Zink

I just bought my 3rd gen camaro and been doing the usual maintence on her. I woke up one day and found strawberry milk on the floor, not remembering if I had a crazy night with soft serve icecream, I figured that it got mixed through the cooling process. I Popped my radiator cap, and it was clear green, no milk, or cloudiness. As of now the tranny pan is dropped and draining, Im not too positive if the mixture is still comming from the cooling process or if it just got wet. Any input would be appreciated. It also smells burnt.

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

Where on the car did the stuff actually fall from?

Zink

From the transmission pan, when removing it, the bolts were snug except for 1 missing and 1 loose one. Doubt that would be the reason for so much moisture to be there though, doesnt seem to have rust from what I can see atleast. I will post pictures once the digital is charged

chevymec

iTrader: (5)

Pull a tranny line of the bottom of the radiator. Sounds like the tranny cooler on the radiator is letting antifreeze in.

Zink

do that right now and let ya know

Zink

Pulled the line, same story. Guess I'll pull the radiators next and replace them.

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

Nice job capturing that drop int he first pic

Ugh, that looks pretty nasty, your transmission might be shot. You could flush the hell out of it and cross your fingers, but not before you get a new radiator. The transmission cooler in the radiator has most likely ruptured and transmission fluid is mixing with coolant. Depending on how long it's been like this there is a good chance you have transmission fluid in your coolant.

Thirdgen89GTA

iTrader: (5)

I'd replace the radiator, and flush both systems. If it hasn't sat for too long, you can eventually clean it out before too much damage has been done. However, there is damage, and the trans life has been reduced. I'd still fix it and drive till the trans dies. Just plan on a replacement trans in the future (all the more reason for a built 700r4, or a t56 swap.

chevymec

iTrader: (5)

+1. I would have the tranny flushed atleast twice. I would replace the filter after you flush it and try not to drive the car before it gets flushed. You can flush the tranny at your house with some buckets, and rubber line. Not the most conventional way but it works.

Zink

How do I go about flushing the transmission? The coolant seems clear of any foreign liquids, but then again I have not run her enough for the thermostat to open up.

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

Then don't run it or warm it up. You might be lucky in that respect. If the thermostat hasn't opened since the damage occurred, then any transmission fluid that got into the coolant system is just sitting in the vicinity of the damage and you should be able to just drain it right out the bottom of the radiator.

Zink

Flushed the radiator, looked good. Going to fill her back up and run her for a little bit and re-drain the transmission and radiator and see if I get the same results.

gurkgurkgurk

transmissions toast.



from when i heard strawberry milk, i was just thinking in my mind "oh god i hope its not in somebodies transmission"

TransAM Joe

iTrader: (6)

Transmission is not that hard to drain/flush and change the filter. It's the torque converter that is going to cause you trouble if it's not flushed. It holds about 3 quarts and DOES NOT drain when you pull the pan on the transmission. Just changing the fluid it going to make it seem ok until the milk mixes from the converter and back to square one

This is what I recommend if you want to try to save it. You already have the pan off, let it drain. Put the pan back on, pour clean tranny fluid through the dipstick to try to get all the thinned fluid out, pull the pan, keep doing this until the fluid looks good, put a new filter in and top off. Pull the cooler lines off the tranny and cap them, I think they are 1/4" npt and cap off the line connectors at the radiator or get a new radiator. Find the closest place(remember the converter is still full of milk) that will do a complete tranny flush. This is usaully done by a machine that exchanges the fluid completely in the trans and converter.

tony_cogliandro

iTrader: (3)

i completely forgot about the converter - this is a take it apart and clean job. and i mean clean it well. the same for the transmission and all the lines.
its a nice feature having a transmission cooler built into the camaro but these things do happen.
you also have a bad heater element. better pull that out and replace it. if you did not have a bad one that stuff would have been in there for a long time. by having the heater rot and leak you found the problem, hopefully before you did some real damage.
it also means that you not only had coolant in your trans you have trans fluid you your entire cooling system. anything foreign like that in the system will break down the cooking fluid and change its composition and it will not work like it should. flush it all and spend a lot of time doing it.

ok i had to edit this. i started looking and found a site that recommends that you first drain out all the atf from the bottom then replace the pan. fill it up with atf and this time disconnect the line at the cooler in the radiator. get yourself a couple of one gallon milk containers and with the car in gear - let the torq converter engage and it will pump the crap into the empty milk container and you can see the color. dont overfill the trany but keep the fluid up and keep putting new stuff into it until the container is only getting nice clean atf and that means your converter is empty of the bad and only full of the new.
or you can go to a oil changing place and let them charge you $150.00 to do it for you.