Stage IV update:


I drove the 35 miles home and 35 miles back today. Did not have any slips, rough shifts, torque shudder, or any other abnormalities that I noticed! Drained the radiator after each drive but wasn't able to get to the trans pan at home. Checked the dipstick after both runs and fluid level was good and looked like new. Have had truck sitting since mornign and will drain pan before I head home and refill.

Know that I'm not in the clear, but sure seems like a good sign so far! There's still lots of time to go...

 

Great Let us know how it goes.

 

Latest Update:

Been having trouble getting on the forum late last week and over the weekend?!?!?

Anyway, drained the trans pan on Friday after about 75-80 miles of driving. While it wasn't a strawberry milkshake it did resemble more of a strawberry daiquiri! I guess that is some improvement, and certainly more rewarding if you want to drink it!

Just got finished draining the trans pan again for the second time since the mega flush and still a darker, cloudier fluid akin to a strawberry daiquiri. Had driven about 100 miles on it this time over the weekend. Guess I'll give it a couple days and drain the pan again, about 150 miles this next time. After that, plan its to go to good ATF then or maybe one more pan drain.

The coolant system is the one that doesn't seem to be cleansing itself all that well. Have done multiple drains after driving and most seems to be staying up top. Today ran the truck with the cap off and tried to overflow some more by accelerating and blowing it out and refilling the water by hand.

Old-timer mechanic even suggested a few drops of Dawn in the system to bond with the oil and dirt. Bad idea?? Any other steps to speed up the cleanse? Might run a hose to the fill tomorrow and leave the drain open and try to get the engine hot, that's about my only idea left!

Thanks again all and still have fingers crossed here!

 

That's interesting, I can't see what it would hurt as long as you don't over do it and get a lot of foam. I think those commercal flushes have something like a detergent in them because they kind of foam up some. A few drops should not foam up too much. You might also try disconnecting a heater hose and flush from up there too. Of course open the heater valve and get the heater core as well.

 

I work at a Ford dealership. Ford suggests using Simple Green in the cooling system after such contamination. We do a lot of diesel work and it is common to get contamination of the cooling system. Simple Green really works good and it has a neutral acidity. We just got a V10 gas engine in yesterday with a blown trans cooler. It is the first strawberry milkshake I have seen in person. WOW what a mess!

 

Don't FLUSH the radiator every time. Here is what I have done. Skim, suck, clean crap out of reservoir. Fill radiator to the top. Run til hot or just drive as normal. When you get home, wait til it cools down a bit - but not til cold. Open reservoir and skim/suck/clean crap out again. Little by little, the ATF should make its way to the top and over to the reservoir. You have to pull it out of their prior to it getting sucked back into the radiator when cool.

PS - I removed the rubber p/u tube from the cap on my overflow so it will not draw it back into the radiator. Will put it back on when all clean. I pull the ATF out of my reservoir with strips of absorbent pads. I cut the pads into strips and force them all the way in one at a time and then pull them out. I do not remove all the water from the reservoir so that the ATF stays near the top.

 

Latest Update:

Last night I drained the trans pan again after putting about 300 miles on it. Still looking a little cloudy but very red and not too thick. As someone said, if you put it through ANY trans for a few hundred miles, it would probably come out looking the same! Still no slips, shakes, whines, or hard shifts! Gonna go a few more hundred miles and then start changing over to some better ATF.

Concerning the radiator, none of the milkshake seems to be making it to the reservoir. Still not getting much out by draining or burping but may have gotten a good chunk this morn. While it was still warm, I opened the drain cock and flushed through with a hose running hot water. After running this for two mins I refilled and ran. The water in the rad appears to be clean now as no milkshake appeared back at the top after cooling. Gonna keep watching in case more is inside the block before switching to AF.

Little worried I might have a small leak from the fitting on the trans dipstick or on the elbow of the dipstick tube. Have to wait until I quit adding fluid for a while to be sure but that will not be fun if true. I didn't even get the dipstick tube to separate!

Still watching, waiting, and praying!

 

snacks,
Great troubleshooting on your part!

At 184,000 miles (purchased new), I wonder if I should pick up and install a new radiator as a preventative measure? Any thoughts?

Andreas

 

There is a little O-ring at that elbow, it may need replacing.

Good luck and may the force be with you.

 

That or install an external ATF cooler and by-pass the rad ATF cooler. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/b...cooler-126953/

 

Well, the bypass went up my priority list. Just orderd the 4454 and the cold weather bypass. Tundra brakes will have to wait.

 

As a follow-up, I ordered a new radiator through the local Toyota dealer (~$280). It took less than an hour to clamp the tranny lines, remove the old radiator, and install the new one. Very painless and I can now motor forth with a certain amount of renewed confidence.


Andreas

 

Much faster than my bypass install! Took me an hour and a half of grunting to get those hoses off and onto the hardlines. Hard to get your hands in there with any leverage!

I notice over the past couple months that the performance of the external cooler is greater than the in-rad cooler especially in deep snow where the transmission is working hard. I may even add a second cooler for when I'm pretty much plowing with the bumper of my truck :0

 

Snacks,
while you were refilling keep in mind that if If you spilled/ dripped ANY ATF on to the trans tube it will drip down the tube and look/appear like you have a leak.. It's a small tube and so its very easy to over fill it. The way oils work is that they somewhat sticks to metal stuff until it drips off.
The trans tube will only take a little ATF at a time or it overflows and you'll have ATF dripping on your driveway for the next week until it works its way out of the engine compartment.


Also Consider Valoline Max Life ATF in the 4 quart red container.. 15,00o Miles after my trans line broke I have had no shifting issues.

 

4 years later... howd the transmission hold up?