Brake Fluid in worn out auto trans??

[bisjoe]

A guy was just here at the shop getting lettering on his '94 Explorer. It had over 200k miles on it so I questioned him about it lasting that long. He says the transmission started slipping two years ago. An old mechanic told him to add the equivalent of a shotglass of brake fluid to it. He says it still slips a little but not often, and he's put on over 30,000 miles with it that way. He said it sounded strange but the $2,400 rebuild would have been more than the car was worth so he tried it and it worked. I can see that it might help restore seals, but how could it do anything about worn out clutches?

 

[Rick]

Sounds dangerous to me... I would think the brake fluid would eat up the clutches.

 

[Abom]

Pfffft, brake fluid. Everyone knows you use coolant, not brake fluid

Seriously though, if your transmission / engine / whatever that uses fluid is toasted, you can try anything, since it's already hooped and you don't need to worry about it.

Ever try mixing LucasOil Heavy Duty Oil stabilizer, Slick 50, STP Engine Oil Stop Leak, CD2 Sticky Lifter detergent and 0w30 synthetic oil all together ? A friend of mine did this to an old Nissan that was burning 2 liters of oil every 2 weeks, and believe it or not, the concoction only burned 1 liter every 2 weeks. He did it because he was waiting 6 weeks for a crate engine from Nissan, so he figured WTF, why not. The engine ran perfectly fine (other than the slower oil burning) until the day he dropped in the new crate engine, which was about 8 weeks after we put the mixture into his engine.

So basically, you can try anything, you might get lucky, you might not.

 

[bisjoe]

Abom,

An old timer once told me about putting tansmission fluid in the crankcase for sticky lifters, it made sense since it's so high in detergent. Your friend probably could have had the same results with just one or two of those
but I guess there's no way to tell which. I remember in the 60s with bad rings running a chevron oil called zerolene, a non detergent that took about 20 minutes to pour in a quart. Definitely slowed down the burning.

 

[Abom]

I remember in the 60s with bad rings running a chevron oil called zerolene, a non detergent that took about 20 minutes to pour in a quart. Definitely slowed down the burning.

Sounds like LucasOil's Heavy Duty Oil Stablizer, man that stuff takes a long time to pour out

Seriously though, if your transmission / engine is completely worn out and needs replacement / complete rebuild, you can't really do much more to hurt it, so throwing in weird fluids might prolong it's already ending lifespan.

 

[gijoecam]

I wouldn't think the 2oz of anything in 16 quarts of trans fluid would be enough to do anything to it. It may help the minimize the effects of the problem, but it's definately not a fix for it. The damage has already been done.

-Joe

 

[rangerbury]

An old timer once told me about putting tansmission fluid in the crankcase for sticky lifters, it made sense since it's so high in detergent.

I remember Marvel Mystery Oil was the way to go a few years back; also red like tranny fluid.

 

[90ranajo]

Ever try mixing LucasOil Heavy Duty Oil stabilizer, Slick 50, STP Engine Oil Stop Leak, CD2 Sticky Lifter detergent and 0w30 synthetic oil all together ? A friend of mine did this to an old Nissan that was burning 2 liters of oil every 2 weeks, and believe it or not, the concoction only burned 1 liter every 2 weeks. He did it because he was waiting 6 weeks for a crate engine from Nissan, so he figured WTF, why not. The engine ran perfectly fine (other than the slower oil burning) until the day he dropped in the new crate engine, which was about 8 weeks after we put the mixture into his engine.

So basically, you can try anything, you might get lucky, you might not.

My old Buick right now runs on about 1 quart oil and 4 quarts of Lucas for the engine. I also an old 79 TransAm with a TH400 that wouldn't engage any gears. After draining all the ATF out and replacing with straight Lucas, that baby was back on the road doing burnouts.

 

[Abom]

My old Buick right now runs on about 1 quart oil and 4 quarts of Lucas for the engine. I also an old 79 TransAm with a TH400 that wouldn't engage any gears. After draining all the ATF out and replacing with straight Lucas, that baby was back on the road doing burnouts.

lol, it's interesting to see how many people have had an actual good experience using weird fluids / overusing "additives". True enough if it's broken, no fluid will fix it, but it sure will prolong it's life !

 

[wantedexplorer]

I've been told of this Brake Fluid fix's in transmissions as well. I worked at a shop where they put 2 Cap fulls on brake fluid in the transmission. The customer said that the problem was bearly exsitant after doing so. I was shocked as well. Cause the garage wanted me to put the brake fluid in and I refused to.

 

[BrooklynBay]

AutoZone sells Seafoam for transmissions which is supposed to flush everything out. I've never used it, so I don't know how well it works.

 

[Glacier991]

certain rubbers can be softened by brake fluid... I suspect what this *might* do is to slightly soften hardened seals, thus reducing fluid pressure loss through blowby.

 

[EMG7895]

I have done it before and it definitely help lengthen the life of a dieing trans, as long as you use dot 3 or 4 I think you have nothing too lose, dot 5 may cause some probelems though.

 

[Glacier991]

Mine was starting to have issues at 190K.... here is what I did, and what happened that may have also helped, though not by design.... I put 16 oz of Tranz-X in mine to soften the seals... after about a month I started doing pan drop changes monthly...after 4 changes I put about 4 oz of trans-X in the fluid and called it good.... now at about the same time I realized I had a bad modulator, and over the next year I bet I ran another 5 quarts of new Merc III ATF thru it before I finally changed out the modulator. (Lazy SOB)

Today I have 230K on it and it works like a champ... I DO shift out of OD on long uphills, like up I-80 into the Sierra in the steep parts though.

Softened seals and really fresh ATF seem to be key points in an aging tranny.