So, I have a 2004 Dodge Neon that had a radiator fail, pushing coolant into the transmission. I tried one garage that wouldn’t touch it, but did find another one willing to try a power flush. I had that done, and several subsequent flushes over two weeks left me with clean transmission fluid. It’s been about 3 weeks (and one 200 mile trip) without any issues, but I’m a little worried about any damage that might’ve been done. Anyone have any idea at what point I should be in the clear? Thanks for any input!
No one can possibly tell but look at it this way, with a 10 year old car you never know what will fail next. You did exactly the right thing to try to prevent damage. Every month you get out of this car is a month you avoid eithey a car payment or the aggravation of trying to find another used car with all the unknown problems that come with it.
You did all you could. But, since you can’t perform an MRI on a transmission, it’s impossible to tell if any damage or extra wear may have happened. I don’t think you’ll find anyone willing to call an ‘All Clear’ on a 10 year old car, since your car approaching senior status.
There are two fears in this world: 1) Fear of the known; 2) Fear of the unknown/ Fear of the known doesn’t make sense, because you can do something about it. Fear of the unknown doesn’t make sense either, because there isn’t anything you can do about it.
You took care of condition 1 by flushing the transmission with a power flush and that seemed to work. Now, take care of condition 2 by not worrying about it. You got good advice from oldtimer. If you have gone 3 weeks without a problem and taken a 200 mile trip, the chances are probably good that you will go quite a ways further without problems.
Fear of the known does make sense, because you can’t always do something about it.
For example, if your engine is on its way out, you can’t afford to get it fixed, and you can’t afford to buy another car, that is “fear of the known”.
But I digress…
Coolant can damage a transmission quickly and if the car were mine I certainly would not go far from home with it.
Instead of flushing maybe what needs to be done is to drop the transmisison pan and see what’s in there. If the bottom of the pan is caked up with black particles then that’s even more of a reason to stay close to home as that gunk will be the friction material from the clutches.