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Hey guys,
I have a 60 Imperial with 16,000 miles on it.
The the car sat from 1979 to 2005 without being started. Prior to
1979, it hadn't been driven for 8-10 years and had been stored outside. I
bought the car last October and got it running in late November. I took it
to an oldtime neighborhood Dodge dealer to have the transmission flushed.
It was not leaking before I had the trans flushed. After the flush, it
didn't appear to be leaking, at least not significantly. It was scheduled
to go into the body shop in February and a few days before I dropped it off, I
noticed it was leaking trans fluid...more than a little bit but not
catastrophic. I figured the new gasket was crimped or the bolts needed to
be retorqued. A few weeks ago, the body shop elevated the rear end about 2
feet with an axle hoist and the tranny puked out what looks to be all of the
fluid. With the car elevated, I was able to see that the gasket appears to
be fine but the fluid is coming out of some kinda of access panel on the bottom
front of the trans.
I figured it was a transmission seal ($$$'s).
A mechanic friend of mine was talking to a guy who
he says is an 'oldtime' Chrysler mechanic who told him that the leak is probably
the result of a 'vent valve' stuck in the open position. This apparently
is fairly common with the cast iron TF's. He claimed that the transmission
seals rarely leaked on these units but that the vent valves (he claims there are
2) have a tendency to stick open especially if the transmission/torque converter
are mechanically pumped out. He says that elevating the rear of the car
allows the fluid to drain out one of these stuck open valves.
Questions-
1- Is this a viable possibility for my
leaking transmission? I never heard of anything like this
before.
2- If a stuck vent valve is a possibility,
has anyone ever run into this before and is there a way to unstick the valve(s)
which doesn't require removing the trans/converter?
Thanx
Tom
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