Leak between engine and automatic transmission, repairable?

[mvons]

This is our 401k mile 91 sedan. Got a new tranny at 104k and everything replaced by Amco, bearings, solinoids, etc. They kept replacing parts every two weeks until they did the bearings week 5 & 6. Ran great until last weekend.

When driving on an incline on the freeway, it shuddered because it couldn't shift down because.....loss of ATF.

Question, is there some seal between the engine and tranny that we could replace? If it is farther in the tranny, we'd have to tow to a tranny shop. Unfortunately, I'd need to hunt for one. Thus my post to hear if I'll be phone calling around Monday morning, instead of ordering a seal part and a cherry picker.

The junk yards here only get automatics with toasted trannies, so that isn't an option. Besides rebuilding one that lasted 300k seems better than fixing one that only lasts 100k.

[mike-tracy]

Sounds like the tranny's input shaft seal. I messed mine up when I pulled the engine out without unbolting the torque converter - I pulled em in 1 piece. The seal is cheap, less than $10 bucks, but you have to pull the motor or tranny to replace it.

[mvons]

Help me understand. Before the seal really blew, meaning a leak at all times, we would start up the car, pull into our steep 5 foot entrance to the garage, and in the garage it would leak. So the car went in an incline, yet would leak in front. Gravity not at work, but pressure?

Can a tranny be pulled with the car on the jack stands. Hubby worried if he had enough room?

If you had a choice, which would you pull, an engine or tranny.

Personally, I think the tranny so he'd get the job done. You pull an engine and be SO tempted to do other things while it is out. He has pulled engines out of full size trucks - a wee bit different, I'd think, but never pulled a tranny.. All opinions appreciated.

[kimokalihi]

Engine for sure. Sucks being under the car and wrestling with the transmission. Plus if you don't have a transmission jack to keep it from falling off it can be dangerous. But I have removed the trans while on jackstands twice. It's no fun. If you have an engine picker it's much easier. Engine leveler also makes the job easier.

[mvons]

Any preferred brand/size of cherry picker? We noticed the 1 ton Harbor Freight review said the arm wasn't long enough to reach into anything other than a Miata. We ownt an engine stand.

[kimokalihi]

I think I have the 2 ton harbor freight one and the 2 ton engine leveler and the 1,000 lb engine stand.

[Rubasu]

I also used a harbor freight 2ton for my engine (x5). it has worked for me. i believe that pulling the engine is easier, if you are only going to mess with the front of ur tranny. those engines only take like 2 to 4 hours to get out , depending on your experience with subbies.

[mvons]

Help: I need the Part number for the input shaft seal or torque converter seal. You see I don't know what subaru calls it and don't know if it is on the tranny part pages or what (Non-turbo 91 2wd AT) as I confess I keep mixing up the end of the tranny with the engine side. Haven't seen a blow up of the engine with the tranny only separate pages.

I'd like to have it on hand when hubby pulls the engine. Neighbor sold us a 2 ton cherry picker - my gift of gab paid off finding out about that one! We happen to have heavy duty chain too on hand.

[BoostedSubie]

When i bought the seal for my old Subaru, they referred to it as the front pump seal. I don't have part numbers on hand but any parts store should have the seal. When you take out the engine, be very careful not to pull on the input shaft. When i pulled my first Subie engine, i caught one of the lower bell housing studs on the torque converter as i was raising the engine out of the bay and it popped the input shaft out of position. Then the torque converter won't pop all the way down when putting it all back together, huge PITA if this happens.

[mvons]

Yes I expect a wee bit of swearing on this task. Hubby will just crank up the radio to drown it out. He did find a you tube video on pulling the engine. I haven't checked it out. I hope they did it correctly!

Such good new the seal is available from parts store. We just need to pull it not on a Sunday (cost of living in a rural town).

[BoostedSubie]

He should be fine, Subaru engines are actually one of the easier engines to pull especially if he's used to pulling heavy truck engines. There are only 4 bellhousing bolts/nuts, 4-6 torque converter to flex plate bolts (can't remember, its been awhile since i worked on an auto), 3 fuel lines & evap canister lines, harness plugs behind battery & 3 plugs on bellhousing, intake pipe/exhaust manifold, 2 motor mount nuts, 2 radiator hoses, remove radiator, ac lines, and thats about it not necassarily in that order. The hardest part is getting to the torque converter to flex plate bolts, you have to get them through the inspection hole and it kind of a weird angle. Good luck

[mvons]

Hubby reinstalled the engine and put in new hoses and connector at the PCV valve. The hose crumbed in his hand.

Test drive fine.....BUT.....it doesn't hold on a hill now. When he comes to a stop, the car rolls back before accelerating. What was done wrong?

[BoostedSubie]

Check to make sure you put enough tranny fluid back in after the seal install.

[xise]

bump for an old thread, same thing JUST happened to me, left it in park and pulled the motor so the converter comes out with the motor when pulled. if you do the same thing when you put the motor in it is just as bad for the trans, breaks the pump. I guess there is a small access window underneath the trans where you can get to the flexplate bolts......I hate automatics even more now. ....Anyone have any idea what years AT trans will fit, any 3.90 gearbox fit? If so I might switch to a selectable dual range :devil:

[mvons]

You can get to the bolts. It was at that point, I stopped complaining about hubby having so many different wrenches. He assembled the converter on the tranny then put in the engine. Went fine after he fixed the cherry picker to hold! Old one leaked, not a nice sight seeing the engine starting to crash done on to the car frame, but strong nephew was there to swing it until we pumped it up got it out and onto the engine stand - quick.

[mvons]

HELP! The thing is leaking AGAIN! 422k miles now and it really leaks at start up. Is there any other problem that would cause the seal to leak after 21k miles.

He is still busy putting together the partial rebuild engine on the 93 wagon. It sucks to be in So Cal rural without a car.

[Legacy777]

Do you know if the input seal was a Subaru saal/part or was it one from a autoparts store?

[mvons]

It was a Napa part.

So do you think it could just be the part? That would make my day.

Otherwise, it is all the seals along the torque converter. Do they go out after 300k miles? And put too much pressure on the one seal that we can change without pulling the tranny.

[Legacy777]

If it were me I'd try a new seal on the input shaft and go with a Subaru seal. Unfortunately you won't know until after you've done the repair whether it fixed the problem. From my experience there are certain parts I will only buy from Subaru and not use the parts store brand. This may be one of those parts.

[xise]

could be the torque converter itself is bad, or maybe the input shaft itself is worn out and out of round causing you to not get a good seal you said the transmission was high mileage and many things were replaced...but I doubt the input shaft was replaced.

if you have a set of digital calipers check it in a few places to see if it is round or not...could save you from lumping a transmission or motor in and back out again and would take all of 5 minutes