2003 Ford Escort Transmission

The car came in with the previous owner saying that it had a bad tranny. The cooler was ruptured and the system was full of coolant. We did a complete tranfusion and drove the car with no problems for 200 miles. But. It started throwing a soft code P1744. We dropped the pan and changed the filter and replaced the TCC solenoid. The strangest thing we noticed was, from the beginning, after driving it home (35 miles, with the last 10 miles uphill) as we approached our driveway (and slowed down) we smelled transmission fluid in the cabin. No leaks, drips, etc. Fluid levels unchanged. Today, after 350 miles, as we pulled into our driveway, it felt like it was slipping -I'll confirm tomorrow. A seemingly unrelated problem is that it is hard to fill the gas tank--filler keeps shutting off like an evap problem. Could the torque converter be the problem with the tranny?