C4 leaking- Help Please!

[JeffM]

Hi, new here and enjoy reading the posts. My issue is that I am about complete in finishing my '65 conv and I have to keep topping it off with type FA fluid. Rebuilt C4, put new front seal in and I keep getting a decent puddle after I shut it off for a few days. I added about a qt just to take it up to get painted. I stopped in the next day at the paint shop and it looks to have lost quite a bit. Anyways, any suggestions short of pulling the tranny down? It only drips when I have to add that final qt. I have to in order to drive it and I am not over filling, between the marks. I tried a new pan gasket, to no avail. Seems as if when the converter is draining back, it leaks out somewhere. Very hard to pinpoint. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Jeff

 

[dcstang67]

Are you checking the fluid with the engine running and in neutral?

 

[JeffM]

Yes, I check with it warmed up and in park. Fluid not coming out from the overflow tube either.

 

[golf4283]

Granted I haven't run a C4 in a while but maybe run it around and let it sit and see how much fluid comes out. Then run it again for a bit without filling it back up and park it again. If no more fluid comes out then it was indeed overfilled. If more comes out then you have another set of problems.

Driving it with low fluid won't kill it as long as you're taking it easy and just warming it up. My T-5 leaks a little bit off the bat cause I overfilled I'm sure but not a drop has come out since then.

 

[dcstang67]

This may sound crazy, but how do you know you have the right dipstick?

 

[brianj5600]

And it is all the way down.

 

[HookandLadder]

Take off the access cover on the bottom of the trans. Check the converter and make sure the drain plug is A. There B. tight . You may have to roll the converter through a revolution in neutral to see the plug in the converter. I believe it is on the front side............DAVE?

 

[dcstang67]

depending on the converter you may have a plug and you may not. If you do you should see it through a hole in the flywheel at the front of the converter.

 

[JeffM]

I am pretty sure the plug is tight. It will be at the paint shop for about another 5-7 days. Man, it is driving me nuts walking out into an empty garage when I want to tinker.. I am going to check on it today and see if it is still leaking bad. I am leaning towards a dipstick tube leak(even though I siliconed it). Atleast I am hoping that.

 

[JeffM]

Went up to the paint shop and measured the dipstick. It measures approx 20 1/2". That is the length of the inside, where it goes into tube, not overall length. This one has sort of like a 4-wire type configuration just below the cap, not the typical squiggly spring steel as seen on most. I am pretty sure it is correct, but not positive. I am going to get a correct o-ring and hopfully that is the culprit. Hopefully, the car will be back here soon.