About 7 months ago I suspected transmission trouble so I had a shop check the oil pan for metal shavings. They said they thought I should have a new transmission put in. My husband
decided to check for himself and decided we did not need the new transmission.
About six months after the transmission check, the van could not move forward after pulling out of the driveway. I checked the transmission fluid level and found it was dry as a bone. More fluid was added and all was well for a few weeks.
At this time I again checked the transmission fluid level but could not tell for sure if there was enough fluid and by now I’m leaking some fluid under the van.
On my husband’s next trip home (he is a long distance truck driver) he dropped the pan again to make sure it had enough fuild. After this point in time I can’t keep up adding enough trans fuild, it leaks almost as fast as I put it in.
This trip home my husband found that radiator water has transmission fluid in it. He is now trying to figure out how the hoses are connected to the radiator. The automative manual doesn’t give enough info on this. Can someone out there tell us how to fix this problem?
Thanks much. By the way the van has 114K miles on it. Needless to say I’m ready for another van.
Laura
I’m no tech but I’ll try to get you started until one of our resident techs answers.
To my knowledge, tranny coolant lines from the rad are steel and not hose.
If the coolant and the tranny fluid are mixing, there may be a leak internally in the rad between the rad and the rad/tranny fluid cooling tank.
As far as I know the only fix is to replace the rad as I doubt there is any aftermarket ‘weld’ in a can that would repair this.
I should have added there are 2 steel lines from the rad (one feed and one return).
off hand i would surmise the transmission shop was correct.
maybe take it to the pros, where they can estimate the true cost of the transmission that DID need attention in the first place!
Roadrunner is correct, there are two lines that go from the tranny to the radiator. Inside the radiator there is a small tank which contains the transfluid and it is pobably cracked. This means that having coolant in the transmission you have trans fluid in the coolant. The quickest way to fix this is another radiator. Having this repaired will probably a lot more expensive and time consuming.
Kind of looks like the shop was right and hubby was wrong.
The problem you have is that with a bone dry transmission, and running a trans low on fluid repeatedly due to fluid loss, is closing the barn door after the horses done stampeded.
You have suffered some transmission damage and would need a new radiator also; unless you added an aftermarket cooler and bypassed the radiator completely. (Always a preference.)
The same thing as running an engine out of oil. Refilling it may help, depending, but the damage is done and the life expectancy is dramatically shortened; if there is any life left.
It’s time for a trans cooler and new transmission or time for another vehicle IMHO.
If the transmission runs hot, it ruins all the rubber seals and parts inside.