Hey folks,

Well - I got underneath this thing on Saturday and dropped the pan. Whoever serviced this thing before did a serious Mickey Mouse job on it. How they managed to seal this thing, I have NO clue.

Found 2 crossthreads (one had a lock washer underneath), and two others were were drilled with a nut+bolt. I did what I could with it and managed to get it all back on, but now I have a small leak right over the exhaust Y. I really don't want to have to drop this thing again and go through it just to have it leak on me yet again. I'm really not happy. I'm not sure if I managed to dimple the gasket or what. I couldn't really tell on tightness since some of these silly bolts weren't right to begin with, so watching my torque wasn't anywhere close to accurate. Any ideas on this? I could take into a shop and tell them the story. I'm sure they will believe every word and then walk away thinking I'm the dumbass who did it. Oh well... Just want the pan leak gone for now.

 

to do it right, you will have to drop the pan. You will probably leak at the crossthreaded bolts and will either have to install helicoils or just drill and tap the hole for a bigger bolt.

judging from what you said, I wouldn't be surprised if the pan was bent and that is why it was leaking. Get a new pan or just use RTV instead of a gasket so that it seals up any larger gaps.

 

you could clean the area and just shove some RTV over the leak spot, that would probably work.
But really, I'd take the pan off and then rtv over the gasket on the spot where it leaks and reinstall the pan.

 

Been a while since I've been back here. We ended up taking this truck in for a complete transmission rebuild. Now we have a new problem after an entire new core. The builder can't seem to figure out why the front pump keeps getting destroyed. He basically told me that the converter is pushing into the bottom of the front pump. They're going to put on a new fly wheel to see if that helps, but they're at their wits end. 518 tranny. Anyone have a clue as to what could be causing the torque converter to tear up the pump? Crank isn't walking - checked that already. We're on the 3rd converter and pump. I'm sure these guys are losing a ton of money on this.