HELP!!! Dealer JACKED up SViXen!!

[Roo]

I work at a dealership in Northern California, so I get a discount on my parts and labor for my cars.

Local performance shop quoted me ~500 for the rear main seal and oil separator cover R&R. Internal labor rates are classified, but I got it MUCH cheaper from the dealer.

Before I took it in, everything ran smoothly. The transmission had NO slip issues, the entire vehicle is religiously maintained, and it had NO flaws with the exception of the rear main seal leaking a little oil. They removed the transmission and installed the seal and oil separator plate. They put it back together...or so I thought.

That night, while driving home, I got a CEL. I took it back this morning, and they plugged in the Oxygen Sensor...no big deal.

I am driving home this afternoon, and am doing the speed limit on the 101 North. I've been driving along for about 25 miles on the freeway. All of the sudden, there's a large cloud of smoke behind me, and some is entering the passenger cabin. I limped to the next exit, smelling distinctly of burned transmission fluid. The Highway Patrol was nice enough to push my vehicle into the gas station parking lot, since I had completely run out of A/T fluid.

I spent $250 getting the car towed back to the dealership. They are going to look at it in the morning. I want to know if this sounds like something that they did wrong, or is this just a really bad coincidence that my transmission had a massive failure less than two days after being removed/re-installed.

Please help with ideas, because I can't afford to be stuck with over $2K in repair costs...