So last week I had my BD valve body, torque converter and flex-plate installed. I drove the truck home and parked it. This week I drove ~300km to work and after my truck had been parked for a while I noticed a small (~4") puddle of ATF under it. The fluid was coming from the front seal and my fluid level was down a bit on the stick.

I'm not going to be home for about 3 weeks so I took it to the dealership in Drayton Valley where I'm working, they dropped the transmission and diagnosed the leak as coming from a burned out pump. By the time they get the pump replaced and the tranny back in I'm out $1,450.00.

So what wrecked the pump? Is this just a coincidence that the problem happened right after having tranny work done? The pump would have been out for the install - is it prone to failing after being removed? Is my new TC or VB doing something that would kill the pump?

Advice please! If this is a one time failure I'm happy to eat the cost - but I need to know if there's anything further I need to check before having another pump crap out on me.

 

Was the pump broken or burned out? If it was broken it was more than likely installer error by not installing the converter correctly.

 

I don't know for sure. The dealership said the pump was leaking and needed to be replaced. The tech said it looked like it had been hot - but I'm not sure exactly what he means by this.

Would the dealership have noticed an incorrect TC installation when they dropped the tranny today?

 

It sounds like it was not getting any lube. They should have looked to see why.
If it was hot because of no lube and the cause was not found it will do it again.
The only way it will not do it again is if they fixed the problem by mistake, i.e. the gasket was covering a lube hole and they installed a new gasket that is not blocking the lube.

 

Huh. They didn't give any reason why the pump would have failed. I guess I'll see tomorrow - if I get it back to the rig and it starts leaking again I'll be hauling it back to the dealership again.

How come I didn't notice any problem when I was driving it? Could a burned out pump have done other damage to my transmission?

 

Yes, it depends on what the real cause was. The only way the pump is gonna burn up if it is short on fluid. Either idling too much in park without the VB mods to circulate, or, something else blocking the fluid.

The pump does NOT need to be removed to install the parts you listed unless they were updating the reaction rings on the front drum support. If they did that, its a good bet something was not cleaned good enough and a port was partially plug for a bit and caused excessive heat to build.

At this point you may be fine, or, there could several other issues developing. Hard to tell unless the trans is pulle down and examined.

 

I guess we'll see tomorrow when I pick it up. If the problem hasn't been fixed the new pump should go out right away and start leaking again. I'll run it around town a few times and take a look underneath before heading back to the rig.

I have done quite a bit of idling in park over the years, including a couple overnighters. I didn't know about the 'no circulation in park' issue until fairly recently. It seems to be a bit too much of a coincidence for this to have happened right after the tranny work.

 

There are so many possibilities when someone else does work and you can't watch. Such as: did he install a new TC seal correctlly, did he damage pump during install, Was the converter hub oversize or burred and damage converter hub bushing, Did he pull the pump and fubar the reinstallation, or like you said "a coinindence. Time will tell. Dang, just trying to make better and get beat to death. Wish had never tried anything till actually broke???

 

Old rule of thumb.If a issue arises just after work in that area 95% of the time it was caused by just that.

 

What a train wreck this installation has been.

Since replacing the pump it's been back in the shop twice more for the same leak. The first time they blamed it on the fact that a cork gasket had been installed with my Mag-Hytec pan (O-ring), which caused it to loosen up and leak. They removed the gasket, tightened the pan and sent me home. It still leaked.

Last time they said a band-adjustment screw had not been siliconed and had come loose and was leaking, they siliconed it, tightened and re-adjusted it and sent me home. I just looked underneath and it's still leaking.

*** ??!!

 

For anyone who's interested so far my BD Torque Converter, Valve Body and Flex Plate has cost me $5,013.55 installed and I'm still leaking ATF.

 

Sorry about you misfortune. I've been watching this and find it troublesome for the dealer to not get it right the first time.
As far as the band adjustment nut and using a sealer that is fraud.
Millions of them never used a sealer!!!
I bought a TCI converter YEARS ago for my 95, and it ate the seal. The machining wasn't correct. I had to send it back-at my expense- and pay the installer to do it twice. I'll never buy another one!
So, is it right now? Who did the first install?
I alway check/replace the bushing and seal when I change a converter.
Some people damage the pump when they install the converter by not getting it all they way into the pump tangs. They then force it by pulling the case to the engine.

 

This is really bugging me, so I crawled under there to take a closer, and it although there's some very minor questionable seepage out of the bell housing access panel the ATF seems to be coming from the edges of my Mag Hytec tranny pan.

See the pictures below - it appears the pan does not fit quite correctly? The first couple pictures show the rear of the pan, you can see the cutouts in the pan don't match the outline of the tranny, and there is rubber or plastic (more gaskets??) visible:







This picture shows the front of the pan - you can see some seepage around the edge, as well as the plastic (gasket)? in the seam:



These ones show a corner from two angles, and you can see the plastic stuff sort of bulging out:





So what's up with that? Did they throw another gasket in there when they removed the cork one or is this the way it's supposed to look? What about the pan cutouts not matching the rear of the pan - is this ordinary for the Mag-Hytec?

HELP !!

 

Ok - I just read the Mag-Hytec installation instructions and apparently this pan (727-D) does require a gasket.

So what's going on?

 

I could be wrong here , but i'll take a shot at it.

The first picture you posted shows the pan with the original plastic/o-ring gasket installed. I think that your issue is that the contours of your Mag-Hytec pan do not cover the o-ring and that is why the pan is still leaking. Have a good look at it. If you can see the o-ring on the outside of the pan flange, then there is no seal between the pan and the transmission.

This is why the Mag-Hytec pan comes with a cork gasket.

It seems pretty simple to me.

I did my own install on my VB,TC and had my trans apart twice. The pan was off propably a dozen times, and I have never had any leaking issues with the original gasket and pan.

JR