LukeZ34 Posted March 2, 2003 Report Share Posted March 2, 2003 Damn car.. it's starting to piss me off. This weather isn't helping matters any.. I want warm spring weather, is that so much to ask?! lol :? Anyway.. I took the car out for a drive, and to fill it up with gas this afternoon, and when I got back to the house, I didn't pull up in the driveway as far as I usually do. As I was walking to the door, on the ground I see a small puddle (about the diameter of a CD) of red fluid. Wonderful.. now it's leaking tranny fluid! So that's another thing to add to the list of 'things to do when Luke gets money'.. :x What could it be? Leaking pan gasket? Pan bolts need tightened? I'm not gonna have the ability to get the car anyplace I can work on it for a few weeks, so it'd be nice to know some obvious things to look at when i do get that chance. I've been straying the thought of selling the car too.. Maybe getting an older GP (89-90) or a newer GTP (97-99) if I can find one that I like at a good price. I don't know yet.. Don't expect to see any drastic actions soon.. I think it's just the spring fever I have. Owning a convertible will do that to you, lol Thanks for any advice anyone has on my tranny leak.. Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJB Posted March 2, 2003 Report Share Posted March 2, 2003 Could be: cooler line cracked or loose bad tranny gasket (side and bottom pans) bad torque converter seal (happened to car my friend had) loose bolts (although not likely unless the pan has been off lately) Put in some tranny sealer and drive it 100 miles or so and see if it still leaks. I forget the brand, but its like $8 at Advance Auto. Black bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toastemcutlass Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 most likely the trans pan is loose, happened to mine a lot until i took each one out and put lock tight on them. the 3.4 really love to loosen bolts especially at the high rpms when it is vibrating a lot. i acually lost two of the bolt and two more where half out and all but a couple where finger tight. so for now i would just tighten them and do the lock tight in the summer, too cold.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokesGTP Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Mine was just leaking and it was the tranny cooler lines. The compression fittings on them blow out and it'll leak quite a bit. There like 20$ a hose no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 yeah I would say Pan gasket. But dont forget, Power steerin fluid is Red too, just incase the stuff with the tranny doesnt work Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luminator94 Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Damn car.. it's starting to piss me off. This weather isn't helping matters any.. I want warm spring weather, is that so much to ask?! lol :? Anyway.. I took the car out for a drive, and to fill it up with gas this afternoon, and when I got back to the house, I didn't pull up in the driveway as far as I usually do. As I was walking to the door, on the ground I see a small puddle (about the diameter of a CD) of red fluid. Wonderful.. now it's leaking tranny fluid! So that's another thing to add to the list of 'things to do when Luke gets money'.. :x What could it be? Leaking pan gasket? Pan bolts need tightened? I'm not gonna have the ability to get the car anyplace I can work on it for a few weeks, so it'd be nice to know some obvious things to look at when i do get that chance. I've been straying the thought of selling the car too.. Maybe getting an older GP (89-90) or a newer GTP (97-99) if I can find one that I like at a good price. I don't know yet.. Don't expect to see any drastic actions soon.. I think it's just the spring fever I have. Owning a convertible will do that to you, lol Thanks for any advice anyone has on my tranny leak.. Luke I feel your pain Luke. I just replaced my driver front wheel bearing, what a pain in the ass. Since I've had this car (about 3 months), coolant leaks keep popping up for no apparent reason, something wrong with the operation of the cooling fans, plastic cladding behind the doors that likes to come unhooked, I noticed how cheaply that cladding is "secured" to the car. Now I have some kind of electrical problem in my dash, ugh. And the WEAK ASS HEADLIGHTS!! Just TRY driving 2 hrs. in the nighttime on wet crappy roads without having to get out and wipe off the really dim pathetic headlights just so you can see 3 ft. ahead of you! I get sick of cars. Do you ever wish you kept your Z34 now? I REALLY wish I keep my Euro. And the sad part is the Euro was a 94, and my Cutty is a 97. My Euro held up 110% better then my Cutty! I'm actually going to the credit union tomorrow and seeing about getting a car loan. I'm looking at a N-body. 2001 Grand Am GT1, black, 2 door. It is SWEET. Don't everyone go and hate me now for tradin my W-body for an N-body. I still have my '94 GP SE and my '98 GTP. I've just gotten to the point where I can't take this car anymore. Its a love hate relationship, gotta love to hate it. Its to bad cuz I look at the car and think..."why can't this car have some more damn quality in it...." But then I remember that 97 was the last year for this car and GM didn't give a damn about it, and was just pushing them out the factory. Sorry about the long story, but I NEEDED to vent :verymad: Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse5302 Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Don't forget axle seals. Those leak also. So are you saying that when you pulled up there was no puddle, and a few seconds later there was a puddle? Or do you park in the same spot every night? And it is spread out, or in a small area? And how thick (ie lots of fluid, or a little)? Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 lol I'll vent with you buddy. It's been a bad weekend anyway.. Do I wish I would have kept my lumina? Hell yes.. At the current time it had a shit load less problems than this thing has, but it was my own fault for buying another DOHC car. I knew the problems were probably gonna be coming. Plus seeing the current condition the car is in, makes me want it back even more. The love hate relationship is 100% true with these cars.. I hate the POS when it's got problems, but when your driving with the top down.. there's absolutly nothing better in the world than letting all your worries and problems blow away with the wind. I'm ready for winter to be over.. I'm sick of the cold weather already. About the quality.. I don't think the 94's are much different. That's the main reason I want an older w-body, their built almost 100% better.. Thanks for the help too guys.. I'll be checking all those possible places for a leak whenever I can get a chance to work on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Jason: The car sat for about a week since the weather had been crappy.. I just drove it for the first time today, and noticed the puddle when I got back home. So it's a weeks worth of leaking.. which tells me it isn't THAT bad.. but it's still leaking, and that makes me paranoid enough to ask about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Luke, Your '94 convertible seems to have the same problems as my '94 convertible, just a few months later. I'll bet it's a tranny cooler line leak like SmokesGTP mentioned. That's what mine was. It started getting REALLY bad towards the end. You'll have to peek under the car and see if the cooler lines have fluid dripping off them. Instead of replacing the lines with new OEM ones, I just took a Dremel and cut off the side with the compression fitting with one of those mini cutting wheels. It's a tight squeeze, so it helped a lot to have the Dremel extension attachment. Then I used fuel injection hose clamps to clamp on some hydraulic hose. Worked perfectly. I initially wasted over an hour trying to remove the compression fittings by cutting along them and spreading them open. I wanted to give the new hoses a "nipple" to attach to. However, there's a bump on the metal tubing that I accidentally cut through on both tubes so I ended up just having to cut across the tubing before the bump. That's a lot faster way to do it anyway. After replacing the lower intake manifold gasket and cooler line hoses, the car has been problem free for a few months now. For how long, who knows. I've noticed creaking in the rear, I think either one of the rear spring bushings has gone out, or a strut has gone bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 yea, now that I think about the tranny cooler line, the leak was more towards the front of the car, so I'm hoping that is it. Now tell me this.. would I be better off in putting an external tranny cooler on when I'm working with these lines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Probably! If you're going to put in an external cooler, this would be the time to do it since the external cooler hooks onto the same lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Oh yeah, I don't mean to scare you, but on my 94 convertible, these 3 problems happened within the same month: - Lower intake gasket leak. - Power steering hose leak. - Tranny cooler line leak. Within a WEEK of getting the intake manifold gasket replaced, the power steering hose sprung a big leak. It'd empty the reservoir in a day of driving. The very DAY I reassembled the car with a new power steering hose and started it to check for leaks, the tranny cooler line dripped a CD-sized puddle within 2 minutes of idling. My relationship with the 94 got off to a rocky start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Altight, I suppose a tranny cooler would be a good investment, especially considering the way I drive sometimes, lol. How's this one look? http://www.pfyc.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PFYC&Product_Code=GP3006&Product_Count=12&Category_Code=GPUNDER I sure hope I don't have to go through that power steering hose leak again. That happened on my lumina, and it cost almost $300 to have fixed.. and from the way they talked, it wasn't easy. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOHCRagtopguy Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Sorry to hear about all of these problems you are having. That sure is a sweet looking ride. Mine is tealish blue with a white top. But it's a 93, I havent had hardly any problems with it other than blowing the timing belt at 72K. I guess the build quality was worse the following year or something. Hang in there, spring is just around the corner-Top Down Time!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 That cooler looks pretty decent, although I've read the stacked plate coolers are more efficient than the finned tube type (the GM factory aux cooler is stacked plate as well, I think). The power steering hose leak is a pain to fix, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I was all geared up for a HUGE project, but was pleasantly surprised when it only took a few hours and was pretty straight-forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 So maybe something along the lines of this: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=3228&prmenbr=361 It's not much more, and it comes with the mounting hardware. I'd probably get the $45.99 one (part number: 130-70268) I'd rather spend a bit more money and get something that's more efficient.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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