So my 1967 Cutlass was leaking from the top pump/motor. I had a shop replace the pump with a new one, and things seemed to work fine for about 2-3 up down cycles. They used brake fluid as was what was in there and what is originally put in for the era.

With the new pump/motor, I noticed a leak again. Had the shop inspect it and said its leaking from there again. My thought is - is there something overextending the motor to cause it to spring a leak? Am I doing something wrong myself? I have another convertible I've had no issues with - but I was thinking am I holding the switch too long in either direction? Would that cause the leak?

Should I move away from using the brake fluid in there too?

 

Get away from the brake fluid and use ATF. Brake fluid will remove your paint if it come in contact with it.

 

X2 on the ATF comment; much easier to clean-up a spill without stripping the paint. Is your leak at the pump motor or at one of the cylinders? If the leak is at the pump motor, you might take a closer look at the thread on the fittings and the threads in the pump body. I had a small leak in my new lines and no amount of tightening would stop the leak. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the new pump body wasn't threaded all the way to the bottom and the line kit had threads running to the end of the fitting. My old line fittings had a small shoulder that extended beyond the threads that allowed the fitting flare to reach the bottom of the threads in the pump housing. I called the vendor to explain my leak and my findings: they looked at other pumps and hose kits in their inventory and all of their stock was the same.

My solution: using a Dremel I carefully ground away the threads at the end of the new fitting to create the missing shoulder. I taped off the threads above the area to to grind and tapped off the flare to prevent debris from getting inside the lines. PROBLEM SOLVED!
Here's a pic.

Rodney


The stock fitting from the old lines is on the left: it has a short shoulder w/o threads. The new line fitting is on the right and does not have the shoulder.

 

Great info and pic, I did send this to the shop so they had the info! Mine was leaking from the electric motor end, the manufacturer thinks the armature shaft seal must have failed... but why I guess is still my question. For now it has been replaced by the shop free of charge, so I s'pose we will see.

 

Doubtful this is your problem since it's happened twice now but just passing along information. My '69 still had the original pump and ~8 years ago it stopped building pressure. Fortunately, it didn't leak. I disassembled it to look for a bad seal. They're pretty simple gerotor type pumps. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary so put new seals in it and re-installed it. Still wouldn't build pressure. Took it apart again and noticed a hairline crack in the gerotor so I ended up replacing it. I'd start by making sure your connections are tight but you might have to open it up to see what's causing your leak.
The Fisher body manual has a good section on the pump. If you haven't reviewed it you should.

 

I tend to agree, its happened twice so I think there is something else going on here too. However, I believe if it happens yet again, its big evidence that there is for sure something amiss other than a bad pump/motor. I doubt the shop will want to continually replace the motor, which they have done here completely free of charge- more than 2 times heh!

 

Enjoyed watching DIY Dan battle his top issues, especially because he’s got two nice Oldsmobiles in the garage.

I’m about to replace top motor, lines and hydraulic cylinders as well

 

When i looked in the Olds manual it says check fluid with top raised and that did not work , blew out the sealing.
Check fluid level with top down , filled the system with hydraulic oil 32.