Hi guys....

I have an '86 auto mostly stock (corsa exhaust. KN air filter)..the car is pristine with 84k on the clock..anyway I have a problem with the trans fluid leaking ONLY SOMETIMES....I used to live in Michigan where the ar is stored for winters, and it used to drip while it was stored (frigid temps)....then I would get it going in the spring,and the leak would stop..I added stop leak/seal conditioner...now I am down here in NC and it is always hot (so it seems)...the car hasn't leaked at all in the last year, but now the leak is back,heavier then before...I have been told the front trans seal leaks are common..the car drives and shifts fine..I had the trans fluid changed and trans serviceed about 10k miles ago

now the questions

1) Short of getting this fixed by an qualitfied garage (dealer?) what else can I do? as a novice without a lift...

2) do these seal conditioners actually work? or can they cause problems in other areas

3) I have been told about a weep hole in the housing where fluid drains out on it's own, and it is not really a big deal, especially it there is extra fluid in there, like stop leak (I did not drain any fluid out when I added the stop leak)

4) Is there something else I can/should check?



Please keep in mind I do not have acess to a lift so there is a limit to what I can see in my own garage....

Any thoughts???

Thanks,
Rich

 

1. Don't have a lift? No biggie. Check out my ongoing rebuild thread for the needed equipment to lift the car safely (3 ton highlift jackstands), remove the tranny if necessary ($60 harbor freight tranny jack) and if its the front or rear seal just remove them (after removing the converter from the flywheel and removing the converter from the front pump) and replace the seals.

It would be very difficult for the trans or car to fall on you if the proper safety precautions are taken.

I thought my pan gasket was bad, but it turned out to be the front pump seal that was leaking into the converter/flywheel dust cover (is this what you speak of with the weephole?) and then ran down the trans and looked like a pan leakage.

The rear seal can be changed with the trans on, but I wouldn't know how to do the front with the trans still on. IIRC though the FSM focuses on changing as much as possible with the rans on the car. Im in Miami for the holiday and dont have the FSM with me. But you might be able to read it if you have one.

Edit: I know which weephole you mean. It is a yellow/orange tube that is located at the top of the trans. One end goes outside and the other is flush with the front pump bolt holes. I have pics of it in the cleaning part at the end of that thread. When I took the trans out it did look like sometime fluid came out and sprayed the top of the housing. Maybe you don't have any bad seals . Maybe the fluid I had at the pan was a combination of that weep hole and a bad front pump seal?

I hope someone else chimes on,

Jonathan

 

Never put stop leak in a transmission! Causes more problems than it solves.

 

I told a Ford service tech what my '89 T-bird was doin' wrong. He told me what was wrong before I finished sayin' it. He also said do a filter and fluid change, and dump in a qt. of Trans-X to soften and swell the rubber valve body plungers.

I did. Fixed it PERFECTLY. Aamco told me the same problem, but their 'fix' was a $900 re-build.

I can't say that's the OP's problem, but I CAN say Trans-X works.

 

I had the same leak on the front seal of my 89 transmission and I ended up having to pull the trans to replace. I know some folks who have had good luck using trans seal additives but eventually your going to have to replace the seal.The stopleak additives only work for so long. WW