Hello all!
I did try the search function and have yet to find a similar post to this.
Took my 72 Cutlass out for some local putting around; got onto the main road (Randall Road) and I heard a distinct "POP" and when I came to the next red light smoke was billowing out of the passenger's side. The majority of the smoke was coming from directly under the passengers door. When the light turned green, no go at all. Lost all forward and reverse.
Hazards on, waited for the next red light and looked underneath from the driver's seat. Tranny fluid is just dripping out at a pretty good clip.
Before it went in for storage I had a look underneath it to gauge what all repairs may be needed come this spring, now, and didn't see anything that jumped out at me.
In 2017, almost to the date, I had a leaky servo cover that was taken care of.
The noise sounded like a metal on metal noise.
After it was towed to the trans shop, I did look underneath it and the servo cover appeared to be dry.
Trans lines at the tranny itself? All appeared well prior to today's adventure.
I will continue to look via the search function, but if any of you have input...I am all ears.
Thanks and happy cruising!

 

It could be anything, torque converter, cooling lines, modulator, pump seal, etc...

 

My bet is cooler lines.

 

x2 rubber hose blew off the metal tranny line

 

^^^x3... been there, done that.

 

As I sit here waiting for the trans shop to call, I sure hope its just a rubber line.
Was dreaming last night of the two extremes. Simple rubber line vs a grenade trans.
The only positive that could come out of this, I have a 400 in my garage.
Many thanks for the replies.


Pressure module bracket broke.
Module itself hung on.
Will be getting a new bracket (Z bracket).
From the looks on the case, the original mount was cracked and it was a matter of time before it finally let go.
Sigh of relief when my memory matched the car, all metal lines.

 

OK, I've been around cars all my life, worked at auto parts stores in high school/college, and have rebuilt the TH350 in my car, but I have no idea what that part is.

 

Ill get a dirty picture of the trans in my garage. Back in a jiffy

 

Hmmm.
Not sure if this will work...
In the picture you'll see the vacuum line going into a small domed piece, that is the pressure modulator. What broke on mine is literally in the middle of the picture (slightly up from center).
The threaded cast on the bell housing was broken, causing the 'fork' piece to fall off - causing the modulator to pop out and dump all my trans fluid.
The only picture that is mine is the first, other two were found on random google search.
Per the trans shop, not that uncommon to happen.

old dusty from 72

this is what its supposed to look like fork piece and bolt

this is the new bracket that utilizes the lower right tail shaft bolt to hold that sucker in

 

Oh, the vacuum modulator. Now I understand what happened.