Big Chevy transmission problem, need help
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Joined: Jun 2005
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Big Chevy transmission problem, need help
Alright, my friend has a 1997 S10, 4 cylinder, auto. It is in pretty bad condition, but mechanically sound... until today. Previously, the transmission had been slipping, but today it went out. The truck will just barely creep forward for a few hundred feet, then it stops moving until it cools down. This sounds like a burnt torque converter to me, but the thing that gets me is the leak. Actual ENGINE oil is leaking from the back of the transmission right from the yoke. How it gets back there is new to me. The truck is running at normal operating temperature, but something in the transmission is bad wrong. I pulled the dipstick to have a look at the fluid (he had just changed it a few weekends earlier) and it wasn't even registering now. I then pulled the engine oil dipstick (he checked it earlier that day and said it was full) and now it was completely dry. Any thoughts?
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 6,940
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From: Eastern WA
Originally Posted by jcfb
Any thoughts?
. Since the thing is only moving forward a few hundred feet and since the tranny is low on fluid, I'd top it off (tranny warm, engine running and in park) and see what you've got. I have to wonder if your buddy filled the tranny all the way when he changed the fluid (ie, engine running and tranny fluid warm). Finally, and I doubt this vehicle has one, but if there is a vacuum modulator on the tranny check the vacuum line leading to it for the presence of fluid in the line.
Last edited by CowboyBilly9Mile; Feb 10, 2006 at 01:15 AM.
Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 11,697
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From: Marengo, Iowa
If the trans oils is burned bad enough, it will look like motor oil. I just changed the trans in my van, I knew it was going, but kept pushing my luck, trying to buy time, well, the quarters ran out, and it left me stranded. The oil in it was so black that it could be mistaken for motor oil... This isn't uncommon, whether it is clutches slipping, or converter burned up.
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 692
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From: Saratoga USA
If the Chevy transmission has a vacuum modulator, it's possible to pull transmission fluid into the engine if the modulator is defective, but since the engine is the vacuum source, I don't see how the reverse could be true. There is no direct connection between the engine oil and the transmission fluid, so engine oil is not migrating internally. I agree with the above comments that either the engine oil is being blown back to the tailshaft area, or what you are really seeing is burnt black transmission fluid. I'd bet on the latter. Either way, the truck sounds like a reject from the junkyard, and is probably not worth fixing.
