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And that would be because the leaks are minimal now.
When I bought it, there was a lot of seepage through the engine seals. Those leaks went away with the installation of a new flame trap and cleaning out of the oil separator. That was an interesting job, requiring an overnight solvent soak, but the cost was only some rubber plugs.
The next drip I fixed was the power steering. That was also interesting, because I've never see a hose do what my pump-to-bottle hose did. It literally sweated fluid over it's entire surface. Breaking off the bottle's nipple was just a little bonus. Thankfully, there are some cheap boneyards in town.
Last Friday I tackled the big one - the transmission tailshaft. I had a seal/sleeve/gasket kit from FCP Groton and some experience in doing this job on GM 700R4 transmissions.
Fun fact - a big leak distributes fluid EVERYWHERE. On the other hand, it made some of the bolts real easy to remove and it's probably responsible for preventing some rust. The tranny mount, however, was a misshapen lump with the consistency of a stress ball.
I do have to say that raising both ends of the car is pretty much a necessity. I could have got away with just the front, but it would have made it a lot harder. So, ramps in front, jackstands in the rear. The removal of stuff was fairly easy. I used a small cheap hydraulic jack with a chunk of a fencepost to hold up the transmission, unbolted the driveshaft, used an air impact wrench to knock off the big bolt holding the flange to the tailshaft, then unbolted the crossmember-to-frame bolts and unbolted the two bolts holding the mount bracket to transmission housing. The housing bolts came out easily and the housing itself was not stuck too badly - I removed it by hand. There is an important note here - housing bolts are not all the same length and you have to keep track of which ones came from which holes.
The rear seal literally disintegrated when I looked at it. Well, the rubber part did. The sleeve is supposed to have an oiling groove in it's inner surface. This one didn't, it was worn smooth.
I used a small hydraulic press (cheapest Harbor Freight sells) and a large socket to remove the sleeve. Then I cleaned the gunk off the housing. That is important, a lot of crap gets stuck to oily metal. Hot water and detergent work just fine on aluminum. The old housing gasket came away easily, leaving no residue behind.
The installation of the sleeve was easy with the press. Same socket, align and press, making sure the oil hole is over the oil passage. The seal I had to pound in through a wood block because the press is not tall enough to take the housing tail side up.
Next, I coated the gasket with RTV, stuck it in place and bolted up the housing. Then I installed the flange and bolted it back in. Then I bolted on the mount bracket and started bolting the mount to the cross member. This is where I made several mistakes and fun discoveries.
First, my air compressor decided it was a good day to die. Not the end of the world, but annoying.
Fun fact A - the mount from FCP had one of the screws 1/4 inch longer than original and it touched the transmission housing. That was solved with a careful application of an angle grinder.
Fun fact B - Installing the nut holding the mount to crossmember requires a 17mm socket with a 3/8 drive extension. A socket with a 1/2 drive extension gets stuck and requires a pair of pliers and some colorful language to remove.
Fun fact C - the bolts holding the mount bracket to the transmission need to be tightened AFTER the mount is in place and the crossmember bolted in. Otherwise the crossmember holes don't line up with the frame. I didn't realize the bracket had oval holes and could be moved side to side. This led to me screwing around for an hour and a half until I called my wife to help and she prodded me into more rational thinking.
After figuring this out, everything fell into place. The only warning from here would be to not forget the shims that go between crossmember and frame.
Voila. Leak plugged. Now I don't have to wonder whether my fluid level is going to drop enough to make me stop somewhere along the road. The car also stopped stalling after a cold start. I think that with fluid being too low the transmission made it do that somehow. I still need to get my idle and fuel economy sorted out, but that is something for next week. And my rear window stays cleaner.
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