New C4 Trans leaking at front seal!?

Hello,
I have a newly rebuilt C4 from Hughes Performance Trans at our local shop. It is a stock rebuild, the car drives nicely & shifts perfectly.
Well the other day I noticed dripping under the trans so I jacked it up & saw that there was fluid saturating the inspection cover & being blown back to the pan too. The trans has about 150mi on it, I was upset of course. So I wiped it all down & drove for another 30 miles or so & same leaking appeared again the next day! I'm sure this is a front seal problem, but it is brand new & I installed the new torque converter myself very carefully-the seal was greased & also the converter had grease on it too(from Hughes). The only thing I can think of is the seal was not good, or I didn't install it correctly. Does anybody confirm this, or ? Thanks...

 

Not sure if this will happen this quickly, but I hear you need to lube it with trans fluid prior to use. Many people use lithium grease, or whatever they have laying around, or forget to lube it at all.

Do you know what you pre-lubed it with?

 

When I looked at the new torque converter it had a vasoline type lube on the snout. Hughes built the converter in house & used that stuff.

 

It could have also been damaged on installation.

As for the lube, I have always heard to lube it with what is inside. Trans fluid for trans, oil for oil filter, etc.

Sucks. The seal is only $2, but is a major feat of work to get to and swap.

 

The recommended lubricant for front and rear seals in Vaseline or Auto-trans assembly lube.

 

Hmmm. Well I stand corrected.

won't the vaseline make the seals swell? Maybe that is why it is used here?

But am I still correct otherwise? That generally, you lube seals with whatever is being sealed off?

 

double check with white cloth to see color of oil. Confirm it is red oil and not engine oil.
good luck!

 

Yea, I'm going under today & I'll check the color real good-but I have a bad feeling I nicked the seal putting it in! Just great!!!

 

Vaseline doesn't swell the seals. It does allow the atf to take over as it disolves easily when heat is added. The important period is the time it takes for the seal to get lube from the internal source. Whatever you use to lube the seal must remain long enough to keep the seal lubed and that takes a bit of time. (up to 3 minutes) Engine oil and ATF may not have enough film strength to do so.

 

Thanks for chiming in, Paul.

So, basically, the vaseline is just a break-in lube. Makes sense.

 

I haven't gotten to pull the trans yet, it got freekin cold, even for Phoenix it's only 49 for the high! Too cold for me, I know, I know we're just not used to this type of cold.

Well I did run the car by a great mechanic I know & he drove the car & said to me that why the seal is leaking is not the trans or my install at all, but it's a good chance the engine is out of round, he said. Which means the crank bearings are wearing and or the flexplate was not balanced. He did detect a imbalance or a miss when driving the car. So it seems if the crank is not spinning in a nice circular pattern it is spinning a little of a oval pattern which is doing the same to the torque converter which is slightly contorting the front trans seal. A good way to tell is drop it, replace it(lube with vasoline)then install again-if it happens again shortly then that is what's wrong & why I'm leaking. Then it's time to rebuild the engine!!! Just great...