IML: Lake Torqueflite

[Chris Hawkins <imperial1966@xxxxxxxxx>]

Does your Torqueflite leave a pool of trans fluid
after long periods of storage?  It's a common problem
for many.  The Chrysler 300 Club had had a recent
thread regarding this issue.  Although some discussion
involved the suspected culprit being the check valve
or bushing between the torque converter and the trans,
someone else suggested a shift kit as a cure.  Then
George Riehl gave another possible source of leakage
that I had never heard before.  Below is a recent
exchange between a 300 Club member and George Riehl -
probably the pre-eminent Torqueflite rebuilder in the
country.  (Most show-worthy 300 Letter cars have had
their transmissions rebuilt by him.)  Here the
exchange:
-----------------------------------------------------

> Regarding the torqueflite leakage problem.  I have
the same problem with my 300-H.  The leakage is
inconsistent.  Sometimes it will leak after
setting two days and sometimes it takes more than a
week.  I store  mine all winter and if I don't take a
gallon of transmission fluid with me when  I get it 
out in the spring it won't move.

> Has anyone tried replacing this check valve and
solved the problem?  Where is the valve located?  Is
it a big job to change it?  Any  one with experience
 in this area?

>       Rolland  Westra, Rockford,  IL

George Riehl responded:

> After a Cast Iron torqueflite is rebuilt and there
is a problem with leakage, one cause can be when
installing, placing the tranny up to the Torque
converter, care must be taken not to cut the seal with
the converter hub. The trans must be guided with guide
pins and go squarely onto the bellhousing.

> In my many years of rebuilding, there has never been
a shift kit available for a Cast Iron Torqueflite,
only for 1962 up Aluminum torqueflites.

>  After complaints of leakage after the car sits for
awhile, it signifies that the shift cable outer rubber
housing has punctures/cuts. After advising
people to check the cable housing, they find there are
cuts, burnt spots and "swelling" of the outer housing.
That outer covering is there to prevent the
fluid, which travels up the cable, near the 
connection at the transmission, from leaking out when
the car is at rest. Usually takes 3 - 5 days for 
a leak to appear. Pure and simple. Some of the housing
can be repaired with silicone or the bad section has
to be cut out and the housing slid down 
and refastened with a clamp or brass wire to the solid
end of the cable. The actual outer wire of the housing
is not fluid proof. That is why it has the
outer rubber housing.   When the car is a rest, the
fluid drains out of the clutch packs, etc.,
and the fliud level rises in the tranny then up the
cable. Instructions on the dipstick always tells one
to never check the fluid level without the car
running, and only when the fluid is warm and in
neutral. Simple instructions, but important.

George Riehl
----------------------------------------------------
Note, I am assuming the "housing" George mentions is
actually the rubber tubing surrounding the shift cable
(on pre-65 models) as it comes out of the trans. 
Repairing any problems with this rubber housing might
be all that is needed, in many cases, to prevent Lake
Torqueflite from forming under our Imperials after
long periods of storage.  Not sure it this applies to
'66 and later models, but it is worth looking into.
  
Chris H.

----- Original Message -----
From: <RWestra@xxxxxxx>
To: <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 2:17 PM
Subject: [Chrysler300] Torqueflite leakage



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