66 C6 Pull - a couple questions

[DakotaLee]

For you fellows with more experience than I.

I have a pretty bad ATF leak coming from the bell housing, it starts up worse when the car is on. I jacked her up to take a look, and saw the flex plate is completely dry. The cooler lines aren't leaking, and fluid is definitely coming in from the base of the bell housing. Is this a pump seal issue, or could this be coming from the torque converter? I feel like I would have seen ATF all over the flex plate if it were a pump leak.

Either way, the transmission is going to be coming out, which leads to question 2.
Do any of you have a preference between engine/trans combo pull or just dropping the transmission by itself? It seems to me like I would have an easier time just pulling the whole shebang with my crane, instead of getting the bird 4 or 5 feet in the air for the solo tranny drop. Still have a week or so before I take the plunge, so I need to debate the final decision.

[jtschug]

A C6 has a single piece aluminum bell housing and gearbox. If your transmission has a bell housing bolted to an iron gearbox, you might have an MX, not a C6 transmission.

If the leak is coming from the front edge of the oil pan, sometimes snugging up the bolts a little bit can make that go away.

[DakotaLee]

A C6 has a single piece aluminum bell housing and gearbox. If your transmission has a bell housing bolted to an iron gearbox, you might have an MX, not a C6 transmission.

If the leak is coming from the front edge of the oil pan, sometimes snugging up the bolts a little bit can make that go away.

It's a C6 100%. Can't miss that pan shape. Although it's not a '66- I have the '67+ shift pattern. The ATF is dripping out from the inspection plate. Beyond that, I'm leaking from the shift lever bushing, rear seal, and the servo may be as well, so It's time to service IMO. If it were just the pan I would be a lot happier!

[jtschug]

In that case, it is probably the pump housing shaft seal. That will get replaced on a rebuild.

[Inspector]

I've removed the trany using both methods. If you don't have a hoist to get the car up in the air I think it is easier to pull the engine and trany together.
Fighting with the trany cooling lines is also a pain with the engine left in the car. Besides. once you have the engine out you may find things that need doing......like cleaning the engine bay or working on the power steering box or rebuilding the steering column or on and on and on.

[vince]

Unless you are determined to rebuild this yourself, get a transmission shop to bid the pull also. The labor time,on these vintage cars, for a transmission pull is pretty small and should not add much to a bill. Good luck. Vince

[sleeper bird]

i thought my c6 was leaking from the front seal but it was the rubber gasket on the pan,the gasket that comes from most if not all filter and gasket kits is not very good and drips down the bellhousing and seems to be coming from the front seal but its not .im still trying to find a better gasket for it.at least that's what i have observed

[scumdog]

Unless you are determined to rebuild this yourself, get a transmission shop to bid the pull also. The labor time,on these vintage cars, for a transmission pull is pretty small and should not add much to a bill. Good luck. Vince

I would second this, at almost 70 years old I don’t have the strength to wrestle with the weight of a C6 anymore.

And re taking trans and engine out together ? You call.

I recently had to replace a flex plate on a C6 in my F100, with two buddies it worked out well, the only negative was I used a mechanical temp gauge with the sender unit in the side of the trans pan, ergo I had to drain the pan to be able to move the trans far enough out of the way to replace the flax plate.