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I promised I would post what the outcome was on our transmission.  Many of you were dead on in your suggestions.  We had a leak at the pump seal and a hair line crack in the torque converter.  They reconditioned the pump and resealed it, replaced the torque converter and put us all back together.  We are running like new again!  Thanks to all who responded, I really appreciate it!

Melitta

Just wanted to say Thanks to all who replied.  We had a suggestion, by a friend, that  maybe we had damaged the front seal by messing up the spring inside of it.  We replaced the seal again, put everything back together and lo and behold....we still have a leak.  We were also able to finally purchase a techbook and get to see some pictures of what all is involved for this transmission.  YIKES!  While I feel we could do this job ourselves with the techbook, the thing is...we still don't know WHAT is leaking.  So, I will take the truck to a transmission shop on Tuesday and let them have a look.  If it involves doing anything that we haven't already done, ie: taking apart the pump...then the shop can have it.  

What we did notice is a very fine mist spraying from around the torque converter.  Hopefully the transmission shop can help find the problem without breaking the bank!

Thanks again everyone!  I will post again once we find out what exactly the problem is.

[before]

Yes, we do know what we are doing.  We have enough common sense to post on here and ask questions before we get into something we can't get out of.  We are fully aware that we can totally screw this up.  Hence the reason for asking questions on here.  We are trying to get a feel for what we might be getting into.  None of our local auto part stores carry a transmission manual, so instead of just sitting around and waiting for a manual to come through the mail, I thought I would ask on here and see what kind of information I could gather.

We have already pulled the tranny again, checking to make sure that we didn't mess up the spring on the front seal.  This is definitely a trial and error for us, but if we take it to a shop, what will we learn?  Nothing, except being a few hundred dollars lighter in the pocket.  If we totally screw this up, then yes, it will cost us more, but at least we tried.  We have lined up other transportation, so we have to ability to take our time doing this and "hopefully" do it right.

Thanks for everyone help!

OK, at the risk of sounding like a complete idiot.  Where is the convertor bushing?  Is it part of the torque converter?  Is this bushing hard to change or pretty straight forward, just pull the old off and replace?
   
As you can probably tell, this is the first time doing anything more than replacing a back seal.  We don't have access to a tech manual, so while we can do this job, we have never done this before.  Gotta learn somehow, right?

Anyone have information about a 700R4 transmission?   We had the transmission pulled to replace the front seal, put everything back together and now have another leak. Can't see exactly where it is coming from, but seems to be between the flywheel and transmission.  Have had a suggestion that it could be the o-ring on the pump.  Is the pump easy to get too and does it entail taking the pump apart or is the o-ring on the outside of the pump?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Well, everything seems to be coming together with the A/C.  Our friend does indeed have the equipment to fix it.  I also found out that Auto Zone rents the vacuum pump, so we still have the option of doing this work ourselves.  I am guessing that we will let our friend do the work though.  

Now I am off to do more research on why the brakes are grabbing and dragging the back tires....

Thanks again!

[How many miles on this car ? did you replace the rear rubber brake lines. Id try that first. Dave]

How many miles on this car ? did you replace the rear rubber brake lines. Id try that first.
Dave

Yes, we did do this.  If I remember correctly... there is some sort of metal tube in there.  We thought maybe the tube had collapsed and was restricting the brake fluid.  The tube was fine, but we changed the lines anyway.  The car has 78,000 miles on it.  We even unplugged the ABS at the master cylinder to see if that was causing the problem.  Nope.  We also found out that if you pull the fuse for the ABS at the fuse box, you disable the windshield wipers and I think the door locks on the car.  Guess that was one way for Pontiac to make sure you didn't disable the ABS.   On the TSB for back tire drag it said....
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS

I understand the service brakes part, but what is the Hydraulic and foundation components?


The answer to that question is yes it has to be evacuated. When the system is opened up moisture will be introduced into the system. This moisture has to be removed before freon can be added. The only way to do this is to pull a vacuum on the system. It has to be pulled to a minimum of 29 inches of vacuum for 30 minutes.

Also it is against the law to open the system without having the freon evacuated first.

I thought it would have to be evacuated, just wanted to make sure.  Not sure and this may seem like a stupid question, but if we have a leak...wouldn't all the freon be out of the system already?  Meaning...no big deal if we change the hoses and o-rings ourselves cause the freon is already gone?  The A/C is blowing at 91*, compared to the 50ish it used to blow.  I have a friend who owns a body shop, I am going to call him today and see if he has the equipment to vacuum the system for us.  We are trying to do as much ourselves simply because this is a BIG repair cost in Texas.  Just to have the A/C looked at (to tell me what I already know, that there is a leak) is a $50 charge.  It just gets worse from there.  I know people who have paid anywhere from $200 to $900 for A/C repairs.  On the other hand, it really isn't a option in my case to go without A/C (little ones get VERY cranky when they get hot) but I will exhaust all other options BEFORE I let a shop get a hold of the car.

Thanks to all who have responded.  I really appreciate the advice and knowledge ya'll are willing to share!

Is paying a company the only way to get the Tech Service Bulletins for your car?  We have a few issues with my 1995 Pontiac Grand Am and after much research I have found that each problem has had a TSB issued on it.  Is the Pontiac dealership "required" to show me the TSB's if I ask or can they refuse?  It is really irritating to find out that some of the problems, mainly the brakes, were issued a TSB 4 months BEFORE I bought the car.  Why the heck didn't they fix THAT problem before they sold it too me??  I bought the car new with 12 miles on it.

