Fluid POURING out of bellhousing area? Not a "leak"

[nikwho]

Hello all,
So, I have not yet gotten an opportunity to climb under the truck. I get a call from my son, telling me that his truck won't drive and just feels like it's "slipping". It was just after a big snow storm and my son thought that he was having traction issues, so, while he has tried to convince me that he didnt try to drive it for more than 50' once it started slipping, I fell like he is dressing up his story a little bit.

I checked the dipstick, it showed nothing. Smelled like burnt trans fluid. I dumped two quarts in, had him fire the truck up and checked it. Sliver of red ATF on the dipstick. I added a third quart, checked again and nothing. So, thinking that the fluid must be going somewhere, I look under the truck. Looks like the last little bit of GREY (ATF heavily mixed w metal/clutch material) fluid was pouring on the ground. It looked like most of 2-3 quarts of fluid on the ground already.

But, the short version of this story is that once fired up, in neutral, the transmission was puking out fluid essentially as quickly as I was pouring it in.

Does this sound like a front pump seal? I was thinking that it is probably either a front pump seal, or catastrophic failure of the converter!

Anyone ever see these symptoms?

We had the truck towed home and stuck it into the garage. Didnt climb under it, as it was soaking wet with nasty road grime snow dripping off of it.

I'm at work now, but plan to do a little investigating tomorrow or Thursday. Anxious to see what I'll find.

Nik

 

[nikwho]

I'm assuming that it's going to be time for a full rebuild. Truck has 150K+ on it, transmission original. I know that these are tough transmissions, but, they'll only run so long with no fluid! So, were most likely looking at a full rebuild, new trans cooler, converter, etc. Might even get crazy and replace the rear main seal while the transmission is out, as well as check the transfer case for play. Would rather handle everything needed while it's all out. Just curious if anyone has had this significant of a leak? If so, what was it? I'm anxious to figure this one out, but NOT anxious to put in the work. We JUST got this truck back on the road after a huge project swapping the truck over to carburetion, from the old throttle body EFI.

 

[crazzywolfie]

if it is leaking from the torque converter area then it is most likely a seal. definitely may be a good idea to rebuild it. they can be pretty tough transmissions as long as they are taken care of. i got a 727 with no 2nd gear in my 89 and it was like that when i bought it. other than no 2nd gear works perfectly and shifts from 1st to 3rd pretty good. my dad had a truck with the same issue that he drove for 5+years. there are some pretty good video's on youtube if you want to try rebuilding it yourself.