Transmission oil pump gasket upgrade question

[Mr. Claret]

Getting into my car this morning and after its warm up (tach drop below 1k is my warmup) I put it into reverse there was barely enough movement to back out of my driveway. With my knowledge base and some research I think it might be the transmission oil pump gasket as the car is dated 04/91. In 94 there was an upgraded gasket used to replace gaskets in cars with a tranny number below 513102.

I have not checked the number of my transmission but have noticed there is a tranny filter mounted ontop of the LH front tow hook so someone has done some upgrade work. Looks like the filter has been there quite a while maybe it was updated as recommended along with the gasket on that tsb in 94.

I suppose my question is directed to those who have experienced failure of the original transmission oil pump gasket.

Lately I have had a lot of oil on my front catalytic converters creating smoke after decently hard driving. I am assuming this could be the area the gasket is located which would be causing fluid to leak down onto the cats. I have not had my car in the air on a lift to check this but will within next couple dayz.

I have owned it about two months. The car has overheated 3 times since I have had it, only because of me jumping fan relay or and blowing fuses or forgetting to insert the fuse.. aside from that I have only experienced slight slipping in 3rd gear while driving it in 3rd around town under 45mph as i did with my claret when the tranny was slipping more. I stopped doing that as it seemed to shift less harsh if in (D)rive. Also I just installed a B&M transmission fluid cooler. It is a good install.

The question:

If reverse worked just fine last night and doesn't work well now (but slightly), could the transmission oil pump gasket cause this and fluid to be dropping down to the exhaust creating smoke?

Any help from anyone on this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sonny