The Stickman

Ok yesterday I was driving the wagon and it was pretty warm. I was going up a fairly steep incline and look out my rear view mirror and see a cloud of smoke. I pull over and see a trail of tranny fluid and a puddle of it too. Now the car was running fine. I had no idea anything was wrong till I saw the smoke. So I didn't look at it today because of a migraine attack probably broght on by the stress of a broken trans. But here are my thoughts on possible problems. Could it have simply gotten too hot and puked the fluid out? Could the torque converter have broken and not given any drivability signs? Maybe a cracked housing? Any opinions would be welcomed.

Allan R

Had one of these in my 1983 98 Regency Brougham. Tranny crapped out at 47,000 miles. Took it in to a reliable tranny shop. They said: all planetary gears and clutches + sun gear were toast. Also that this was a common problem with this type of tranny. Total bill at the time: around 1200.00 If I wanted a lifetime warranty: add 250.00. So I did. Best investment I ever made. It crapped out 2 more times, totally under warranty and no questions asked. + every year if I took it in on or before the anniversary work of the repairs, I got free tranny flush, new fluid and filter. I think it cost them a lot in the long run. Wondering who the company was? AAMCO - and they stood behind their work for 15 years till I sold the car.

I understand that GM changed the valve body after 83 or 84 and beefed up the weak gears and clutches?

Given that you work on your own cars and know how to do maintenance, I can't see it being as simple as not checking fluids periodically. Anyway, that's what happened to my car. Hope you have a less expensive fix.

442scotty

How about a plugged vent?..that will do it. Or side servo seal...hope its something simple

jensenracing77

maybe one of the cooler lines rubbed through.

bccan

I had the same thing happen on 2 different modified 200's. ie going around a steep uphill corner & see a cloud of smoke as the fluid hit the exhaust. The trans I have now has a length of line attached to the vent tube, which after one "hazing incident" I attached a condiment squeeze bottle(Mustard/ketchup, appx 45 cents retail) to the line & wire tied it on top of trans xmber. This catches anything that pukes out. I would say it has caught 3-4 oz of fluid & doesn't seem to be catching any more. It lays horizontal & I poked a hole in the other end @ the top as a vent.

My guess is that the trans has found the fluid level it wants. I have seen many notes about people adding an extra quart to the 200 & I have to believe that this could aggravate venting fluid unless you had a deep pan. I can't trust my dipstick since I reused my TH350 tube & stick.

The Stickman

Well thanx for the help peoples but it appears to be the front seal. I got it up on jack stands and started it and fluid poured out from the front of the trans behind the torque converter.

doc

Well, cheap part to replace, but a lot of labor to get to it......could be worse.

Good luck!

Lady72nRob71

Is this a common failure mode of transmissions - "pop goes the front seal"?? If so I don't like it...

jensenracing77

you may want to check out the input shaft and see if it has allot of play side to side. i don't know about the 200 but the 700R4 will sometime have the pump go out and ruin the front seal. then you change it to just find out that it does it again.

Lady72nRob71

If this particular 200R4 has the stock 7 vane pump, it should be upgraded to the 10 vane while it is off the car, as pump failure was somewhat common in these trannies...