Yikes... water in the transmission!!!

[budwich]

Yesterday, the trans kicked down while on cruise control going up a hill... not unusual but the sound was terrible.... hmmm. At the end of the short journey, I checked the fluid level.... oh, oh, fluid level was a little high but it looked like it had water in it.... just like you see when you have water in your engine oil... chocolate cream color. Dropped the pan, and that's what was coming out...:-(
Took the rad cap off, and could see some "oil floaters" at the cap.

So I assume that the transmission cooler coil in the rad is leaking. Now, what do I do???? How do I get all the contaminanted fluid out of the tranny and torque converter???? I changed the fluid / filter about a year and half ago and last checked levels about 7 months ago... there was no visible leaks since.

Any guidance on how to proceed successfully would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[budwich]

Read a few posts on flushing but my question is should I flush first with the existing filter... til things "look good" and then drop the pan and replaced the filter and "top fill" with new stuff?... or do another flush exercise after replacing the filter???? The existing fluid (and water...:-( ) only has about 15Kkm. Will the filter be full of water or is it's main claim to fame trapping grit / metal.

Thanks again for any direction.

 

[dynamite196]

I'd drop the pan and replace the filter. then fill with fluid and drive it to a transmission shop so they can flush out all the old stuff. when you do a drain and refill you only get about 60% of the old fluid out, when they do it at the shop they actually use a vaccuum to take out the old stuff so they get something like 99% of it.

 

[budwich]

thanks for the help. I have went thru about 20 liters of fluid after following the process describe in some thread (after dropping the pan, disconnected the lines at the rad and attached hose to drain). The fluid is almost at a "good color" but certainly not clear. I will call around and see what we have around here for "flushing companies" I guess I have a couple of questions... first if there is "some" water left in the system, will it eventual evaporate off (thru the vent hole) without any problems??? And... is there any other way, water can get in the tranny i.e. from the engine block thru the torque converter???? The reason that I ask is that I disconnected the lines at the rad and ran the "flush exercise" (engine running and stuff) and no rad fluid came out of the unplugged rad connections as I was expecting. I still have to track down a rad before I can proceed with getting the thing flushed professionally.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I would recommend WWW.AutoCoolRadiators.Com for a new radiator. If you would use a radiator pressure tester, you will probably be able to get a fluid transfer through the defective radiator. Just putting in some water isn't going to force it through the hole inside without some sort of pressure (unless there is a gigantic hole).

 

[offset_98]

Just had something similar happen w/ my front diff. today. Got it flushed and what do ya know...water in the front diff. No leaks or anything. I'm not too worried, I don't use the 4WD much, if ever but I'm glad I got it flushed when I did. That could have been disasterous later down the road.

 

[budwich]

Got everything back together. 25 litre of tranny fluid later, the stick is "clear red" again. It appears to shift fine although kick down shifting at highway speed still appears to be "harsh"... hopefully nothing major is wrong. General around the city stuff seems ok. Now I have to keep my fingers crossed.