My ot car, for now going to run an external cooler and see if the trans will be ok after the cleanup before replacing radiator, i'm a little more worring about getting all the pink sludge out of the cooling system, simple green for clean up? What have you guys used?
make sure to flush the trans.. I have heard that once coolant has gotten into the trans the trans will grenade soon. due to the fact that the coolant permeates the clutch material in the clutch packs.. but I could be wrong. hopefully i am.
1950coronet600hp is right. the glue that holds the clutch material to the steel in between in phenolic (water soluable).
Test kits I'v seen measure in the 200~800 parts per 1/1000 mili liter, and yes... the friction material will slide right off the backer in the clutch packs
I think I would go with a standard cooling system flush before trying the simple green thing. Drain the system, fill-run-drain a couple of times and then run the flush. Some shops have power flush setups that work pretty well in cleaning cooling systems but I don't know how well they work on trans fluid in the system.
The radiator leaks, an external trans cooler won't fix that. Even if it doesn't leak externally, it will not circulate properly internally. If water got into the transmission, it has to come apart. No flush will get all the water out without taking it apart.
I'd be more worried about the transmission. Radiators are nothing to flush. I don't know anything about them but I'd call one of those BG flushing shops to see what they say about flushing the transmission.
Don't neglect your cooling system either. Heater cores don't tend to heat very well when full of sludge. I would recommend droping the pan and adding new fluid and screen, and do a 'bucket flush'. Lift the car, open one end of the trans cooler, start car, fill trans as needed, run through a couple gallons(walmart Supertech ATF will work for this part so you aren't running a bunch of money into a bucket), continue until transmission fluid is coming out nice and clean, drop pan, new screen and refill transmission.
My experience has been that the hoses are also shot, the ATF that mixed in the coolant will turn the hoses to mush from the inside out. The radiator has to come out so that the trans cooler part can be either fixed or removed. The trans is also probably junk. Had a repair shop on the 70's and we used to see quite a few GM radiators go bad this way.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the trans runs at a higher pressurer then the cooling system. Which is why you have trans fluid in your radiator, you should have less antifreeze in trans then, trans fluid in radiator. I had this happen to my truck hung a trans cooler bypassed the radiator, flushed out cooling system replaced all rubber hoses, flushed trans changed filter and add new trans fluid never had a problem drove the truck for about 6 more years.
Ok... your wrong. Not trying to pick on ya When you shut off the car the trans pressure goes to 0 and the cooling system still has 10-15 psi because it is hot. That pushes coolant into the trans cooler and into the trans. The trans cooler pressure isn't that high when it is running either but it is more that 15 psi so that is why the trans fluid goes into the coolant. It goes both ways and there is no way to tell how long it has been doing that. If you happen to catch it real early, you might save it but that is a rare case as no one looks at anything until some sort of symptom occurs to make them check the tran fluid level or look at the cooling system. By then it is usually too late. If it looks like a strawberry milkshake, the trans clutches WILL fail and if it is new enough to have a torque converter clutch in it, it will need a new converter too. It also will have the valve body gaskets stuck to the case, valve body, and spacer plate. I would go find a used trans after you fix the cooler. I hate rebuilding ones that got water or coolant run through them. Everybody is right about the rad and heater core hose too. It is a mess to fix right.
As to your original question about flushing the ATF out of the radiator, I have had luck with nothing other than good ole Tide washing detergent. Put in a scoop and let it get warm and flush. Keep doing that until you get no more crappy looking water out then of course change the hoses and thermostat out. This also works great for engine oil getting into the cooling system (like GM oil coolers or turbo diesels with external oil coolers). It would be worth a shot, hopefully you caught it before the transmission got damaged and all you'll be out is some needed maintenance any ways...
I had this happen with my nieces ot Jeep Grand Cherokee. It already had an external transcooler, so I plugged the cooler in the radiator, and just used the external one. Then I took off the trans drain pan and it looked like cake frosting. I literally used a putty knife to clean out the pan. I took off the radiator hoses and filled a 55 gal drum by flushing water through it. I then drained the trans cooler lines and the cooler, and ran more good trans fluid through it then I remember. After this I took it to a quick lube place to have the trans flushed and the radiator flushed. The Jeep has been on the road for 3 1/2 years without another problem. Then you have to figure out how to dispose of the old coolant/trans fluid mix. Brian
This happened to me on an 88 chevy pickup the radiator was leaking water into the trans passages. I cleaned and cleaned the truck ran for a little while but the water ate up the clutch pack and it didn't take long complete rebuild of the trans and a new radiator, sorry for the bad news.
Ford has us using simple green to clean contaminated cooling systems. They wouldnt tell us to use it if was bad for the cooling system. flush the cooling system, change the trans fluid and drive it. if theres damage, its already done, only way to find out is drive it.
... trans is shot.. it has to be opened up. good luck if it does make it, i wont last long no matter how much you flush water is in your clutch packs. fix radiator.. it acts as a heat exchanger for your trans dont go on just your external cooler alone.
I work at a Chevy dealership as a service advisor and thought that a couple of my techs were crazy when we had a Cadillac come in with cross contamination from a busted oil cooler. It had oil in the radiator and they used cascade automatic dishwasher detergent. The reason for the Cascade is that it doesn't foam up. I hope this helps.
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