Great! Now I've got chocolate pudding in my underpants..!

Ok, not really. But it looks like I've got a strawberry milkshake in my transmission The story goes a little something like this...

Every 1000 miles or so I had a plug go bad. My buddy works in the parts department and a Ford stealership, so he hooked me up with uber-cheap diagnostics, labor, and parts (at the expense of my exploder sitting in the shop for a week at a time...). After a bad o2 sensor and coil pack (two different trips), they determine it's not the plugs or wires and I get the ex back and she runs great. My wife drives it around town if she needs to go somewhere while I take the other car to work, so it has only downed a tank or so of fuel since it was in the shop. Recently, she told me that the transmission feels like it shifts hard, especially when dropping it in to drive or reverse. So I take it for a drive and once it get's warm, it definitely drops into gear hard. So today I had to take it to run an errand and decided to check the fluid level (thinking it was little low) and guess what I find... yep, CHOCOLATE PUDDING... I mean, a strawberry milkshake. in my transmission fluid. Crap.

Then something in my brain goes 'click' and I think to myself, 'self, maybe that's where the missing engine coolant has been going'. Then I sit and reflect on the 2 quarts or so of coolant I have to replace very couple of thousand miles. More crap.

Then I remember that I took the car to the stealership where they "checked all the vital fluids" in order to recommend a coolant and power steering flush. Or did they...?? I mean, seriously, this was only a few hundred miles ago, and if there was a hint of strawberry milkshake in the trans fluid, I would have thought that the tech noticed. He DID notice that my coolant was low, and he thought my power steering needed to be flushed even though I cheapie flushed it in the garage a few months ago by popping one of the lines off and draining it in to a bucket while filling it up. I followed some directions on the site for not burning up the pump and it seemed to help. Or maybe the tech accidentally dumped his bottled water in my trans thinking it was the radiator overflow, which would mean he's just plain stupid and I've now learned my lesson for going to the stealership.

Anyways, now that I've ranted and raved a bit, I'm thinking that the radiator cracked where the transmission fluid flows through it (I can't think of the technical term for it right now). So I'll be calling my friend in the morning to see how much he can get me a new radiator for.

Which brings me to my preponderance... Since the transmission fluid is obviously contaminated with water (probably engine coolant), what is the best way to get it all out??? I prefer to fix things myself cuz I'm cheap and very mechanically inclined, so I'm fine doing the bucket flush with a 15 or so quarts of trans fluid. However, I'm told that glycolethylalcohol (aka, antifreeze) sticks to metal and can be absorbed to some extend by the friction plates in the transmission. I've been through a few slushboxes in my day and rebuilt them and understand, to an extent, their internals and proper operation and repair (like the need to soak friction plates in trans fluid before installing them so that they aren't dry and don't burn up fist thing). Are the solvents and additives in the trans fluid robust enough to thoroughly clean the internals of my transmission of antifreeze and water if I simply flush it? I plan and replacing the radiator to stop the leak (after a little more sleuthing under the hood to confirm it is the culprit). Or am I going to drive down the road and find chocolate pudding in my underpants when the transmissions drops a load of it's own chocolate pudding all over the road? Ughh.. Crap, crap, and more crap... Thanks for any help, you guys are totally awesome!

I think your on the right track sounds like the transmission cooler is leaking coolant into your cooler lines on the transmission. A new radiator would be a must. As far as flushing it well..................

You can get most of it out by dropping the pan and doing a filter and oil change and putting in a new radiator and flushing the cooler lines but....... you will have to remove the inspection cover and see if the converter has a drain plug and drain it as well.

Fill everything and run it around for 50 miles or so then repeat the whole process.

OR you can take it to the stealership and have it hooked up to the machine that flushes the system and adds new oil at the same time.

Since you caught it you will probably be fine getting rid of the water and adding fresh oil, depending how long water has been in there.

IF you were / are loosing coolant and you got a "milkshake", that's where it is going... :-( bad news is that you are unlikely to resolve this with a "flush" as the coolant is pretty "corrosive" to pads and the glues that they use to hold them in place. You are likely looking at a "rebuild" ... :-( been there, paid for that... :-(

1. Easy way but expensive. Take the transmission hoses off the radiator. Put each in a big bucket. The one that is the "exit" from transmission will spew fluid out when you turn the engine (key). The other is the intake, so fill 1/4 of that bucket with Mercon V - leave the last bottle upside down open in the bucket (like a bird water feeder) so it doesn't run out of oil.
Start the engine - it will recirculate the oil till is clean. Add oil bottles in bucket. It will take 2-3 time the total capacity.
2. Drain the transmission pan, drain the torque converter (via plug), drain the hoses to radiator... and fill. It will still have foam left overs so you might need to do the first step too - but using less oil this time.
Both cases, after some 200 miles driven, replace again the transmission filter.

thanks for the replies. Looks like I'm gonna have fun... My buddy was able to hook me up with a deal on a new radiator so I'll be going to pick it up in an hour or so. He can also get me some additive (for free) that they use when they do transmission flushes. Would you guys recommend using it? I'll let you know exactly what it is when I get it, but I'm leaning towards yes simply because of the coolant being in there. But we'll see.

