White smoke from auto/torque converter

[JCL]

Hey All,

I recently had a VT auto 9HBD put into my VS ute from a local wreckers. It had the modification done to the full bell housing so it would fit around my Y pipe.

It has started leaking auto fluid and I have just noticed over the last 2 days that white smoke and a burning smell is now coming from it. I plan on taking it back to the wreckers as its still under their warranty but just want to try and diagnose it for myself first.

I assume white smoke and burning smell from the torque converter would be auto fluid leaking into the torque converter right? The auto fluid in the transmission hasnt needed topping up at yet but it does seem like its starting to leak worse over the last couple of days.

I had my VS auto replaced with this one because it was leaking from the oil pump and was told it was pretty much a rebuild to fix that. Any ideas on what the leak could be causing this issue?

Could it be as simple as the pan gasket? or given it is leaking in the torque converter area is it more likely to be something more severe?

I cant see any issues with the cooler connections or the filler neck but obviously its tricky to diagnose so looking for some pointers

Cheers

 

[Immortality]

The torque converter wouldn't be hot enough to make it smoke. I'd suggest the fluid must be getting on the exhaust somewhere.

 

[JCL]

It's definitely smoking from the torque converter area. I had it running before and could see it pouring out from there

 

[Jxfwsf]

The fluid continually flows through the converter when it's running, it'd be smoking from the breather pipe that is behind the bellhousing in the trans tunnel if it was that hot.... doubt it'd be working correctly and the fluid wouldn't be red if it was getting that hot.

Simple test, pull the dipstick out and see if smoke comes out of the tube.

As above, sounds like there is a leak somewhere that is dripping/spraying on the exhaust, may not even be trans fluid.

 

[JCL]

Ok I'll have another look and see what I can find. Cheers

 

[JCL]

Had another look and I think i found the leak (after spraying the whole underside in degreaser) on the outlet pipe to the auto. Doesnt appear to be tight enough but i didnt have the right ring spanner so ill pick one up tomorrow and tighten that.

Another thing i found was that one of the breather hoses wasnt actually plugged in to the auto anymore. Because its a VT auto it has the connection for one of the breather hoses to connect to the filler tube but the other hose that plugs into the chassis rail on the inside of the drivers side was just dangling down. Ill have to see if i can get to the T connection to plug it back on tomorrow when i have some better light. Would there be any issues in this not being plugged in to the breather output at all?

Didnt get a chance to start it and check the smoke again but spent some time understanding how the torque converter actually works so now understand what you guys were saying about it not producing the smoke.

I couldnt see anything dripping on to the exhaust to cause that smell and smoke - it really does look like smoke is coming straight out of the auto itself but ill do some more tests tomorrow as per your advice and see what i can find out

 

[JCL]

Did turn out to be ATF spraying on to exhaust. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now looking in to best way to fix. Fun times

 

[Immortality]

Good news

Better than an internal torque converter problem.

To fit the later model trans the coolant lines need to be bent to make fit so some tweaking of the lines may be required so they fit and tighten up correctly.

Cheers for updating the thread