2006 GTO LS2 & 4L65E (18k miles) in a 1955 Olds 88. No fluid flow at all & suspect I messed up the pump at some point during the mock-ups the last few years......?

Today, I removed the TC bolts and pushed the TC back. I measured from the front surface of the flex plate to the TC bolt pad and it's 0.395". If I subtract 0.140" for the plate, I'm at 0.255", so the gap is OK?

With the TC pushed all the way back, it only rotates freely for a quarter turn before it stops. It's not a solid stop and I think I could force it around, but I stopped to see if could get some feedback here.

Pretty bummed.

Thanks,

Joe

 

With the TC pushed back it should turn quite easily as many turns as you like.
So yes, it does sound like a broken pump rotor due to bolting up without the TC being fully seated. Sorry.

The correct gap between the flexplate and TC pads is between 1/16" and 3/16" with 1/8" being ideal. So .255 is too much. Instead of trying to measure as you did, use drill bits to determine what the gap is.

 

I figured as much. I put the thing together for a mockup or two way back before I had read up on this delicate procedure.....

I'll start tearing it out.

Couple questions:
1. Do I need to have the whole trans gone through, or can just the pump and TC be replaced?
2. What parts should I get? Is there a preferred source?
3. Is there a better TC type for the street than oe? 55 Olds 88 with Fatman front and Strange 9" rear with 3.51 gear.

 

If the pump created group-up metal, which is likely if you ran the engine, the entire trans and valve body needs to be disassembled, cleaned and reassembled with a new filter.
If there is ground-up metal you also need to flush the stock cooler (likely replace any multi-path aftermarket cooler) and at least send the converter out for cleaning.

Since you have a stock converter, you will want to replace it with a quality aftermarket converter. Likely a 3200-3600 stall from one of our sponsors; the most popular ones here are Yank, CircleD and FTI. There are lots of current threads on converter choices.

Unless you really plan to rebuilt the trans yourself (first timer is unlikely to save money), it might be best to take it to a local non-chain trans shop and get an assessment on how much damage the pump caused.

Sorry to give you the bad news rundown.

 

Might be cheaper to just buy new trans. This build is going to fight me to the end.....

 

Do I need to remove the valve body to remove the front pump? Read something that said yes, saw a video where they did not remove the valve body.

 

No, you do not need to remove the valve body to remove the pump. Try not to pull the reverse drum out with the pump or reassembly will be more difficult.
However, pulling the pump off the reverse drum may damage the teflon rings on the reverse drum and/or the input shaft. Best case, you only need to replace the pump the gasket under pump.

 

You will need to pull out the tcc solenoid before removing the pump or you will break the plastic tube on the solenoid.

 

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

Well, I dropped the pan, there was nothing at all in the fluid, so on some "professional" advice I installed a new pump and reused the original torque converter.

Everything went together nice, I added washers to get the TC gap from .255" to .163".

Put in 8 1/2 quarts of fluid (not including the 1/2-3/4 quart in the TC).

Started the car, and within 2 minutes, I see a puddle of trans fluid on the floor. It was pouring out of the vent tube/hose.....

It stopped for a minute or so but the next time I started the car, it started again. I put the car into gear and all of them worked.

I tried to search and only find things like "it's running hot" or "it's over filled". Neither the case here.

Any thoughts?

I finally added some clear vinyl tubing to the vent and my buddy held it in a jar and I took the car for a ride. Seemed to shift ok. Nothing wierd.

 

When you reinstalled the pump did you double check the orientation of the pump to case gasket?

 

Pretty sure. It seemed pretty easy to align with area that had the bunch of holes all grouped together. Heck, I suppose it's possible that it wasn't aligned correctly, but I'm pretty confident it was.

I've got this cooler lines running through a Derale cooler and I read that if the cooler lines are restricted, it would cause fluid to be vented. I did pull the line going into the cooler (with the thermostat) and there was fluid in it but I don't check the outlet side. I'll look at that tomorrow.