Hello I have a 97 bravada awd. the transmission runs great and all but i have a major leak somewhere. the whole bottom of the tranny pan is soaked with tranny oil and all the dirt on the pan is washed away. so i was told it might be the front pump seal in the tranny. but i put some of that stop leak in it and 2 weeks later im down a quart again. so either the seal is complety gone or a chunk of the gasket on the pan is missing. what do you guys think it would most likely be. oil pump seal or the pan gasket? thanks

 

pan gasket is easier

wipe it down well, start it and watch from the side to see where the tranny fluid is leaking from

 

murphys law says it will be the harder repair, sure id check the pan gasket, but unless you just replaced it and something went wrong, id say its the front seal, its a pretty cheap part but takes a long time to get there.

 

that dang murphy lol

my pan came lose all the time, finally stopped when I used some make-a-gasket in a tube in the bolt holes

 

Got under it yesterday and took the inspection covers off the transmission
housing to have a look at the flex plate and torque converter and there was a
little to no transmission fluid in there and the tq and flexplate looked as dry
as could be. does this mean that the front pump seal is good????
i think the pan gasket is leaking all over but mostly above the shifter
cable. so im gonna replace the gasket this saturday.

 

it does sound like a pan gasket to me from what you describe.

 

I found with my Blazer when I did the filter, that to get the bolts that hold the linkage bracket on, a ratcheting wrench (not a socket) was invaluable and made things 100x easier

 

Pull the cable out of the bracket first and it makes it even easier to get at the bolts, it just snaps into the bracket

 

ok got the pan gasket replaced and the filter. and no leaks as of now. and runs and drive great. thanks for all you comments. and another thing this was not my vehicle i drive all the time. so i took it out for a spin and i noticed that at 55 the tach reads 2000-2100 rpms. is this normal in overdrive for a 97 bravada with the 4.3? i have a 94 s10 blazer and i can go 55 at 1500 rpms. so what are your rpms goin 55 down the highway?

 

ive got it written down somewhere but not sure exatly, seems to me it was around 1,600 rpm @ 55 with trans in overdrive, think it was about 2,100 with the trans in 3rd. (i avoid using the o/d postion when towing) i have 3.42 gears. sounds like you may not have overdrive for some reason.