| |
Jim Grant's Tech Tips
'95 Dodge Ram 1500, Rebuilt Transmission Fluid Leaks
Q: I have a ‘95 Dodge
Ram 1500 2wd pick-up. I have a new transmission that I just installed.
I was filling it up with fluid and it started leaking between the bell
housing and motor. Everything is bolted up just fine and had no trouble.
It also makes a funny noise. I don’t understand and I would think
if it all bolted up, there would be no problem. What do you think?
- Shawn
A:
Having a noise and leak from a rebuilt transmission is not a good thing.
There are 2 common mistakes that can be made when installing a transmission
if you’re not aware or knowledgeable that can create the condition
you’re describing. The more common of the mistakes involves the torque
converter. There is more to installing a torque converter than just sliding
it on the shaft on the front of the transmission. The torque converter
has to engage the transmission’s oil pump and it’s not that
it’s hard to do, it’s just one of those things that can be a
real bugger to get right. If you don’t get it right, you can still
install the transmission and bolt everything up like there is no problem,
until you start the engine, that is. An incorrectly installed converter
will be using friction to drive the transmission’s oil pump. Oil
leaks and internal damage will result. The other problem we see is the
use of the wrong bolts used to bolt the torque converter to the flex plate.
On some vehicles, the bolt goes through the flex plate and screws into
threads that are on the converter. If too long of a bolt is used it can
thread in too far and damage the case of the converter. This will distort
the internals of the converter and even punch a whole in the converter
housing. If all checks out okay you may have a defective transmission,
it happens. In any case, it sounds like you’re going to get some
practice at changing transmissions.
|
|
