bad torque converter seal=new converter?

hey everybody

my torque converter has been leaking for a while now, and i have a friend going to a automotive school, who offered to take it to his school as a project and replace the seal for me for free. i could probably do it on my break from school, but i figure if i dont have to deal with it, and its only costing me a set of wheel spacers why not

the teacher told him though, that if the seal is bad, then the bushing is probably bad also, and ill probably need a whole new converter. any truth to that. never heard of that before. every shop ive taken it to, to get estimates has said about 300-400 for labor, but never mentioned probably needing a new converter

I have put seals in and they would stop leaking. I have also seen a groove worn in the converter where the pump bushing rides. You don't know for sure until you open it up. Hes not going to do the beginner trick of not getting the converter and pump drive lugs lined up, is he? I wouldn't think so, if hes got an instructor there. DUUUHHHHH, been there done that. Bud and I where in a big hurry to get an old Chrysler Newport(?) running so we could get laid and we crunched the pump and converter. Messed the car up (junked it) but still found a way to get laid.

Bad seal = bad seal, until proven otherwise. Possible causes:

1) Seal has failed. Replace (most common)

2) Seal has got grit on it and worn a groove in the TC sealing surface. Replace the seal; and either replace the torque converter (spendy!) or get a repair sleeve and install that (costs rather less, but labour is about the same either way. Heat the seal to make it easier to install.)

3) There is a gouge - somehow - in the bore that the seal has been pressed into. Either replace the front pump (good luck! I may have one floating about...) or repair the gouge. I don't think there's a lot of pressure behind that seal, so you may also get away with RTV (I've seen this sort of thing about twice in about 30 years of turning wrenches - it's rare, and it had happened on more exposed seals. I think both of them were tailshaft seals - one was actually gouged somehow, and the other was a cracked housing.)

You can actually do the job yourself in an afternoon - it's easier if you have a transmission jack, but it can be done with a floor jack (it can also be done with a good helper that can take instruction immediately and correctly. If you're moving something heavy, you need two sets of hands under the control of a single brain.)