I pulled the tranny on my Dad's car to fix a leak from the bell housing area. The torque convertor seal is very straight forward to change out. I would like to change the o-ring on the front pump while I'm in here. I think this is actually where it was leaking from, as the torque convertor itself was bone dry. My question is does anyone know how to remove the front pump so that I can get at the o-ring. Tranny type is 722.320

Pete

Mmmmm, it's a little tricker than it looks. The bolts surrounding the front cover are removed, then a couple of the bolts can be threaded into those 2 threaded holes and the whole front cover removd, that's easy enough. Those bolts are torqued to 13nm.
There are 2 teflon seals on the back side of the pump you have to be careful are kying flat in their groove when reinstalling, recommend you you bearing grease as a "temporary adhsive" to reinstall. Main problem, as you'll see is a ring of springs that needs to be compressed to remove a snap ring. Tool # 201-589-12-43-00 is almost a requirement to do this, unless someone else can advise. Once that's off, you can pull off what they call the plunger, it's the barrel shaped thing with the wide "fingers" pointing up. You can decide to replace the seal around the plunger or not, maybe not a bad idea. Then you can disassemble the pump itself and replace the radial seal on the pump (be sure to inspect the bushing in the front pump, if it's trashy looking you might want to consider a new pump) and also the o-ring surrounding the pump is probably the leaking seal you need to "really" replace. The bolts holding the pump together are torqued to 20nm.

Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

Thanks Gilly

That's the info I was looking for. I'll order the o-rings and gasket then pull it apart. I've done Porsche manual trannies in the past, never an automatic benz. The car only has 115K miles on it and the tranny worked fine. Just an annoying leak on my dad's garage floor.

Pete

In all probability the oil pump will need replacement. There is a plain bearing (like a rod bearing only in one peice) that supports the torque convertor input shaft. Look carefully on the torque convertor for any signs of contact--slight burnishing, copper transfer, etc. That is a dead giveway. Then look carefully at that front bearing--if it does not appear 'as new' with the grey rod bearing look, it is shot. The bearing is available separately, but look very carefully at its race in the oil pump to be sure it has not worked and chewed it out. A very common failure the tranny techs tell me. That bearing is actually a throttling bushing that holds back most of the oil pressure inside the pump, reducing the load on the lip seal around the torque convertor shaft. Excessive clearance lets too much oil leak by, which overpressures the lip seal and you have the leak.

For those that might be interested here's the latest. Following Gilly's info I removed the front pump and housing. It all came apart real easy. I didn't need a special tool to disassemble the pump. I held the ring down against the springs and my friend used a pair of snap ring pliers to open the clip. Once I got it all apart I could see that the o-ring around the pump was done. It was not as soft and pliable as a new one, and when I turned it inside out there were cracks all around it, some of them half way through the o-ring. The cracks looked like an old fan belt that has seen better days. The bushing in the front of the pump looks fine. I'll order the new seals and gasket tomorrow and should have a dry tranny.

Pete

Pete
You can use ATF, bearing grease, or petroleum jelly to lube the new seals for installation. I assume you are reusing the teflon seals, or are you replacing those too? Be real careful not to "roll" any of the new rubber o-rings, have to be real patient and also a thin blade, like a butterknife, will help get the o-rings to go into their bores. Don't rush it or you'll wreck an o-ring.

Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

I'll lube the o-rings and seals with ATF. I've changed plenty of o-rings in other applications. I plan on re-using the teflon seals. I'll change the pump's o-ring, the front cover gasket, and the front seal. That should take care of any leak.

Pete