Someone told me before that if there is a puddle of transmission fluid when the car has been sitting and not running then it is probably not the front seal. The reason for this is that the fluid is below the front seal when the car is not running.
I would check the pan gasket first. Someone correct me if I am wrong; that is just what I have been told and I am no transmission expert.

 

had an 82 camaro the front pump bushing and seal went bad on and it leaked worse after the car was shut off rather than running.

same way with an 89 gt stang i had with the oil pan gasket on the motor, wouldnt leak while running but drained a quart or 2 on the ground after i shut it off.

:zdunno: :zdunno:

 

you have to pull the transmission out to get to the front pump which is behind the converter.you can use a rear axel puller and a larger bolt that threads onto the pump to get the pump out.pump is held on by 8 mm standered threads i believe.you will need a 10mm to thread on the pump it self.i also believe there are only 2 places out of the 7 or 8 holes you can put the bolt.but i whould doubt your front seal is leaking.

 

...I don't recall offhand where the dipstick goes into the case, but maybe also check first to see if it is coming from the dipstick tube o-ring, may save you a bit of work

 

I vote for the dipstick tube "o"-ring as well. It's on the passenger side towards the front and could be dripping down the front of transmission. PITA to get to, but small hands help.

Check it out, it's a cheap fix.

 

Dipstick tube would leammore when it isn't running as well because the fluid gets higher int he unit when you shut it off.
Alan

 

Thanks guys. I'll check that out today and let you guys know tonight.

 

Okay, I took a longer look at it today. I first pulled the rubber plug from the bell housing to check for fluid in there and there wasn't any. I even ran my finger inside the bell housing and didn't pick up any trace of fluid. So that means it's not my front pump seal, right? There was some fluid where my flexplate meets the housing, however, but from what I can tell, there isn't any fluid inside the bell housing.

I retorqued my tranny pan bolts; all were dead on and none needed retightening. So my pan gasket is okay.

The only thing I couldn't check was the o-ring for the dipstick tube, but at this point I can't imagine it being anything else. It does only leak when the car sits for a while, because I ran it to normal operating temperature, parked it for an hour and came back to check how much had leaked and there was only a very small spot; the one I found two days ago after letting the car sit overnight was at least fifteen times bigger (today was the first time I've used the car since then, so I don't have consistent results yet).

Saturday morning I'm going to try and wipe off most of the dirt and fluid on the pan and wherever, drive it down to my friend's house (he has a garage I can use to fix it) and park it for a couple of hours while I do my brakes. If it is the o-ring, I'll replace it that day as well. If it's not, well... We'll see.

 

might also check the tranny lines at the tranny case where they screw in, they might be loose. just something else to add lol

 

My 00 Grand Marquis was losing a ton of fluid, it was the dipstick tube.

The car was in an accident, and went over a curb and median at 45 mph. In the process it hit the tranny pan on the median and bent it up. They replaced the pan, but when I got the car back it was leaking a ton. I took it back (mistake, but it was paid for by the insurance company) and they said it was the dipstick tube and they just reseated it. No more leaks, but they didn't replace the filter. They removed the filter, left the oring in the bore, stuck the filter back in place, and put the pan on. The filter was cracked on the plastic side, dented on the metal side, and it was free wheeling over bumps and left turns (you know, the type IN FRONT of oncoming cars). It didn't go back to them, and when I drained the pan (17th quart I had done in the last 5k miles, who knows if they did the torque converter or not) I could see where they had used vice grips or waterpump pliers on it to jam it back in.