55 Fordomatic leaking in front

Rmid55

Rmid55

Junior Member
Spent my Saturday replacing what I thought was a bad pump seal in my 55 Fairlane. After a test drive it still leaks like I never did anything. It seems that it leaks when I drive it. If I back it out in the driveway or idle I don't notice it doing it. Any one have any thoughts?
 
Ford-O-Matic transmissions still had the big bolt together torque converter for the most part. It has a very large O-ring that seals it. I don't know about the availability of that part. There is a gasket where the front pump cover goes on too. I'm not sure if it was still an air cooled type with the big shroud or not for that year. I think they started the change over is 56 but I can't say for certain without more research. They kept the air cooled types for lighter duty engine applications for a fair amount of time longer. They were starting to look into using oil coolers but I don't think they had the radiator interface cooling yet like the later Cruise-O-Matics have. If the leak is in the converter housing then the oil can get spun all over in there so it's hard to tell where the leak is coming from.
 
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I just had the torque converter O-ring replaced, as part of a trans-reseal project. That O-ring is like 11". I think Concourse Parts sells them. Match mark your converter with a spray can before opening it up.
 
There are several possible leak points on the Fordomatic.

1) The front pump gasket and seal (which you have indicated was done)
2) The large O-ring seal between the cover and the converter housing.
3) The lip seal and o-ring seal on the transmission shift lever and throttle valve lever on the side of the transmission case. If you pull the transmission to do the converter o-ring, you should do the side lever seals also because it is much more difficult to do with the transmission in the car (can be done, but much more difficult)
4) The rear shaft seal (but you can usually tell if this one is leaking and it is easy to do in the car.

I bought parts for the project from www.autotran.us and you will have to call in the order but it is one of the best sites for old Ford trans parts.

Here are a couple of videos that are helpful. The first one is a complete rebuild and quite long, but if you forward to the 2:00:00 time frame it details the converter o-ring seal installation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwenorNpQtY&t=7332s

This next video shows the shift lever/trans valve lever seal replacement (done in the car but you can use this for how to do it with the transmission on the bench also).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MGTw76w5YE

Good luck,
Dave
 
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