Torque Converter Seal keeps leaking need advice please

Hi guys,

Well I have an 04 Aveo that has me to the point of break. I tried searching several forums and no info seems to be out there. I'll start with what I have done, originally I thought I had a bad engine oil leak but now I'm thinking it was the torque converter seal all along. I removed the transmission and the flex plate. I found that the Rear Main seal had walked out a bit and was rubbing on the back side of the flex plate. I wasn't sure what would have cause this so I thought maybe engine vibration? Through out my search I ran across the Timing belt thread and the pulleys breaking. the car has over 150k miles and no record of a timing belt change so I removed the upper cover and noticed the belt was worn so decided to replace that as well. I ordered all my parts from RockAuto as they were by far the cheapest and had the best selections. I replaced all parts as per instructions on this forum and the car started great with no issues however the Torque converter was a bear to seat properly. I literally drove the car 2 miles and the trans fluid came gushing out. So I figured i may have damaged the T/C seal during install pulled the trans again and installed a new seal from oriellys same seal from rock auto its a National 223830. After the replacement went for a test drive and same thing now I'm getting frustrated on a whim I called Autozone they use a Timkin seal same part number and it felt better built so I installed that seal and low and behold no dice same issues. After several reads on the internet and transmission manual downloads I was sure it was a metal clad seal that was bad. Well long story short I found a used transmission with around 67k for a steal of a price so I decided to go that route replaced the seals reinstalled it tonight and initially thought I had fixed it well after a trip up the canyon bam smoke everywhere. The same issues I am at a breaking point and not sure what to think anymore. The only things really left are the Harmonic Balancer and or Flex Plate, both parts seem to be good though. So I decided to join the forum and ask for help or see if theres is any advice out there on what else I could check. Thanks in advance and sorry about the long read.

Well Finally after mos of dealing with this issue and my mistake of buying aftermarket seals I found the problem. You need OEM seals the problem is GM does not offer this seal as a replacement you can only buy the complete Pump assy from them @ $277.00 apiece thats pretty pricey plus teardown of the trans to install.. it was cheaper to buy a used trans at the time just I made the mistake of removing the oem seal and using aftermarket ones again.. ugh!! so finally after mos of searching for the OEM Koyo Seals I orderd some from overseas and low and behold problem solved. the OEM KOYO seal number is MK038A5 for anyones future reference I have a couple of them left and listed them in the for sale section. I am working on finding an aftermarket seal that will work withand will post that info when I find it.. Just wanted to update so if anyone ever runs into this issue hopefully this will help. Thanks!

Thanks for the update, good info to know. What a nightmare of a job to find out the seal is wrong size. Hopefully the aftermarket can get it together.

Wow! That was a mess! Glad it's fixed now. :)



-Andrew
:vtec:

i would be interested in pictures, and measurements.

I still have them in my shop I believe so I'll see if I can get some pics posted and the measurements of the seal

i have an 05 aveo ls which i have just experienced the same issue as s-car-go!!! HELP!!! PLEASE!!!

Ask s-car if he still has the seals for sale, he had some spares a while back.

Hi folks, just want to pass along some info on this topic. After suffering from 2 replacements and having ongoing leaks and finding the above post, I made some calls and found a sales person at a distributor that was willing to help. The correct seals are fairly readily available. I just installed today and have no leaks... you can find the correct seal at a Toyota dealer. Part number 90311-38020 for around 14 bucks. This took care of the leak on my 2009.

I have found a ton of useful info here and when I found this, I had to share... Thanks for all the help everyone has provided!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjfetz

Hi folks, just want to pass along some info on this topic. After suffering from 2 replacements and having ongoing leaks and finding the above post, I made some calls and found a sales person at a distributor that was willing to help. The correct seals are fairly readily available. I just installed today and have no leaks... you can find the correct seal at a Toyota dealer. Part number 90311-38020 for around 14 bucks. This took care of the leak on my 2009.

I have found a ton of useful info here and when I found this, I had to share... Thanks for all the help everyone has provided!

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Hi Mjfetz, has this seal you used still working ok from the Toyota dealer? I am having the same trouble with the seals from other places leaking, I am going nuts putting them in my self, lots of work!!! taking the transmission out everytime. Going to try one more time using either the koyo or one from the Toyota dealer. Just want to know if it is still doing the job.

Hi s-car-go, did you ever find a aftermarket seal? I am going through the same deal you have done, just found this sight and was glad to find out that it was not me doing anything wrong, I was using the seals from AutoZone and tried Orileys and same thing, they would leak after a few miles. So much work to put one of these little seals in and then to have it start leaking again!!!! I was at my wits end trying to figure out why!! Maybe I will do it one more time with the seals you suggest and hope it works!!! Please work.

So far so good with the toyota seal.

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Originally Posted by mjfetz

so far so good with the toyota seal.

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thanks for the reply, but now the aveo is gone, it got sold. To bad we could of fixed it. Sounds like the toyota seal did the job.

Hey everybody,
I recently has the same problem with the torque converter seal. After having the tranny off 2 times and the engine out once I, decided to try the toyota seal and it works perfectly.
If anybody wants info on how to do the job please feel free to PM me.

X3 on the Toyota seal. Works great. No leaks.

2 years later, still no ATF leaks.