probuilt). He will sell you the seals and really, really help you with the tranny. Again, if you decide to do it, you'll probably end up with a lot of 'while I'm there' projects, such as shift kit, new torque convertor (easy to change-out), external tranny cooler install, pan and filter change, etc.

If you need any pictures of some of the tools required and what the seals/parts look like, check out my 700r4 rebuild thread I started or I can give you a link to my photobucket account with over 200 pics of the rebuild. It has a lot more stuff than what you will do because I am rebuilding and you are just replacing seals. I do believe though that when you replace the seals in the front on the earlier 700R4s you will need to modify the pump with some wider/extra holes with a drill bit and hand drill. I hope PeteK steps in and can give you some more details and correct me if I said anything incorrectly.


Good luck,

Jonathan

 

Thanks, but I am no mechanic at all. Will have it done professionally