Got the car back on Friday. This time he drove it for two days before giving it back, so he could catch it if it leaked again. Unbelievably, this latest leak was a combination of a bad fluid pump seal and a cracked, brand new torque converter. I've run some errands over the weekend and I'm happy to say she's dry.
Two things that were a little concerning about this major repair, that thankfully I was able to correct myself:
I was in the process of changing idlers and the tensioner when I took it in for all of these leak repairs. When I got it back the first time (the timing belt job was complete), when I went to change out the final idler, the bolt wasn't even finger tight, and without belt pressure, you could wobble it with your fingers. I went ahead and swapped in the new idler, and all is well with that.
Before I took the car back to him still leaking, I also asked him to look for a new "thumping" noise that seemed to be louder when cold. It was still thumping as of this morning, so I started looking around for it myself. It seemed to be coming from inside the timing cover. I pushed inward on the timing cover and it struck the pulley with a loud SCRAPE. When I released it, it resumed thumping. So I backed the bolts out, and bent two attachments points outward by a couple of millimeters, and reattached. Thumping gone. The timing cover was rubbing on a single spot on the cam pulley. It appears the timing cover was reattached with a little too much vigor.
Hopefully this is the end of the major stuff for now. Every seal and gasket has been replaced on the engine, and the transmission has had a master rebuild. Next up: it has an appointment at the body shop on June 14th to get the hood, front bumper, and right front fender de-single-staged from a fender bender that was fixed on a budget years ago. Can't wait til she's done!
Ahhh.... Dry.