[FWDLK] Leaks spring eternal

[Dan Morton <morton@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I chickened out on replacing the rear main seal in my '59 Plymouth 318 --
the one with the rust hole in the oil pan.  I took it to my trusted local
mechanic, and had him replace it while the pan was off.  Reggie Knowlton (on
the list) had given me some good advice, replace the front trans seal if
they have to pull the trans, so I picked up the seal.  But then, the
mechanic gave me some good news (or, so I thought at the time): He didn't
need to remove the trans to replace the rear main seal -- the neoprene seal
comes in two pieces, and the upper part can be worked around the race with
the cap off.

When I arrived at the service station, the first thing I did was look under
the car.  No apparent leaks!  This is good, I thought.  And indeed, the car
does not leak oil anymore.

However:  When I came out of the supermarket, I took another look under the
car.  A leak!  But wait -- it's red!  I drove the two blocks to home, and
parked in front of the house (not in the driveway, I've learned the hard
way).  Now I looked under the car, and a steady stream of red fluid was
pouring from the front of the trans.

It's clear that, in jostling the crank with the cap off to get the rear main
seal in, enough trauma was caused to an already ancient transmission seal to
trigger the leak.  At least, that's my theory.  Have a better one?  By the
way, when the mechanic removed the prophylactic baking pan I had wired under
the car this morning, prior to surgery, he had already seen a trace of trans
fluid in the pan.  So this was an accident waiting to happen, by my
guesstimate.

(*sigh*) I guess eventually I'll be making a spring cruise, or a summer one.
It just seems like forever, tho.  Mebbe the floods will stop, come
November?!

        Dan
        '59 Sport Fury

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