Water In Transmission
 

Well I sold my 350SD with the trashed rod bent engine that I posted a question on here about switching to the 300SD engine and just bought a 83 300SD instead. Well after what I thought was a through inspection and being ok with eveything I brought the car home about 2 hours away from my place. Now the tranny fluid looks milky pink. That water in it right???

Will droping the pan and changing the tranny filter get all the water out? What do need to do to get it all out?

Dropping the pan and draining the torque converter will get the mily stuff out, but you need to address how it got mily in the first place. I would suspect the transmission cooler in the radiator.

You are screwed. That's probably a leak in the tranny fluid heat exchanger allowing coolant into the transmission. We had a tranny like that in Passion Flower...never gave it a chance to fail but did drive it enough to determine that the clutches were slipping more and more.

My understanding is that the adhesive used in binding the clutch friction materials is water based. Water in the tranny fluid kills the glue that holds them on.

Well, a tranny rebuild isn't a big deal on that car. But it could be that the PO degreased and hosed off the engine and trans, allowing a lot of water to flow down over the top of the trans, which lets water enter through the top vent. Changing the trans fluid and filter and coolant change is probably something you should do anyway on acquiring a new to you car. Who knows? You may not be quite that bad off, but I wouldn't delay in dealing with it. Don't forget to drain the torque converter too, it holds most of the fluid.

Rebuid:eek: It's still shifting fine.

Ok I've got the pan off and will be going back out to pull the filter and drain the TQ. Do I have to remove that crossmember to get at the TQ drain plug?

Also since it is still shifting fine should I leave the pan off an put a fan under it to air dry it out? Will that help the glue on the clutch pads?

Can I test the radiator? Or should I just replace?


Thanks for all your help!

removing the crossmember makes it easier IMHO, but you don't have to. Driving it will heat it up much faster and moisture/vapors should exit the top vent. You can and should test the radiator first. Pressurize the cooling system to 15 psi, remove both trans cooler hoses at the bottom, listen and/or snap a balloon over each open end of the cooler tank at the bottom of the radiator.

OK dumb question, what's IMHO? :confused:

I found the TQ drain plug and it's draining pink milk also. :(

I have a really old tool that I hook up to the neck of the radiator on my 240D that pumps presure into it. Since the 300SD has the radiator cap on the overflow tank do I hook it up on the overflow tank?

Also will it hurt any thing if I start up the engine in neutral and let it run with the TQ & trans dry and the pan off??? I'm thinking th heat will help get rid of the water.

In My Humble Opinion

Wouldn't have expected anything else. It's all the same fluid.

That's what I would try. The whole system is designed to run at pressure anyway, so the overflow tank should be OK

Please don't. Your poor tranny has been abused enough as is...

Yes it will hurt the pump in the tranny, to run without fluid.

I had water in my tranny at one point because my radiator was bad. My radiator was clogged up pretty bad and was getting very hot and something must have cracked in the process. It must have been 500 miles after water began leaking in there before I noticed ( I was driving from Tallahassee to Miami at the time). I changed my tranny fluid 4 times within 1000 miles after putting the new radiator in and I have been fine ever since. I have had some shifting issues, but nothing associated with worn or bad clutch pads that might have been the result of water.

What do you guys think might be the best way for this guy to troubleshoot his issue and identify the source of the water. He needs help fast.

I really appreciate all the info and help! You all are the best!

Ok I didn't run the engine and I won't. I've left the pan off and the TQ drain plug out since yesterday in hopes it wll dry out further.

Should I leave it open for several days for good measure?

I let a friend borrow my radiator presure tool so I'm on the way to go get it back will report what I find with it.

There will be very little water in the transmision if you have properly drained the converter. After you check and/or replace the radiator, just put the new filter on and button it back up. Refill to the proper level.......carefully.........and drive it.

You'll know.......after you see the new fluid........if you need to change it again in the near future. My bet is that it will probably be fine.

Leaving the tranny open any longer than required to do a fluid/filter change risks getting dirt blown in. The tranny fluid is a dirt magnet.

Thats what i learned in trade school I would change it asap and when you fire it up check fluid and drain again if needed.

If it slips after the fluid change that trans would be a good candidate for a rebuild because you know why it failed and what needs to be fixed.

Water contamination in the transmission is a sure sign of a radiator failure, especially if you have a Behr aluminum transmission fluid heat exchanger radiator, a change to brass was done in 1986, you may have to change the radiator or use a GOOD stand alone transmission cooler.

Glycol will peel the clutch and band material, the glue used is water soluble. draining the transmission is not enough; a transmission flush, will exchange about 95% of the contaminated fluid. Paying a little now will save
Hundreds later, It may be to late already.