Chrysler Repair: My 1994 Dodge Shadow Again, honest mechanic, dodge shadow

Question
Roland:

I am experiencing a transmission leak in my Dodge Shadow. It just started today.  I was on the highway and I noticed a mild smoke coming from my tailpipe, (well, I thought it was my tailpipe), so I pulled over and noticed that it was a big puddle of something dripping from underneath my car.  I let the car cool down, then drove to the parking spot in front of me.  I noticed that it is transmission fluid.  So, I carefully drove it all the way back home and it was coming out and leaving a trail on the street.  About the time I got home, it started shifting funny.  So, I went to the local Autozone (driving my Camaro at this point) and bought some ATF+3 fluid and added it in.  After adding the fluid, I went through all the gears (R,N,D,etc) and it sounded ok again.  (before it sounded really bad and loud in D)  But from what I can tell, it look like it was leaking from between the transmission and engine.  The guy at autozone told me that it could be a bad oil pump seal, torque converter.  Like I say the transmission never stopped shifting correct.  Now that I look back at it now, a few weeks ago When I was leaving work, I backed out of a parking spot and put it in D and the car wouldn't move.  I put it back in park then drive again and it drove ok, so I didn't think nothing of it.  The next day I got an oil change and they checked all the fluids.  They were all ok.

Answer
HI Kevin,
I agree that unless there is some damage to the trans case or a loose oil pan on the bottom of the trans then it has to be a trans seal at the torque converter end or possibly a loose trans cooling hose connection.  I would take it to an honest mechanic for checking out those possibilities to see which it is. Do it before you go thru another near loss of fluid so you don't do internal damage to the trans. If it is a seal you will have to remove the trans, but not rebuild it entirely, but make sure that it runs well and that when they drain the fluid there is no debris in the oil pan which would be a sign that it probably has some damaged parts. If it is the 4 speed electronic transaxle you could also get the codes readout to access what the trans has observed as an aid to access the condition of the trans. The 3 speed trans is more forgiving. Let me know what the mechanic says.
Roland