Car troubles

[Razor]

Ok, I managed a tranny shop for over nine years, and Cleveland Metal needs to chime in too! Let me guess, the cooler line fittings rusted off the radiator.

First of all, water of any type WILL kill a tranny if it isn't completely removed. The clutch material is held onto the plates by a water based adhesive, that's why water will strip the clutch material off.

First things first, replace the radiator and make sure to check the hoses for dry rotting on the ends and replace/repair as needed. The transmission fluid and antifreeze won't cause the rubber hoses to deteriorate. What gets hoses is time, heat and dry rot.

Second, as stated above, tow the vehicle to a reputable shop and have the transmission flushed properly with a flush machine that works off of the transmission pump. It really wouldn't hurt to flush it twice to be on the safe side. Don't take your time about having it done either, water in the tranny will cause rust to build up and ultimately contaminate it further. Sure, letting it sit a week while you're out of town shouldn't be a problem, but have something done within two weeks. The same thing that happens to your brake rotors when your car is sitting will happen inside the tranny.

Last of all, if the cooler line blew off, then the tranny should be ok. Normally when a cooler line blows it pumps out the fluid so fast that it doesn't give the clutch packs much time to slip. You really won't know what kind of shape the tranny is in until you replace the radiator and go from there. I'd say easy 70% chance that your tranny hasn't been damaged.

Good luck and have fun on your trip.

[Razor]

I have been asked to seltzer batteries, dribble oil on shocks, STP automatic transmissions and so on. I never have, and I quit two jobs because I was harassed about not doing it.

Good luck!

Dayumm...wanted to STP a tranny!!!

It's still amazes me what some shops will do to try to generate work. All they do is kill their's and everyone else's reputations, and lose customers in the process. I absolutely love it when those types of shops have their scams exposed.

[straycat]

Any other liquid other than trans fluid will destroy an automatic trans.

[Spivonious]

Well the trip is cancelled since my dad is in the hospital (nothing too serious but it requires him to have an IV for 5 days). So I'll just have it towed tomorrow and get things fixed up. I don't think any coolant made it's way into the transmission since all that came out of the hose was red; green was only coming out of the radiator.

Thanks for everyone's help.

@Razor: It doesn't look like it rusted off, it looks like it just popped off. The fitting still (appears) to have all of its parts. Oh well, I guess after 8 years this is a semi-normal thing? Oh, and the Pens suck

[Cleveland Metal]

Razor pretty much summed it up quite well. You're probably fine.

If you didn't pump antifreeze/water into the trans, you're fine.

If much got in, you're probably in a world of hurt sometime reasonably soon. Clutch plate material will degrade pretty fast from the contamination, come off the plates and be in the pan and filter soon. Been there done that with customers cars. Seen many rusted out cross contamated radiators and replaced them and flushed, and they make it back soon slipping if the trans fluid isn't a milkshake already when we do the initial work.

FWIW, If water/coolant got in and pumped through the trans and it sits for a week, that will allow time for the adhesive to fail on the plates if it did get contaminated.

Generally, If the radiator didn't come apart inside, and a trans cooler line just broke off, I'll figure there was no cross contamination. You're likely just fine.

However, If you drove it 3 miles with the coolant line off and bleeding out, that's not 'long" but certainly not good... During that time no pressurized lubrication was provided to the parts. Not good for that trans... Likely "ok" but you'll probably know quickly if it's hurt once the radiator is swapped out. May just shorten the life of the unit.

2000 Neon? You're probably due for a build anyways if it hasn't been done already...

[Firebird V]

just fix it when you get back... If any damage has been done it is done already. Just make sure nobody drives it or turns it on at this point.

[Spivonious]

Just an update...we had it towed to the dealer and they replaced the radiator and checked out the transmission and they said everything looked fine in there. The car is shifting normally, so I believe them. Thanks again for everyone's help.

[StukaJU87]

Just an update...we had it towed to the dealer and they replaced the radiator and checked out the transmission and they said everything looked fine in there. The car is shifting normally, so I believe them. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Sweet. Glad that it got sorted out.

[Firebird V]

Cool!

[Razor]

Glad to hear it turned out fine.