E4OD HUGE leak

So,
Was pulling an excavator back to rental place on Friday. Brother was driving my IDI and got about 20 minutes into the drive and noticed that temp guage was maxed out. Stopped for 5 minutes and decided to keep going because it was only approximatly 10 minutes to the place. I know this was not the best decision but he had to get back to work. I forgot about the above 3000 rpm pulling tip so that contributed to the overheat. QUESTION: is this normal? We were pulling about 6500 pounds very few, slight hills. Kept it mostly out of overdrive doing about 1800-2300 rpm. Does this indicate a bad thermostat or was it just the operator? It never overheated before(drove it home from 2 hours away) and cooled to lower half of temp. zone after trailer was off. Oh, the overdrive DOES work.


OK-now the bad problem. When we got to the rent place, I noticed a nice pool of some atf under the tranny. (funny- a newb there thought it was offroad diesel and got all worked up about it) It was leaking bad. Maybe a drip or more a second. half hour drive home it did fine and didnt even slip. Checked oil level and looked fine. Checked the next morning and still looked fine. Went on a hour long WVO run and leaked again. Got it home and up in the barn, took the plate thats on the front of the transmission off. That is where its leaking, the space where the engine goes to the torque convertor. Fearing a cracked TC but cant tell till I separate the tranny. I think the intense heat ruined something. IDEAS?



To clarify things, BASICALLY: the torque convertor acts as a flywheel and ATF pump, no? Pumps it to the valve body which actuates hydraulic pistons to move the planetary gear system. This is what i have gathered so far so correct me if im wrong.


All in all what are the possible problems with the transmission? Cracked lines, or TC?

Thanks~! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif