FIRST off i have 01 v6 automatic
Saturday my dad took my truck to work. He noticed fluid pouring out of the radiator overflow box. Anywho we just thought maybe too much fluid in it. let it be!!!
Well today i go to leave and put it in gear and nothing!!!!
i go to check and i have no tranny fluid in the beast!
so im guessing somewhere along the line of cooling the tranny fluid threw my radiator there somekinda whole that is not sending the tranny fluid back to the tranny after cooling it down..(you know the cycle)
what the hell do i do? i have a resovor full of freaking tranny fluid. and i need to flush out the stupid radiator. but im worried about my tranny being dry!!

 

well ovbiously if there was something leaking that was trans fluid right? and not coolant? i'm confused
did the radiator crack? or where was the fluid coming from?

Edit:
Did the coolant mix with the trans fluid?

 

trans fluid runs threw part of the radiator to warm the fluid in cold climents i would guess keeping the radiator and trans fluid the rad cracked somewhere..

 

you should be worried about possible water in the trans. while it's running, trans pressures are much higher than coolant. Water in the trans will hurt pretty bad. Best recommendation is to drain both, the rad and trans. Either get a new radiator, or just put an external cooler in, fill them both, and try it out...

 

yeah the coolants are deffin mixed! sooo.
no need to drain the tranny. has nothing in it!
so you think its the radiator?

 

lol i know but he said rad coolant was leaking and not trans fluid, where did the trans fluid go? unless it was trans fluid leaking and they thought it was coolant?

 

if the coolant and trans fluid are mixed then i think it's the rad

 

BRO they are mixed. and it is overflowing in the radiator overflow resolver.

 

well in that case i can't think of anywhere else where the trans fluid mixed with the coolant but the radiator, like mentioned above, the fluid runs through the radiator so something happened there and they mixed, time for a new radiator i guess :(

 

Thank you guys for the quick a$$ response. i love these forums. Discount autoparts said $215. im screwed over!!!

 

what for a radiator well the trans is prob gonna cost more...

 

yeah radiator.. wait dont we have an external tranny fluid cooler? i think i do

 

Heres a pic of whats under the cap


heres the overflow tank full of mixed crap


The mess underneith

Isnt this the tranny fluid cooler?

 

yep it is... (at least thats what I was told)

 

Yea, thats bad.

Your transmission lines run through the radiator. One of those lines broke inside the radiator. Therefore, your transmission pumped all the tranny fluid out into the radiator. This caused the cooling system to overflow which your dad noticed. The end result is you now have this nasty mix of anti-freeze, water, and transmission fluid mixed together in your cooling system and your transmission.

You need to have the cooling system and the transmission completely flushed out and you need to replace the radiator. Do NOT drive the truck, have it towed. And prey the transmission wasn't damaged by the water/antifreeze mixing in with it. Assuming it wasn't damaged, you should be fine once it is all flushed out and repaired.

 

hey FireRanger
question for you... the dipstick for my tranny is completley dry. i was able to drive the truck up on the ramps. with no reverse. um no noises.... should i drop the tranny pan and inspect for milkyness? cause i know milkyness is sign of mixture of water and all.. also im not sure if the dipstick on these trucks go all the way down in the pan. so i might have some in there. what do you suggest?

 

question is not for me but i'd suggest yes

 

Its dry because it pumped most of it out into the radiator. Whats left in there that you can't see on the dipstick is the same nasty mix you see in your radiator. They all mixed. You need to have both the transmission and the cooling system flushed out completely to remove all of that crap from both systems. If you want to drop the transmission pan and see it for yourself, knock yourself out. But doing so will not yield any different results.

Unless you want your transmission to have a meltdown, do not attempt to drive anymore until this is resolved.

 

sorry art
So dropping the pan wouldnt help?
cause the flush is basically putting atf i and letting it drain threw. right?

 

No. A shop uses a device that flushes it out. It connects to the transmission lines and pumps new transmissions fluid through sucking the old fluid out and continues until it has flushed the whole system out. Simply dropping the pan and draining will only drain a small amount of whats actually in your transmission. This is NOT something you can do yourself. It needs to go to properly equipped shop.

For the coolant flush, a similar procedure is used by connected a garden hose to a heater core hose and letting it flush out.

 

where is the tranny cooler located?

 

it's inside the radiator, right where the trans fluid lines attach to the radiator, you could replace it but it's a PITA to remove the plastic covers from the panel and put them back, i did it once, my rad started leaking and a friend of mine gave me a rad with both covers broken but the panel was ok, i just replaced them with the ones from my leaky rad, it was a freebie so it was worth the trouble, too much of a pita tho you're better off buying a new rad (unless you like trouble )

 

thanks guys. a new radiator, 3 or 4 flushes... and a bit of luck and my trucks running just fine! luckly i did not have anytype of coolant or water in my tranny. just some old fluid.. like a quart left. lmao.. now its all good