Instead of starting a new thread, I will bump this up to the top and hope someone can help me! DARTHURS????????

My transmission pan is leaking too and as you all know, I have a 98 Bonneville sitting in the back with one that doesn't leak (I think!).

How easy is it to fix? I can get a jack to jack up the front end and the guy at Canadian Tire said the kits are about $29.99 to buy. I think it would be worth the $30.00 to get a brand new one as I have no idea how good the 98 one is anyhow. Better to take off one and put a new one on right?

The guy told also told me if I take the waste fluid out there, they will dispose of it for me, though I think my mechanic down the road would too, of course they are going to charge me but labour in repairs is the most expensive part and I am trying to avoid that!

Can someone give me detailed instructions on the fix? With photos that I can print off if possible. The guy at CT said it was just 15 or so bolts than you switch them up. I just don't want to mess up anything and especially don't want to flood the driveway.

Any help is appreciated as I am not mechanically inclined at all!!!!

P.*. All I can get is a jack to jack up the front of the car, I don't have anything to jack up the whole car (like ramps or anything).

It'* best to create your own thread to avoid confusion and less for people to read to get to your own post. No worries mate!

Replacing the gasket is an easy job. Follow these steps you will be good to go. Feel free to ask any questions.
How to change transmission filter and gasket

Easy task, just messy

Thank you for bringing that up Dan. This is probably one of the messiest jobs to do. But really simple.

If you can find a catch pan BIGGER than your transmission pan, you should be able to keep spillage to just a few drops.

Also, grab a cheap bag of kitty litter. Just in case.

A large shallow storage bin works great.

After reading the part about big mess I stopped. It is not leaking that bad right now anyways. I will save the money up and get it done professionally. Thank you for the instructions though! I know if I ask here, I will get answers!

It is about $120.00 to get it done here, if I do on my next oil change, the one place will throw in the oil change for free too!

If it has the original GM gasket, they don't leak!

Unless it was damaged, torqued wrongly, or not cleaned properly.... I had one that was leaking. I got a new gasket anyway and solved the problem.

Don't be afraid of mess. One trick to reduce the amount of fluid going into the pan is get a hand pump and remove what you can into a jug. You will still have a fair amount spilling into a floor pan, but not nearly so much. Other than that, I followed Danthur'* instructions and had no problems. When he says the filter can be stubborn, he means it. If he'* as big as his picture, that'* probably why he didn't have as much trouble as I had. I'm a skinny guy and I had to wrestle with it for about an hour.

One more piece of advice, get a bottle of tranny friction modifier. I got mine from GM (and paid through the nose). I believe there are aftermarket versions that are just as good.

Again, don't be afraid of mess. I got a shallow plastic tote and did it on my nice clean concrete garage floor. The mess was all in the pan, not the floor.

Well there is something leaking cause the guy showed me it when I got the oil changed. Maybe the gasket, maybe the pan. I checked the fluid level today and it is still on full so it can't be that bad of a leak really and I haven't notice great big spots in our driveway!

I will think about it. Maybe once the warm weather steadies off around here I MAY give it a shot. But I am not that mechanical either. It took over 3 hours just to get my darn mirror off!! But you never know, gotta learn sometime right!

On a full drain, you lose about 8 quarts when you do it yourself. Using synthetic fluid at $7 a bottle including a $15 filter, you're looking to spend about $75 for the whole job.

For the record, when I did it, it wasn't messy at all. I just loosened up most of the bolts and waited patiently for it to drip out off of one side in a large catch pan. It really wasn't messy for me at all. I had a large cardboard underneath the catch pan just in case, and I didn't drop a single drop outside the pan. Took me all of 30 minutes to do the job.