So in a previous post from awile back I was having a tramission leak from the front of the transmission. It was coming out of the inspection plate so I pulled the trans and replaced the front seal and it is still leaking. I have just learned to deal with it for now. However there is a new issue I'm noticing and I hope it is what I'm thinking. Where the leak is coming out of the transmission i'm noticing antifreeze in the same area as the leak. Could the radiator be falling apart and leaking antifreeze into the transmission cooler and getting into the transmission. Is that even possible? I cant see any other leak that would be that far back on the motor to have antifreeze in the same spot as the trans fliud. Just would like to hear your thoughts!

Thanks again!

 

What engine and transmission are we talking about? Assuming some kind of automatic, if your trans fluid was contaminated with anti-freeze from the radiator (possible, but highly unlikely. It's more likely for trans fluid to leak into the rad if the cooler went bad internally), your leak would have a mixture of the two fluids, not a new and separate puddle. Anti-freeze can leak from the back of the intake or some freeze plug at the back of the block/heads and dribble down in strange paths.

 

It could be a head gasket seeping, too.

 

Is this the engine that has a couple of freeze plugs in the back.....Something in my memory says we have talked abotu coolant in the back of an engine before!

 

Never even thought about a freeze plug. I will have to llok at that since i have the hood off now. If it is a freeze plug can they be replaced? Pain in the butt? Do they work when replaced. I remeber a friend doing this and it only worked fora short time.

Thanks!

 

It's not only possible for coolant to be in the trans fluid, but extremely likely if you have a bad tranny "tube" in the the radiator. Once you shut down your engine, the coolant is under pressure and the tranny fluid is not. Thus, coolant will be forced into your transmission lines. Conversely, when you first start our engine, the pressurized tranny fluid is forced into you radiator too. The two will not mix readily as the tranny fluid would float in your overflow on top of the coolant ( If you have an overflow, you'll be able to see tranny fuid in it). You can take a sample of the tranny fluid to a lab that can detect coolant. I went through this with a new vehicle I bought back in 94. The first time, they replaced the transmission. The second time they set it out on the lot for a couple of days. They missed the third chance by over a week and the BBB made them buy it back under the Lemon Law. I ended up with another of the same type of vehicle and logged over 233,000 trouble-free miles before trading it in. OBTW, tranny fluid is quite flammable and has a tendency to seep through your hoses (which I also assume deteriorates said hoses).

 

So this would tell me that the radiator is bad and I should replace the radiator and transmission lines. correct? Is it really bad to have these to together? From what you are stating not really or is it? I guess I need to know if I should not drive it anymore this year.

Thanks!

 

I don't want you to jump to conclusions. I was just wanting you to know that if the tube in the radiator ruptures, the fluids go in both directions and they don't mix that well. With the motor cold, open the radiator cap and see if there is any tranny fluid floating around in there. Do you have an overflow bottle to look in? If so, look for tranny fluid in the top of it. This is not a common issue, so it may not be your problem.