Possible Tranny Problem?

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

Im driving down the road all of a sudden my cars RPM's start to flucuate from 2-2.5k It was just sort of pulling and jerking, i taught hmm it might be a plug wire. I then noticed that from a dead stop i had to accelerate real hard like from 3-4k just for the car to get up to 15 MPH. I then saw my temp gauge rising up im like oh ohh, i see it climb higher and higher, as it does this the car becomes harder to drive because i have to accelerate a LOT more than usual to get up the same speed.

Well i get to my girls house, when i opened the hood there was smoke everywhere, i could hear the radior fluid boiling inside the radiator. It was smoking a good 20 minutes, after this i opened the radiator and for a good 3 minutes nothing but steam was coming out. After this i looked and noticed i had no antifreeze in the radiator, hmmm weird.

I proceeded to top it off, but as soon as i did what looked like very VERY thick coffee came pouring out of the radiator. It had a oily state to it, but it wasnt like motor oil. I proceeded to check my tranny fluid level and there was none. My moms girl was going to back out the drive way so i had to move my car, i then noticed i had no reverese. So i had to put it in neutral and i pushed it back.

From what it looks like i think its my tranny, but what about the oily stuff? And my tranny seamed like it was 100% good, if it is the tranny then it just went out all of a sudden. I never dogg this car at all, only when i took it to the track like twice.

[3.4 slow to go]

blown head gasket, w/the exhaust superheating the coolant. I've had this happen on the Studebaker I had in TX. As far as teh radiator goes, maybe get it pressure checked, but I had a friend w/a plastic radiator that would pass the pressure test, but when it got heated, teh plastic would expand & expose teh crack & let tranny fluid & coolant mix.

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

update, this mordning i was checking things more throughly and i checked the fluid in the tranny and i noticed that the same coffe color gunk that was in my radiator is in my tranny.

[terminaldegree]

it's possible that the transmission fluid was contaminated by coolant through a leak in the radiator [I think the trans cooler runs through there].

If you have time, I'd change out the coolant, trans fluid, and [possibly] oil today and check it all carefully for signs of leakage or contamination as you drive. DIY would cost you less than $40.

You could also send a sample of the coolant or transmission fluid to get analyzed at a lab. That would cost you $20 and a few days of waiting.

Or, it's off to the garage. Sorry.

[Rabid Dog]

Originally posted by terminaldegree:
it's possible that the transmission fluid was contaminated by coolant through a leak in the radiator [I think the trans cooler runs through there].

BINGO!! the seperator between the coolant flow, and the transmission oil cooler, has been breached. Therefore, allowing the coolant and crud from your radiator to enter the transmission.

Get a new radiator, and have the transmission and lines flushed. (hopefully the cruddy mixture didn't kill the tranny) Wash and clean out the radiator hoses, as an extra precaution.

Now, it's either that problem alone, caused by the radiator failing, or you overheated. That means the pressure caused the breach. (more likely) Check the usual suspects, the worst of which being, the head gasket.

First, check your motor oil for sighns of coolant. If you find coolant in the oil, then your first priority is to fix the head gasket, and have the head checked and trued for the warpage issues you'll probably have. THEN, move on to the radiator and transmission projects stated above. Alot of this you probably know, but never hurts to reinforce things.

Good luck, this has to suck. :(

[ October 23, 2005, 02:10 AM: Message edited by: Rabid Dog ]