Ok so a few weeks ago, I posted a "should i get my tranny flushed" question as a preventative maintenance question. Well a few days later I noticed a spot of red under the car. Hmmm i thought that sucks. About a week after that i was approaching a red light and was on the brakes a little as the light turned green. When the light turned green I let off the brakes and went to get on the gas and the engine raced for a second as the the tranny slipped. ah sh*t i am thinking. since then, with the exception of the drip, no acting up. Today, i went to pull a U-turn. had the steering all the way turned to lock/stop and was inching around the u-turn and the tranny slipped again.

I had the tranny rebuilt by my local AAMCO about 24 months ago and I was hoping for some more life than this. The only thing that I can think of are two things...

1) when aamco replaced the tranny, they told me the mounts were worn and that I should replace them. I told them dont because i was trying to save some money. Could worn mounts be causing this slip issue?

2) I got a new readiator and had to disconnect and reconnect the tran cooler lines to the side tank on the radiator. I dont see how that could be the problem and that is not where it is leaking from.

I continue to keep checking the color and level of the fluid and it is still full and still clear and red. I have not had a chance yet to get the car up on stands to find where it is leaking from, but i plan to try to take a look today.

I am very open to any suggestion to try to trouble shoot this. I dont want to wait until it costs me ANOTHER full rebuild.

Worn mounts won't cause the slip issue. Though you may very well have something in that cooler core that is causing pressure loss. This did not happen before the radiator swap?

no. it was running great. and NO leaks. I looked where the two line thread into the radiator and there is no leaks from there..It must be leaking from underneath but i havent had a chance to get under it yet. I am goin to do that this after noon. I live in an apartment complex so I am limited by the ammount of repairs i can get away with and not get a "nasty note" LOL

oh yeah..its leaking like a seive. looks like from 3 of the 4 sides.. any thoughts on why its started leaking lately? never leaked before. I was going to take it in and have the system flushed. Should i wait and let them change the filter and gasket or do it myself?

i drove it over to Waterford for a movie, checked it nice and warm in park w/ engine running and it was LOW..there was barely any on the dipstick. Went over to Target and grabbed a quart of tranny fluid and added half. Drove it home..it was still very low so i added the rest. Changed it up and down through the gears and then checked again and it at the low normal mark. Guess its leaking worse than i thought. Gonna change that pan gasket tomorrow..

On the first Bonneville trans rebuild I had, the pan started leaking several months afterwards and progressively got worse. I found out they used a cheap cork gasket on the pan instead of OEM type.
You should also make sure they didn’t over-torque the bolts and distort the pan gasket surface.

Check the tightness of the pan bolts before you drop it. Sometimes simply tightening them stops or slows the leak. If you drop the pan, get a steel and rubber gasket from the dealer, not just a cork one from ripoffzone.

the edge of the gasket thats in there is black so it leads me to believe its not cork, but that is a good observation. It has been about 24 months since they rebuilt it and right about now would be right for the leak. This afternoon i will get under it with a torque wrench and make sure that they are all torqued right.

Just to make sure...i should torque from the middle out and what is the spec on a 1996 SLE?

'93 Spec is 12 to 13 ft-lb. I doubt yours would be different?