Hi, I have a question and could use some insight on this issue.
I have an 03 Grand Am, 106, 000 miles (170 K)
Anyways, I took it in for an oil change on Wednesday, February 6th.
I took it to a known Pontiac dealership, and they did the oil change and then the service advisor came to get me, saying that he had something he wanted to show me. He said that I had transmission fluid in my antifreeze reservoir and coolant in my transmission line. I asked how this could be possible, and they didn’t really know other than I could have a hole in my transmission cooler line. I asked him how much it would cost, and they told me that it could be thousands of dollars, but they would have to take the vehicle apart. I asked them if I could drive the car, they told me no that they wouldn’t reccommend it. I said that I would have to speak with my father about the issue and that I would be brining it back. So Thursday morning I lined up a rental, and took the vehicle in and told them that I wanted to have further diagnostic tests done on the vehicle. They said that was fine, and i was on my way. Then 3 hours later they call me and tell me that my vehicle is ready and that there is nothing wrong with it. But the day before they gave it to me in writing that the transmission fluid was in the antifreeze reservoir, as well as the antifreeze in the transmission line.
Then they say there is nothing wrong???! I still have the rental as I kept it because I took it to another mechanic for another opinon.
Does anyone have any ideas? Any suggestions would be greatly apprecaited!
If you legitimately have transmission fluid in the anti-freeze then this is an easy one to figure. Automatic transmissions have a fluid cooler built into the radiator and if these leak internally coolant can mix with trans fluid and vice versa. This can destroy a transmission so it is critical that the existence of this problem be verified…
I have no idea why they said one thing and now another. Maybe it’s possible if your car uses DexCool coolant (antifreeze) some sludging has occurred in the cooling system and this was mistaken for transmission fluid. It can resemble that.
If there is any concern over the trans cooler and you do not want to replace the radiator I would strongly suggest the addition of an aftermarket transmission fluid cooler. These are cheap(50-75 dollars, easy to install, and work much, much better than the original internal radiator coolers. With these you also never have to worry about antifreeze contaminating the transmission fluid ever again.