Welcome to my nightmare!

-
T

Tmac85

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
18
Reaction score
1
Location
Carrollton Va
Take a look at these pics. Looks to me like a cracked bell housing. Hacked dust cover. And wrong pan gasket??

image.jpeg


image.jpeg


image.jpeg


image.jpeg
 
Bought 3 weeks ago, drove it twice around town. Never seen a speed bump or pothole with me. Was told at time of purchase it was front pump seal leak. Pan it self is saturated while everything else is sludge....
 
2nd picture - right above the corner facing us - that looks like a crack, but with all that grime under there - it is hard to be sure.. the bottom of the bell housing - I think that is just scrapped up good - the center line that I am thinking you think is a crack is the original manufacturing seam - no worry. That dust shield is an odd piece - thankfully they are mostly cosmetic and don't really do much. The pan needs a new gasket and while you're at it - replace the pan. First and foremost though, you need to get under there with some rags and cleaner - we'll be here...
 
I feel like I remember that some dust shields had an inspection cover... that could be the opening you have there..
 
opening is def the inspection cover. You can simply fab one out of sheet metal with some tin snips.

and as stated, not a nightmare really. Once you fix her up, you'll know its done right. pan just looks light it has been overtightened.

I would clean her up with some simple green and look her over. good luck!
 
From the looks of the rest of it you might want to just go ahead and pull that trans and do a reseal on it and clean it up while it's out.
IF there is a crack anywhere down there on that bell it can be easily welded up without even taking it apart.
The dust covers are pretty easy to find, and that opening is where the little bolt on cover goes.

A reseal would consist of the pump seal, linkage seals, band pin oring, output shaft bearing clip cover, rear shaft seal and pan gasket.
The pump could even probably use a new gasket and ring along with a new bushing anyway.
From the looks of that thing you will probably end up chasing leaks forever if it isn't just done all at once.
There is nothing wrong with a stock pan on a driver car.

OR, you could just spray it off and drive it, then see what needs attention as you go. :D
 
That hole in dust cover is just inspection cover, like previous post said. Mine dust cover looks same exept i have small plate there.
 
I wouldn't worry about that little crack one bit, as there is soooo little pressure in that area.
It just cracked from landing on something.
It would bug me more that the little bolt holes for the small cover are busted out.

A lot of people run without either cover anyway, with very little evidence that it matters at all.
If I were to be running on dusty rocky dirt roads a lot I would run the cover for sure though.

If that were my own car I would clean it up and run it.
Then see what I might be dealing with, and I also think that 90% of the leak is probably the pan gasket alone. (the other 10% being dipstick tube and linkage seals.)
It looks a bit dry inside for it to be a front seal, but it's possible.
 
huh - yea - there's a hairline crack there... and it appears that the mounting hole for the dust shield is destroyed - neither should be of huge concern. How does the car go? any vibration?
 
So I figured since I was going to pull it anyway for the front pump seal that I might as well rebuild it. Bought a TCI super pro rebuild kit. No lift, was just going to use jack and stands. Just got a quote for 1000 bucks to rebuild the tranny and that includes removal/install and towing. Does that seem fair? And also should I go ahead and replace torque converter as well?
 
Car shifts great. Motor is completely original with 100k miles. It just leaks. And I'm a bit OCD with leaks.
 
1000 huh? yeeeaa, probably ... did you tell them you want them to install the performance upgrades? (that tends to get a 10 to 20% increase) The torque converter? It is probably fine - - but as you're already there... what's peace of mind worth to you? food for thought - at what point are you better off just buying a new transmission -
 
it won't (or shouldn't ) leak - it's new - everything will be there - it's new - you can do it yourself - it's new - you can order it however you want it - - and - it's new!
 
ScampMike said:
it won't (or shouldn't ) leak - it's new - everything will be there - it's new - you can do it yourself - it's new - you can order it however you want it - - and - it's new!
Click to expand...

Problem with new is that it doesn't always mean right, and new isn't necessarily "new" anyway.
It's probably been 30 years since I saw a "new" 904" instead of rebuilt.
I would much sooner have it done local so it wouldn't be a huge pain if it needed to go back for any reason. (which seems really common these days)

AH HELL, maybe I should just come over and help you drop a 42RH overdrive in there.
I paid $125 for mine with the HD lockup converter out of the U Pull It yard, and went through it adding a stage 2 Transgo shift kit in the process for right around $350 total. :D
 
Last edited:
TrailBeast said:
Problem with new is that it doesn't always mean right, and new isn't necessarily "new" anyway.
It's probably been 30 years since I saw a "new" 904" instead of rebuilt.
I would much sooner have it done local so it wouldn't be a huge pain if it needed to go back for any reason. (which seems really common these days)
Click to expand...
true enough..
 
TrailBeast said:
Problem with new is that it doesn't always mean right, and new isn't necessarily "new" anyway.
It's probably been 30 years since I saw a "new" 904" instead of rebuilt.
I would much sooner have it done local so it wouldn't be a huge pain if it needed to go back for any reason. (which seems really common these days)

AH HELL, maybe I should just come over and help you drop a 42RH overdrive in there.
I paid $125 for mine with the HD lockup converter out of the U Pull It yard, and went through it adding a stage 2 Transgo shift kit in the process for right around $350 total. :D
Click to expand...

If only you were closer. :D
 
Tmac85 said:
So I figured since I was going to pull it anyway for the front pump seal that I might as well rebuild it. Bought a TCI super pro rebuild kit. No lift, was just going to use jack and stands. Just got a quote for 1000 bucks to rebuild the tranny and that includes removal/install and towing. Does that seem fair? And also should I go ahead and replace torque converter as well?
Click to expand...
ive done r&r for a really good tranny guy, 1800 was the cheapest he would do one.and he gaurantee his trans for a full year unlimited milage
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top