Just installed a built trans...problems now

[ls1camino]

So, I just installed built trans I bought from another member. It has all of the goodies including a GMR 1" chain. It was torn apart and verified by a local shop and reassembled with new gaskets. WE got it in and it drank down about 10qts of fluid (torque converter still had fluid from the stock trans. We had it on the lift and I shifted through all of the gears to let the fluid go throughout the trans. We get it on the ground, and I start driving home. After about 20 miles of easy cruising (50-70 mph and no real hard driving), I leave from a red light, get to about 40mph and then lose all gears. I pull over in a parking lot and pop the hood. I pull the dipstick and it's burning hot and there is steam coming out of the tube. There is still a little fluid on the end of dipstick, so it wasn't bone dry. I parked it for the night and came back in the morning to have it towed to a friend's shop.

What could have caused this? Clutches? Torque Converter?

[BillBoost37]

Please give us more info.

Year of the trans you put in?
Does it appear the fluid came out the vent?
Where does it appear the fluid leaked out from?

[ls1camino]

- Not sure of the year, but I did have to switch over the cooling lines' connectors on the trans from the screw in to the snap/clip in, so it matched the lines in my 2000 2-door.

- There was a small puddle under the car when I parked it, but I am unsure where it came from.

Anymore info you need?

[BillBoost37]

You said that you switched to the snap in right?
The snap in have a checkball in the fitting, the screw in type have the checkball in the valve body. Having two checkballs isn't an issue. But not having one might be. Not sure that it would be an issue while running though.

Where under the car was the puddle? Driverside, passengerside, under radiator/engine/trans area?

Seems like you lost the fluid, where is the question that is likely the issue. If it popped out the vent on top of the trans, that's likely a channel plate gasket issue. An axle seal is easy enough to check/fix. Cooler line is also easy to fix.

[ls1camino]

The puddle was more around the passenger side near the rear.

I believe I left the checkball in the snap in fitting, because I move it directly from my old trans to my new trans, and I'm firely sure I didn't hear anything hit the floor.

My biggest question is, could I have seriously hurt the trans by running it too low on fluid?

[BillBoost37]

Hopefully not. Being that it's fluid that pushes the clutches and fills the accumulator to push the foward band..likely it's just out of fluid.

Sounds like it's etiher the diff cover or passenger axle seal. You'll need to go under to try and figure out which.

[ls1camino]

Well, I'm stuck working 12 hour shifts this week, so hopefully my friend can figure out exactly what is going on, because I obviously do not have the time to do so.

[ls1camino]

Well, just got a call, it's full of fluid and not moving. They didn't see any leaks.

Any ideas?

I'm thinking of just swapping in my stock trans and hauling the built one out to TEP when I go out to Indiana for vacation for the Fourth of July.

[BillBoost37]

Drain it and pull the pan. Down by the passenger end is the hole where you can see the foward band. You can touch it and see with a finger if it seems broken. If it's not that.. then something else went badly. But there's not a ton of things that cause this.

[ls1camino]

If I go ahead and swap my stock trans back in, which snap in connector has the check valve, because I'm going to have to swap them again, and I want to make sure it's there.

[BillBoost37]

It's there...you can't take the piece out w/o doing it intentionally...if that's even possible. But when you pull the clips..and look int eh fittings you shoudl see a ball in one.

[ls1camino]

Does it matter which one it goes into?

[BillBoost37]

Yes, but and here's something I assumed a little earlier. Only one of the newer fittings fits into the older trans. The other one has to be adapted somehow. Because the tapped sizes on the older trans aren't the same.

Cooler Line Fitting into Case (97- early 99)	1/4-18 NPSF	28
Cooler Line Fitting into Case (mid 99- 03)	Feed 3/8-18 NPSF Return 1/4-18 NPSF
Cooler Line Fitting into Case ( 04+ )	9/16-18 UNF

Info from TEP website. There appears to be a potential to put the fitting into the wrong place. IIRC and this is off the hip, so please get confirmation, I believe the check ball fitting is on the feed side of the trans which is the fitting that points straight down.