Thoughts on this leak? with photo!

[firstv70volvo]

From the location of the leak and from the picture it looks to me like the leak may be between the oil pump and case. There's an o-ring on the outside edge of the oil pump and it's a seal between the case and the pump. Has the transmission been apart? I'm wondering if the o-ring may have failed or if the transmission was apart if the o-ring wasn't installed or damaged during reassembly.

[highmiles]

@first

I don't know the history of the transmission. The car came to me from a friend. The car belonged to his sister and had a catastrophic oiling failure (likely blew out the rear main seal due to PCV system being clogged,) and spun a bearing. I received the car with the engine disassembled, but back from the machine shop. I think the car sat this way for 4-5 years. I think it would be unlikely that the car had the transmission leak before the engine failure, but who knows.
I think the fluid shown in the photo is likely misleading and present from the TC spilling out when I removed the transmission. The car was not leaking when running, only when in drive. But again, either seal being bad could produce that result if occurring only at higher pressures. The fluid would appear first at the opening in the bell housing at the back of the engine so I think it was being flung by the rotating assembly, my guess would be that if the transmission itself was leaking it would appear at the weep hole a the bottom of the transmission. Lots of conjecture... I should look to see if that seal is available and if it can be replaced without opening up a Pandora's box of issues by cracking open the transmission.

I found a generic TC installation video on line that talks about taking great care to pull the TC into the flex plate before bolting it to ensure that it is centered, and that using the bolts to pull it in can cause the TC to bind and then the shaft will be out of center to the seal. I can see this as a real possibility.

Plan on getting a new seal, cleaning up the TC shaft and taking noted centering advice unless I find an obvious defect in the TC itself.
Hoping for the best, glad this is not a primary vehicle so I have all the time in the world on it, but really ready to get this project done so I can move on the next one.

John

[MoVolvos]

@Mo, Funny how we try to find that balance between work/hobby/life. I enjoy working on cars as a hobby, might make it more if I can as I get closer to "retirement" age.

I find most work done by shops are wanting besides having the finances to let them experiment sometimes. Feel safer knowing what I messed up. I do enjoy working on cars or just working with my hands.

[highmiles]

So... let's bring this thread to a close!
We have success.
Conclusions:
On the previous install I did not do a good job cleaning up either the input shaft or the bushing that needs to center in the flex plate. Plus, the transmission was in the car and I was setting the motor in from the top, a challenging strategy. I was careful to clean up the shaft and get the torque converter centered this time. I was particularly paranoid about the attachment of the torque converter to the flex plate. I was able to use a bent pick to pull the converter towards the plate and I installed the screws in a star pattern. First round snug, second round tight, third round to torque.
Test drive revealed no leak! Previously anything as much as a drive around the block would have trans fluid dumping out.
I plan to drive it to work a few days this week, a 60 mile round trip just to see if anything else comes up (I believe the power steering pump is a bit leaky but don't know the rate yet,) and then post it for sale.
With any luck I will get the 01 S60 T5 manual 5 speed in the garage tomorrow, excited to be moving on to the next thing.
Thanks to all who contributed help here!

[- Pete -]

Congratulations!

Don't forget to plug in your knock sensors.
Keeping that stub shaft polished is really important when it comes time to reinstall. I'm guessing your TC stub shaft wasn't nestled up all the way in, even though bolted all the way around the flex plate. That plate really can flex quite a bit. When we were putting the trans back in our one car getting that TC to pop over all the way took us a couple tries. What's odd is mine flexed towards the block & actually made contact until we got the stub shaft to pop all the way in.

Way to go & good luck selling it.

Edit - Yeah, after reading procedures to the point my eyeballs were about to fall out of my head I just said "To hell with it, done dippin' toes, time to dive in", and away we went. Reassembly goes super fast!

[MoVolvos]

-
Great (detail) work! Did have to remove it but it's done.

[sangcXL3]

Congratulation man for resolving the issue. Currently im facing similar issue as per your condition. Had the engine rebuild with new seals for both front and rear seal. But does not out full attention in cleaning area where the seals mating. In totally regret.

Can u explain a little bit more on the ‘centering the tc’? I would like to give that a try first before decide to remove back the engine and transmission.