Tranny leak and recylcing

[Guest]

I have a couple of questions: I just replaced a ST300 with a 1970 turbo 350. everything works well except it leaks very badly at the dipstick base. Is there a rubber "O" ring that should be replaced? Any pointers on fixing it now that the tranny is in place? Finally, is the only realistic destination for my old ST 300 the city dump, or are there any places that would recycle this unit? GH

[NTX5467]

There is some sort of seal at the base of the dipstick/filler tube. It NEEDS to be a seal that is compatible for the fluid it is sealing in. Just because one rubber o-ring seal looks like the next one doesn't mean both would be compatible with sealing ATF. The generic one might look like the GM part number item, but the generic will typically leak inside of 2 weeks while the GM item will not. The particular seal probably is the same one that fits later GM automatics up until the later '70s when they went to the multi-lip boot seal.

One time, we had a parts guy that gave out a generic o-ring seal with transmission rebuilds. They always came back in about 2 weeks with a fluid leak complaint. I knew it should not be that way and found the correct GM seal for that. No more leak complaints from that area of the trans. It's worth the little bit of time and effort to put a generic seal in there when you consider what it takes to replace it the second time.

As for the ST300, advertise it in Hemmings or in the For Sale forum listing. It might only have 2 speeds, but it takes less power to run it too.

Enjoy!

NTX5467