I'll be doing the "bucket flush" as described by Sonic67. As for the torque converter drain plug, I don't think it has one. I believe it has the 4R55E in it. But I'll poke around and look. I'll let you all know how things turn out.

The "flush" is a good "salvage attempt" and won't cost much other than lots of fluid.... BUT be prepared... Are you using your vehicle for any distance or out of town? The clutch linings "die" quite rapidly so you will likely start having motive problems. Good luck, its no fun.

Mehh... This thing only goes around town, usually. Sometimes up to the ski hill. Fortunately, I haven't had any transmission related mobility problems with this thing lately. Although the fluid is frothy, it actually drives and shifts just fine until it gets warm, and then in drops in to gear hard. So I'm somewhat hopeful that things will work out. I've rebuilt several slushboxes in the last few years (none of which were mine, thankfully) so I've gotten to know the transmission shop and warehouse guys fairly well. But I won't even start to tear the thing down unless it has some serious issues. And if that happens, well, I might just talk the wifey into a newer vehicle with a beefy transmission and power galore. I think a duramax would fit the bill Oh, poo.. I'm daydreaming out loud again

As a side note, Budwich - I think your quotation mark button is going haywire...

Might not be radiator

Before condeming the radiator check it for oily residue. The pressure in the cooling system is normally 13lbs psi at operating tempature while the pressure in the trans. lines is usually greater. If coolant can flow one way then trans. fluid can go the other way. Open the radiator cap and the cap on the recovery tank and look for oil at the top of these places. If none is found them the radiator is not the problem.
I have seen quicky lube places put coolant in transmissions and master cylinders, anything is possible. Water may have been added to your trans. while it was at the dealer.

I don't think the return line from the cooler will pull fluid out of a bucket. You will have to fill the pan through the dipstick tube to keep it flushing. I bought a 5 gal pail of transmission fluid at Floormart, used that to flush my transmission, then changed the filter and put in some better stuff.

Hmm, good catch. I forgot to say to raise the "source" bucket till the level of oil is higher than the transmission pan. In this way you don't have under pressure or too much over presssure in the system.
Using the filler tube to add fluid doesn't leave one of the hoses sucking air? I don't think is good.

No it won't suck air, I think the return fluid runs right into the pan. It flows pretty slow at idle, very easy to keep up by pouring into the dipstick tube. Probably easier to do it with a helper but I did it by myself no problems.

But how do you know much you need to add?

I found it pretty easy to gauge how much to put in from what was coming out. It wasn't flowing very fast. It it worries you have a helper holding a quart jug with the top cut off, once it's full dump it out into a pail, you make sure you pour one quart in during that time... if it starts to get away from you just turn the truck off. You can always check it with the dipstick too. Shut off, wait for the fluid in the dipstick tube run down, start it again and check it. It really does go slower than you figure it would.

Radman has a point here... if you don't see tranny fluid in your coolant, you may be hunting down the wrong problem. The pressure is greater on the tranny side than it is on coolant side. Coolant shouldn't be getting into the tranny fluid (or very little) but you should see tranny fluid in the coolant.

(I just went through a radiator replace/tranny flush a few months ago)

No, pressure is not high at all in the transmission fluid - it is more a volumetric flow. The engine coolant gets pressurized at some 15-20psi (17psi listed).

If im not mistaken the flow is about one quart every 15seconds

It might be. Imgine that in the radiator side you have pressure on the "IN" connection to cooler, but suction on the "OUT".
The pressure in the transmission pan is equal to atmospheric pressure, otherwise the oil would blow out from the filler tube - that is open to atmosphere.
However, the water circuit is 17psi HIGHER than atmospheric one. So water will try to go from cooling circuit, in the transmission and eventually, if you add coolant, out thru the filler tube of the transmission.

Either way, the suction on this thing is turning out to be real suck-tion..

It's confirmed: bad transmission cooler in the radiator.

I popped open the radiator cap and found pink cream floating around in it. Yummy... Not a whole heap of it, but it was in there. So I'm headed over to a buddy's place to drain everything and replace stuff. Might even bite the bullet and try Amsoil since there's a dealer a few miles from me.

Ugghhh. If forget how much this car likes to fight me. It's like I'm the sleezy guy in high school who was always trying to cup a feel and get's smacked by the woman every time I try and tinker under the hood of the exploder...

So I pulled the old radiator out, put the new one in, dropped the pan on the trans, spilled about 2 of the 6 quarts that came out on the floor, refilled it and started her up for the good ol' bucket flush. 4 gallons of transmission fluid later we've got a cherry shake instead of a strawberry shake. Crap. Dang that chocolate pudding! So my buddy is taking it in to have the stealership flush it. Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Fushed only 4 gallons and give up?




Sorry, bad humor... Realistically, you might need an industrial machine - if they would accept that. And if they would look at the fluid and keep on going - if not probably you will still have milkshake after that.