95 transmission

[jeff87]

My Daughter's 95 is leaking trans fuild pretty bad, and I have a question.
I had it up on jackstands with it running in bth forward and reverse to tell where the leaks were coming from. In reverse both tires spun and in forward
only the left tire spun until I spun the right tire by hand it started turning slowly but picked up speed. is this transmission worth the trouble to replace
the seals or should I look for a rebuilt trans?

[RexNfx400]

Little late but, its all good with the way the tires are rotating. Its just a matter of different brake pressures on the drive wheel. Brakes will drag a little more in reverse, so as it puts pressure on the drive wheel, the other wheel starts spinning, no biggy Did you pinpoint the leak? Watch out for leaky solenoid gasket. But also the pump gasket likes to leak.
Unless its a three speed model and leaking out an axle seal. Then the diff. carrier bearing would prolly be defective. Good luck

[denisond3]

If the leak is from the axle seals, its likely the transmission is generally worn inside. Those seals are more likely to go bad when the bushings that hold the transaxle or also worn.
However....Its very possible the leak is from the bottom pan or the rear cover, it can be a gasket that is old and that wasnt torqued properly. Its easy to overtighten those bolts, and strip threads from the aluminum case. Our Neon is a 97, has 14 bolts holding the bottom pan up, and 6 of them had stripped threads. I bought the 'heli-coil kit' to fix this problem, and enough insert coils to do all 14 holes. I use a torque wrench to snug up the bolts to the value given in the shop manual, which is 165 in-lbs, or about 14 ft-lbs. My regular torque wrench doesnt adjust to that low a torque, but I bought a torque wrench reading in inch-lbs for the purpose. After I have put the tranny pan back on and torqued down the bolts, I go back and retorque the bolts a day after we have driven the car, then a week after that. The bolts turn slightly each time. This leaves me with no leaks, and no more stripped tranny pan bolts.
And of course you should use the proper tranny fluid. Dexron III will work, but the transmission life will be shortened. (Use of Dexron III would noy have been the cause of the leak.)

[RexNfx400]

Originally Posted by denisond3

If the leak is from the axle seals, its likely the transmission is generally worn inside. Those seals are more likely to go bad when the bushings that hold the transaxle or also worn.
However....Its very possible the leak is from the bottom pan or the rear cover, it can be a gasket that is old and that wasnt torqued properly. Its easy to overtighten those bolts, and strip threads from the aluminum case. Our Neon is a 97, has 14 bolts holding the bottom pan up, and 6 of them had stripped threads. I bought the 'heli-coil kit' to fix this problem, and enough insert coils to do all 14 holes. I use a torque wrench to snug up the bolts to the value given in the shop manual, which is 165 in-lbs, or about 14 ft-lbs. My regular torque wrench doesnt adjust to that low a torque, but I bought a torque wrench reading in inch-lbs for the purpose. After I have put the tranny pan back on and torqued down the bolts, I go back and retorque the bolts a day after we have driven the car, then a week after that. The bolts turn slightly each time. This leaves me with no leaks, and no more stripped tranny pan bolts.
And of course you should use the proper tranny fluid. Dexron III will work, but the transmission life will be shortened. (Use of Dexron III would noy have been the cause of the leak.)

Hi there
Just so ya know. Chrysler never used any pan gaskets on a front wheel drive automatic transmission. They come sealed with silicone. Thats the best way to put it back together also. Its quite possible, in about a year or two, your pan will probably start leaking again. Keep a close eye on it. Especially if using one of those thin Fram gaskets. Chrysler has a high dollar molded rubber/plastic torque limiting gasket, if someone wants(sounds fancy huh?). It is too, but for $40, silicon is much better. Regular Gaskets just do not sit well with these rigid type pans. Then theres the reason for the striped threads in the case. People will use too much silicone and the stuff gets into the threaded holes. So, the friction on the threads is greater than on the bolt head surface(Torque) because the hole is filled with silicone. Sometimes, you can even break a transmission case by compressing the silicone in the threads. Anyways, the best-long lasting- way to do it, is silicone.

[denisond3]

I have never owned a new Mopar, so they may have originally used a silicon beead. But the used ones I have had (several mopar FWD cars from 82-97 models & all with at least 100,000 miles on 'em when we got them) all had gaskets between tranny and pan when I would do my first fluid/filter change. The gaskets I buy are of a black rubbery compound, and as per the instructions, are installed without any sealant. When I replace the fluid/filter subsequently, those gaskets are pretty easy to peel off too. On the 2 mopar 87 minivans in the family, we have put over 100,000 miles on each of them, beyond the 100,000 they had when we bought them used. The tranny pans stay so dry that they begin to rust.
I have seen the molded rubber pan gaskets, with the metal grommets to keep from squashing the rubber by overtorquing. I havent installed one on any of our mopars though.