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Torque converter leakdown?

From: Bob O.
Email: punch@proaxis.com
Remote Name: 198.145.253.213
Date: July 16, 2002
Time: 23:57:09

Comments

I posted something a long while ago to the Forward Look List about my '61 cast iron Torqueflite leaking, and got a lot of helpful information from people. It appears to be torque converter leakdown, which happens after the car has been driven and the converter fills up with fluid, then when the car stands overnight the ATF drains down into the tranny, raising the level high enough to leak out through gaps in the shifter cable outer covering (as Lou says, and also this is the same problem that can cause ATF to come out of the dipstick tube, as Dud mentions). Mine was solved, as I was advised to do, by taking 18' of 1/2" I.D. rubber hose and pipe clamping it around the metal swedge at the base of the cable (don't clamp the upper end, since there is no need to, plus that could interfere with the cable free movement). I guess this is a normal problem with the cast iron trannies. My own theory is that the converter drain plug has a tendency to seep air, but the ATF is too thick to leak out, so after the car has been running, if the converter stops with the drain plug in the upper half of its circuit then air will leak in causing the leakdown. But I really don't know what I'm talking about there, and it could also be a seal, and I'd like to hear more from Ryan Slade on that, since what I have done is cure the symptom but not the problem (cured the leak but not the leakdown).

 

Last changed: March 03, 2024