Possible precarious trans situation: Seeking logical opinions:

[diesel4me]

Usually water in an automatic does kill them fairly fast,but I've seen a few that survived...

Here's a tale of a friends frustration with his TH350 --one night it died,lost all gears,forward and reverse..he went to the salvage yard we dealt with,and bought another one..they said it worked fine when the car was hauled in...(didn't say how many years before though!)..

We installed it and it worked great,shifted nice,no slippage,and only one bummer--the park pawl was stripped,and we didn't realize it until we parked on a hilly driveway at his house,and the car rolled into his dads car a few minutes after we'd gone in the house....It didn't do any damage ..

Back then we were not aware you could fix that issue without pulling the tranny out,and we removed it, and went back to the salvage yard for another one..

The second tranny they gave us we installed, had no reverse!......

We decided to drop the pan and do a fluid & filter change..

When we got the pan off,it was rusted to hell inside,the valve body was rusty,and a thin layer of the metal in the same shape as the pan,was stuck to the filter,like a layer peeled off the bottom of it due to the water & rust!...changed the filter and fluid--same thing..no reverse..

Went back again,they gave us another one to try--said it was the last one they had that was supposedly "good"..they felt bad for us and gave us some cash back to cover the cost of the wasted ATF and the filter..

Put that one in,and it slipped badly on takeoffs,and third gear barely engaged,if you stepped on the gas more than 1/4 throttle,the clutches would slip..

We dropped the pan on that one,and were surprised to see the same thing--a thin layer of the pan rusted off the bottom,and was blocking the fluid to the filter...changed the filter & fluid,and no improvement..tried swapping the modulator,no change..JUNK!..

We ended up going back and getting the first transmission we brought back again that had no park,and installed it again...by now we had it down to like 1-1/2 hours lying on our backs in his driveway.....my friend then took the car to a transmission shop and had them fix the park pawl,he had heard after we yanked it out the first time you can fix them "in the car",but was unwilling to attempt it himself...

The tranny shop manager said when he picked up his car--"Man--that thing must have been in a flood--the pan was so rusty,a layer of it was stuck to the filter!--we flushed it out and put another good used pan on it for you...

We then told him about the other two transmissions that were in the same shape we tried,and he said "wow--THREE times you put them in "?--"you want a JOB"?..

That "first" transmission did end up surviving ,it worked great the whole time my friend had the car ,a '72 Buick Skylark--many hole shots and burnouts too....

 

[vandelay industries]

UPDATE: 9/23

Back around jul 31st, i had parked the truck and had a few lyfe issues to deal with (women can be sooooo sensitive.....) anyways,

i took it for a test drive last night and again today and there were absolutely no signs of leakage whatsover----water or ATF.

The only thing i did, was around July 29th or around the last week of July, i had replaced the lower radiator hose-----because i thought this was the culprit of the leaking. The area of the leaking seemed to coincide with the area around the white UPC sticker. However, even with the new hose, there was still signs of leakage, leading me to believe it was the trans line since water was coming off the trans line in both cases with both radiator hoses. Note that the lower radiator hose and the lower trans line are and were in contact for over 1 year and still are. (yes, i know i need to take care of this) This is when i decided to park the truck and deal with it when there was more time.

i am currently testing the old hose----by filling with water and positioning both ends upwards so that water does not come out. There does not appear to be any leakage. Granted, this test is with the hose off the engine, so:

1) Which hose is under pressure when the engine is running----the lower, the upper, or both?


2) If there is no leakage from either of the transmission cooler lines OR from the lower radiator hose or other coolant hoses. And there does not appear to be any now, then where do you think the water came from?


The only things i'm coming up with is the outlet from the coolant overflow tank; Since i was in the process of flushing the radiator, i had, perhaps, been "overzealous" in filling the system to the brim---in hopes of doing a thorough job. Thus, excess water MAY have come out of the overflow spout. However, the overflow spout is no-where near where the water would get onto the lower trans cooling line.

The other thing is i MAY have forgotten to close the radiator cap completely----because this was a repetitive process of the filling, draining, filling etc. i can't say there is a high likelyhood of this, but it's possible.

Not the greatest pics, but the fluid does not appear to be Pepto-Bismal or strawberry milkshake. Trans seems to shift fine. Fluid level seemed normal.

 

[diesel4me]

On "most" engines the upper radiator hose has pressure,the lower has suction...but I'm referring to old small and big blocks--not sure if newer ones with reverse rotation serpentine belt drives are the same or not..

I know some vehicles have the thermostat in the lower hose instead of the upper,those too may not have pressure in the upper hose..

 

[chulisohombre]

It appears to have fixed itself. Lol. That trans fluid looks ok for now but a little dirty. Looks to be fine enough for normal use though. I wouldn't worry. Check the two hose nuts into the radiator for tightness but it looks like you dodged a bullet there.

 

[ChrisPerry]

It will have pressure everywhere. The pressure is from the water expanding when it gets hot.