Andrew Bayley Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 Last night I pick up the Z from the exhaust shop. It hang's a little close to the ground, but it will work. OK, so I'm all happy that everything works well so I decided to "get on it" a bit. Lay into the throttle and everything feels (and sounds) good. Pull up at the next stop light, and I see a bunch of smoke bellowing out from the bottom of my car. Oh schit! Luckily I was only about a mile from home. Pulled into my driveway and made the disappointing discovery. ...more trans fluid leaking. WTF!!! The whole reason I'm so behind this year is because I pulled everything out (motor and trans) to rebuild what I thought was a leaky trans pump. So now I'm mad. Not sure what to think, I go inside and clean off before bed. While cleaning up, I start thinking about the flex plate. When I pulled the motor this past winter, I noticed that two of the converter bolts were way loose, and the third was finger tight. Also, the round holes in the flex plates were ovaled out pretty bad. So what does my cheap self do? "Just torque 'em down extra tight, that ought to hold it." Stupid, stupid, stupid...!!! I'm thinking that the torque of the engine is moving the converter in reference to the flex plate causing the converter to no longer be centered on the input shaft of the transmission. When this happens, lots of trans fluid finds it's way out of the converter and onto my exhaust. This is the only real theory I've got left. I cannot think of anything else that would cause trans fluid to leak when I driver her hard. Since the front seal has about 20 miles on it, I highly doubt that's the culprit. Besides, a busted seal (I would think) would leak all the time, and not just at WOT. Any / All opinions, advice, theories appreciated. Looks like next weekend I'll be going to Pop's garage for a "Banzai" one day only motor pull and replace. That's the easiest way I've found to get the transmissions out of these motors. -Andy (who now knows the value of a $20 flex plate) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clint78z Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 I actually saw an army vehicle dump it's oil all over in a turbo350. It turns out that the torque converter was bolted to the flexplate with the slotted holes, and not the correct holes. It eventually shear the bolts off, and jammed one of the bolts in the starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted June 15, 2001 Share Posted June 15, 2001 Make sure you check the bushing in the front pump that the converter rides on... With your previous problem you may have roached it and the seal cant compensate for the excessive movement....also look at the gasket where the front pump is attached.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bayley Posted June 15, 2001 Author Share Posted June 15, 2001 Excellent advice Ray, Unfortunetly, these are all things I replaced over the winter. The gasket between the pump and the case had slipped out of place, so that's what I though the original problem was. Looks like there were (and still are) deeper issues. Clint, thanks for that "wonderful" visualization. By converter is also bolted up to the oval holes... only mine actually started out round! -Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
383 240z Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 Andrew it won't take much to kill a pump bushing (I replace a bunch of them on home built units) also check your snout on the converter for grooves or an out of round condition ( you did install a new converter with the rebuild didn't you?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 Andy, you have a gift for titles. LMAO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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