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SORRY FOR COMING NOVEL, but trying to be very specific for those that demand it.
I installed Lokar Tranny dipstick years ago. Stock One that came with car wasnt correct.
Recently, (past 2 weeks) Tran pan starting leaking. Car driven about 3 times a week now, for past 3 months. Before that once a month, if that.
Strange problem, the only kind I seem to get with this car...Backstory, I had a few drops over the years, nothing too bad, though I want zero drops. I did retorqued the pan a few times as it was slightly driven back then (Aluminum finned deep pan, rubber gasket that gets so much bad press) using criss cross pattern, 8-10 or so ft lbs.
Getting the tranny oil level right is tricky because the car isnt driven enough in the past, and levels change pretty dramatically based on whether its driven or not. Everything has changed level wise now that I've finally started driving it regularly weekly, first time ever consistently driven since my DIY restore.
Recently, past two weeks, it started acting up, not while in gear but when putting it in reverse after it gets warmed up, and when manual shifting between 2nd and third, would have to hit shifter twice to get it into gear...Hurst Promatic 2 Ratchet shifter.
I added a bit of oil according to dipstick- warmed up, and in Park. Tranny spit it out after a jaunt around town ...after had car in front of garage in park, backed it up a little bit, opened garage and walked inside and moved something in the way, turned around and saw a puddle where car was before I backed up a little...AND was now making new small puddle at new park spot. I went to another spot around the corner couple houses down where I had it park for few mins, before I had driven it around town and also saw good puddle there too. (Each puddle was about 1/2 a shot glass). Looking under car before jacked up hard to tell really where it was coming from. Once jacked up and crawled under, I noticed it was coming from driver side corner, and left front half edge of pan. After thorough cleanup, retorqued bolts and those bolts in that area of leak were definitely loose, and especially the Hurst shifter mount bolts were stupid loose.
Originally when I installed the ratchet shifter, I remember having to shave the cable mount bracket mount holes down as beefy tranny pan wouldnt allow mount holes to line up. And I also noticed this time the cable mount still wasnt shaved enough and was still barely not laying perfectly flat on bottom of pan. So took it down and shave more off...shave and test, repeat. Finally got it right, reinstalled it and torqued it.
Whew...now at same time I decided to drain about a pint of oil at drain bolt just in case I had it overfilled...again it was shifting funny before adding oil, and before the puddles. (Cold the dipstick was reading well above the Hot level. I've done tons of reading and many say that cars not driven that much can have converter and other spots drain back into pan and will read overfilled, and must check while hot and tranny shifted through gears)
After doing all above, today shifted fine again, hits reverse everytime, shifts right again when manually shifting from 2nd to third. And so far no leaks.
But now the dipstick level. Checkout the pic of inside of tranny with pan off to document dipstick oil level. Does this seem right? I've read that these deep Aluminum pans should have oil level at the tranny pan gasket area when gasket laying on top of pan.
The level needs to be checked with the engine running completely warmed up and in park. The dipstick level does not change because you went to a deeper pan it just holds more fluid. It looks like the full mark is in the proper area. The reason it may be puking is the vent on top of the transmission housing is clogged.
Check the level with the engine running, and the trans at operating temp. If you need to hit the shifter more than once for it to shift, I’d be looking at the shifter itself. Judging from the picture, your working with a TH400 trans, is the electric lockdown functional? What is the condition of the vacuum line to the modulator? What does the fluid look like? How much crud? There are lots of places for fluid to leak besides the pan. Assuming the gasket is in good shape and not over torqued, the cast aluminum pans don’t leak. The p-ring around the modulator, shifter shaft, speedo housing, pump housing, etc. what about the o-rings on the filter tube?
Man, I tried 5 times to reply and something to do would pull me away and when I came back every time response was wiped out. Guess there is a timer on responding.
Thx for replies, yes I checked it at temp, in Park like always. But was curious why levels so high when cold too.
Everything in tranny is new / rebuilt. Everything. Kickdown works fine.
Almost everything below body is new or restored very well. ( I forget many haven't read my restore thread documenting the chaos, lol)
I mainly needed to know if dipstick level looked correct. I tossed aside the plastic lokar dipstick back when installed it, used original TH400 metal dipstick with the Lokar ****.
I believe it was two things related to each other as it isnt leaking anymore after my fixes. I took her out on longest ride I ever did, 45 mins. And even on highway at 70mph, and not a drop, and shifted awesome, immediately every manual shift.
It was a combo of pan bolts loosening at the front driver side area and Hurst shifter bracket getting loose probably due to not sitting perfectly flush on the pan. Just needed some driving time for problem to show up👍
Last edited by JCMC64; May 24th, 2019 at 07:42 PM.
May 22nd, 2019, 12:57 PM
