if you sealed it where those bolts are, all you are doing is filling the bell housing with fluid. Eventually it will overflow and you'll have a mess on your hands.

 

i sealed like a 1 inch section of it where it appeared evident fluid was leaking out, and I’m not getting any drips so far. Are u saying fluid is leaking into there from somewhere else and leaking out there ?

 

​​​​​​ That cover is just to keep mud and dirt out. Most don't even have it as people forget to put them back on. Behind that is your torque converter and flex plate. The converter goes into a seal. That seal is most likely leaking and it's running down the bell housing and that plate is just slowing down the leak. If it wasn't cold here I would pull the cover to show you

 

gonna be expensive to fix ugh, I’m not gonna pull the transmission

 

Pull the cover and have a look inside

 

so I just pull those bolts in the photo, there’s probably 7-8 and have a look. What should I be looking for ?

then suppose I find the source, is there a way to seal it within. Other then gambling on some stop leak which I dislike or pulling the tranny out?

 

Think you need to pull the starter to get that plate off as well. Its either leaking from the torque converter seal, or the pump itself has an issue. Either way, in order to fix it right, the trans needs to be dropped. If you have a good floor jack, it isn't too bad of a job.... (provided you have a warm place to work......) Once the trans is down, it's just pull the torque converter, remove the old seal, install the new one, make sure the torque converter doesn't have a groove where the seal rides, put it back in, put everything back together. Few hours worth of work. Easier if you have someone to help.

 

oh damn, I feel I’ll mostly mess something up in that process, seeing as I’ve never dropped a transmission

 

It's big, it's heavy, it's awkward, and is difficult to deal with by yourself..... With a second warm body, it's not too bad. I have had young kids, and teenagers help me do them in the past...... I think the youngest was my 11 year old neighbor girl. She was there when I was doing it, (no clue why.... bored??) so, I put her to work. She LOVED it.

 

that’s hilarious, need to find some help haha