Severe trans leak

[OGthevan]

1984 G20 sportvan. I just got done putting in a new front seal, still leaks out at least what I think is a quart or a 3 foot puddle before I had to cut off the engine after hearing a pretty noisy bubbling and ONLY spews/leaks when running, then just drips and stops 10 mins later. I had the flywheel cover off so I could inspect it better when i turned it on, the torque converter was pretty soaked and it slinged trans fluid to the right side of the van on the ground. this is the second time I have replaced a seal (one back in march) and this is the worst leak yet. Could my torque converter be bad or can they leak?

the leak had started when I was going down the road and was losing forward power, and was leaving a visible trail of fluid behind me but luckily i was only a quarter mile from my driveway. I have a transmission jack and lots of time if i have to get under there again...

[MT-2500]

What transmission?
The old 700R4 transmission have front pump problems on the seal drain back hole and front pump bushing.
Some required a drill out on drain back hole.

If leaking out the front seal or blowing seal out of pump housing.
Sounds like it is time to rebuild transmission.
Or at least rebuild pump and check converter snout for out of round and wear or breakage.
Also they make a seal retainer for the front pump seal to aid on blowing out seal.

[OGthevan]

how much would the pump rebuild go for if i could do it myself?

its a 4 speed w/ OD in which the overdrive over the summer has failed to correctly shift into for more than a minute then drop out. it also does not shift correctly and hesitates. I dont know the trans number/type but I should look, not a fan of dumping money into transmissions. i want to try the easy approach before having to rebuild or buy a remanned one for $600-$1000

back in march I had the same outcome with the 1st seal job, it leaked at a slower rate back then and stopped totally after a bottle of lucas trans fix. back then I was shifting just fine too. the recent seal i just took out was fitted in its place just fine and hadnt moved, almost looked perfectly fine but a little damp from whatever was leaking.

another thing i noticed after i had changed the seal was me being able to shift the gears with no foot on the brake.

[MT-2500]

4 speed overdrive that year will be a 700R4 transmission.
The 84 year transmission is a weak transmission to start with.

From what you are telling us it is a dead duck.
Seal leakage is usually caused by deeper problems.
That you need to repair before seal will hold.
Pump can usually be rebuilt at not much cost but how is the converter?
But How much internal damage do you have?
Is front seal blowing out or just leaking?

You are already dumping money and time into it and not getting it fixed.
If transmission not shifting good it is more or less internal problems.
If seal not holding it is bad pump or converter or transmission slipping internal and causing transmission fluid to heat up and blow out front seal.
Seal leakage with sipping/not shifting right?
You might as well replace it or rebuild it next time you have it out.
And be done with it.

[OGthevan]

ive had a few symptoms signaling a bad trans such as vapor coming from the dipstick tube at one time so I'm convinced enough to just go look for rebuilt quotes or find a replacement completely, simple enough. No reason to fix one thing and it not being the sorce later on, besides winter is barreling down on us here and ive been out transportation for 2 months now.

[MT-2500]

That sounds like the best way to go on it.
Good luck

[OGthevan]

I just gave the van a 5 second turn on to confirm the leak spot then quickly shut off and its drooling down the rear side of the torque converter onto my Y-pipe, pretty perfusely. I stuck my hand to check and feel if it was coming off where the front seal is and it didnt seem like there was any fluid coming off the plate. I did get a nice soaking down my arm from the converter though.

[MT-2500]

If it is leaking that bad it could have blowed the seal out of pump housing.