possible transmission problems

[osmosis1]

ive had this car for a couple months now its a 93 mx3 automatic
i was driving one day and out of no where it would not accelerate, i coasted home and transmission fluid was leaking everywhere.
i wasnt aware of that at the time, so i bought some transmission fluid thinking it was just out, poured it in started it up, it was fine for about 10 minutes and it was completely empty again
i let the car sit for a couple months and tryed to sell it, after no luck i started fooling around with it, i can get it up to about 20 before it starts kicking out the fluid, im not sure what would cause this.

someone told me it could just be a line and thats what im hoping
any ideas?

[Ryan]

well to know you'd have to crawl under and look for the source. we know that the automatics are garbage, and we swap them out with 5 speeds, but just on a whim, I'm going to guess you're not willing to do that...

Unless you're willing to get your hands dirty, a shop might be your best bet.

[Newfie_dan]

Like Ryan said you will have to get down there an look, you most likely blew a transmission pressure line but I am sorry to say that if you let it run almost dry that there is a 90% chance you cooked the trans or the pump, If the pump got low on oil it cavitates, sounds like a bag of marbles smacking together and it takes about 3 mins for a gerotor pump (which is whats used in mx3 transmissions) to die. No pressure= dead trans. In addition to that the torque converter will most likely have suffered some heat damage. So here is your list to check;
1) check the lines for the trans cooler, there are 2 1 pressure 1 return.
2) top up the trans with fresh atf, make sure its full start the car and recheck with it running, top it up if its low.
3) listen closely for the sound I mentioned above, if you hear it then you have damaged the trans.
4) if you do not hear sounds like the marbles smacking together, rejoice that you did not damage the pump beyond repair.

Also as an added fyi, the automatics were not bad trans, the failure with these was heat related, the factory cooler is plain out crap with a capital C. Upgrade that and you can get way more life out of it especially in stop and go traffic as well as regular oil/filter changes every 30,000 miles or 50,000 kms.