If you know anyone at the dealership they will or should get the tsb,s for you. Ive got a budy that is part owner at a chevy dealership and I know the head wrench and the parts guy really well so they hook me up all the time. Thw other thing is to search online and see if you can figure out what the stb,s are all about cause someof them are repeats of others.  By the way whats going on with the grand am. Maybe i can help.... im off to the doctor back in a few hours
Dave

First off, let me say I hope the doctor appointment went well.

As for the car, we are having a problem with the back brakes grabbing and dragging the tire.  We have replaced the brakes 4 times, including the wheel cylinders.  It seems to be a problem with the wheel cylinders but aren't sure. (The car only has 78,000 miles on it).  The brakes do fine for about a month or so and then we are back to grabbing and dragging again. One of the TSB's was the following...

Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS
Summary:  REAR WHEEL BRAKE DRAG.
Service Bulletin Num : 435013
Date of Bulletin: FEB 01, 1995
NHTSA Item Number: 39289

For the brakes there was also this TSB with alldata..
03-05-24-001A MAR 05    Brakes - Wheel Cylinder Inspection Guidelines

The other problem is the Torque Converter Clutch solenoid.  We have it unplugged at the moment.  Not sure if we do need to fix this or if it is OK to run it with it unplugged.  Any thoughts on that?

I am thinking that is this TSB...
01-07-30-010B OCT 05    A/T - Torque Converter Replacement

The other minor problems we are having, that I can live with if I can get the brakes and the tcc (if needed) fixed are these TSB's...

Service Bulletin Num : 833208 Date of Bulletin: OCT 01, 1998
NHTSA Item Number: 602826  
Component: STEERING
Summary:  SOME CUSTOMERS MAY COMMENT ABOUT A SQUEAK/ SQUAWK TYPE NOISE COMING FROM THE STEERING COLUMN AREA WHEN TURNING THE STEERING WHEEL. *YC  

*****
Service Bulletin Num : 971101631041 Date of Bulletin: NOV 01, 1997
NHTSA Item Number: 54065  
Component: STRUCTURE:BODY:DOOR  
Summary:  COMMENTS ON INOPERATIVE POWER DOOR LOCKS (FRONT AND/OR REAR DOORS).

Other than that, I have no complaints on the car and love it to death.  I do have one more question, not related to TSB's.  We have a leak in the A/C.  We have refilled and within a week we have lost it all.   Mr. Melitta  can replace the hoses and o-rings, but once that is done...do we have to evacuate the system or can we simply refill with the R134A freon?  We tried a can of the stop leak/leak detector and never could see where it is leaking from.

Thanks for any and all help!

Is paying a company the only way to get the Tech Service Bulletins for your car?  We have a few issues with my 1995 Pontiac Grand Am and after much research I have found that each problem has had a TSB issued on it.  Is the Pontiac dealership "required" to show me the TSB's if I ask or can they refuse?  It is really irritating to find out that some of the problems, mainly the brakes, were issued a TSB 4 months BEFORE I bought the car.  Why the heck didn't they fix THAT problem before they sold it too me??  I bought the car new with 12 miles on it.

You use that measurement to determine the mounting distance of the adjustable part of the TV cable, plus the length of the exposed cable when it is pulled out in step 1 of those instructions.  So if you are using a cable with a different  extended length than the one that was in there you need to change the position of where the TV cable mounts on the manifold if that is where you have it mounted.

The 3/16 inch makes it so that the cable is not bottomed out and can be adjusted both ways to begin with.

Once the cable is set up you need to move it a click at a time in one direction or the other to the point it will back shift into 1st right after the 1-2 shift.  Re-read that part to better understand it.

c ya, Sum

OK, I see now that we are on the right track.  We were getting discouraged because we couldn't get it too adjust right.  It was making us think that we were doing something wrong and we started second guessing ourselves.  If it is any indication, by the way it is shifting now, we just need a few more clicks and we should be good.  Thank you for all your help and your site was (and I am sure it will be again) a great deal of help!  It was your site that brought it to our attention that the throttle cable is what was wrong in the first place and not the transmission going out.  So, Thank You twice!

[THIS PAGE]

Can anyone tell me (in layman's terms) how to adjust the throttle valve cable on a 700r4?  We had to replace ours and we can't seem to get it right.  We replaced the original cable with one from Auto Zone.  The vehicle is a 1990 Suburban with a 350, 2 wheel drive.  We know it is the cable, not the transmission.  Anyone who can help would be greatly appreciated.

Check out (  THIS PAGE  ) on my site and you should be good to go.

c ya, Sum

 I have checked out your site, that is how I found out about this forum.  I have studied it and printed it and anything else you can think of.  The measurement of the 3/16" or 0.19 in. is killing me.  We don't have a measuring tape that has that measurement on it.  We keep guessing and it just isn't working.  I have heard somewhere that there shouldn't be any slack in the cable, but when we do that the shifting is horrible.  The only thing we can think of that is causing our problems, is maybe this is a longer cable than the original...but even then that really shouldn't make a difference should it, since it is adjustable?  We had no problems with the tranny until we had to replace this cable.  Blah!  This is so frustrating.  We aren't morons, yet this cable is making us look like it.

Can anyone tell me (in layman's terms) how to adjust the throttle valve cable on a 700r4?  We had to replace ours and we can't seem to get it right.  We replaced the original cable with one from Auto Zone.  The vehicle is a 1990 Suburban with a 350, 2 wheel drive.  We know it is the cable, not the transmission.  Anyone who can help would be greatly appreciated.