I have discovered transmission fluid in my garage floor drip pan. After checking the level, it was down a full quart. The independent shop I use thinks that it is leaking from the torque converter. But since they can't actually see the leak, this is just a quess. It's dripping down in 3 places. They estimate 10.5 hours to pull the drive shaft and bevel gear (it's AWD) and the transmission to get to the seal. This will cost around $1000 in total.

Any alternatives I should consider? Would a transmission shop be a better place to go? I have 152K miles on it, but it is still running strong.

Thanks!