Transmission Fluid in Coolant Fix

[Rangerous-Steve]

Hello Ranger Station Users,

I've been dealing with a myriad of problems with my 2000 XLT Sport 2WD 3.0 Flex Fuel. About a month ago I was driving to the gas station and it just suddenly lost a lot of power, I crawled up the hill at about 20mph full throttle. Got to the station and it was overheating like crazy, this pinkish choco-milk substance was coming it. It had overheated once before a few weeks before this, I did a flush and it was fine, but at the same time I noticed my transmission was acting pretty naughty too, it was running low on fluid and thus slipping until I would top off the fluid, then it shifted perfectly. So I let the truck cool off for about half an hour, then tried to drive home a mile away, and that's when I saw all this smoke coming out from under the hood, and I covered the road in my pink chocolate milkshake goodness. Blew my lower radiator hose.

I got the car at home now and my first assumption is that the radiator is bad. I just took it out, and I know how much the replacement will cost. My question is, is the problem in the actual radiator, or could it possibly be in the trans cooler in front of it? I just want to be able to replace the right part and get this truck moving again. I don't know if there are any tests I could conduct to make sure the radiator is the issue for certain. Once I do replace whatever I replace though, I'm going to do a thorough coolant flush and then flush the transmission.

Thoughts, opinions, anything would be very helpful.

Thank you,
-Steve

 

[adsm08]

What has failed is the liquid to liquid (primary) transmission cooler. This is actually located inside your radiator, it's the plastic tank on the side or bottom with the two metal lines coming out of it. I would also check the trans fluid and make sure no coolant has gotten into. The glue that holds the friction material of the clutch plates to the backers is water soluble and coolant in the trans fluid can and will dissolve it and literally make your clutches fall apart.

Also, once you replace the radiator fill the system with simple green and water, run the engine until it gets hot, then drain it, flush it with water, and repeat until you stop getting transmission fluid coming out with the mixture. Then run one round of just water, then drain, fill with coolant starting with one full gallon of concentrate.

 

[Rangerous-Steve]

What has failed is the liquid to liquid (primary) transmission cooler. This is actually located inside your radiator, it's the plastic tank on the side or bottom with the two metal lines coming out of it. I would also check the trans fluid and make sure no coolant has gotten into. The glue that holds the friction material of the clutch plates to the backers is water soluble and coolant in the trans fluid can and will dissolve it and literally make your clutches fall apart.

Also, once you replace the radiator fill the system with simple green and water, run the engine until it gets hot, then drain it, flush it with water, and repeat until you stop getting transmission fluid coming out with the mixture. Then run one round of just water, then drain, fill with coolant starting with one full gallon of concentrate.

Thank you for the response. What do you think would be the best way to tackle the coolant reservoir? That thing is full of the nastiness as well, and it's very hard to extract. Will it drain into the radiator eventually if I let it run enough, and just flush it out with the rest?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Remove it and keep flush out as much as you can, hot water will work the best for this.

 

[adsm08]

If you can cap off all the connections on it, fill it with hot water and simple green, shake it up and drain it.

 

[Rangerous-Steve]

Just spent the day replacing the radiator and hoses, flushed it out three times including the reservoir, no more milkshake. I added a quart of transmission fluid and I still believe it's really low on fluid. The transmission is shifting better than it was before, a lot better, but it is still giving me a little trouble. I'm going to pick up more Mercon V tomorrow and slowly fill it until it settles down. My trans dipstick is a little messed up (bent at the end) so it can give my some weird readings, but it definitely isn't at the second dot.