...when it is covered in 3 inches of oil and dirt?

Any usual suspects?

leaking radiator cooler...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

ooohhhh, duh. good call.

it was a very small amount though. maybe a tablespoon. Still the same?

how do you know it's only a tablespoon?
the transmission has a vent on it, it can collect small amounts of water from the air on humid days with cold nights...

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

My money would be a pinhole leak in the rad/trans cooler.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

that bugs me. the radiator looks great.... I'm confused.


I should mention the trans was on a cement floor in a garage for over 6 months.

condensation?

A transmission cooler leak would be internal to the radiator and would not be discernible by visual inspection of the radiator's exterior.

^^ I understand that. I simply meant that there is no visible corrosion inside or out.

How are the two regions separated?

1984 190d

It's a brazed tube. My hunch is that overtorquing the cooler lines damages the part where the fittings are brazed on.

good info.

I will have to inspect further.

thanks all.

yeah, it's a tiny stainless steel radiator inside the lower tank of the radiator. they fail. trust me. I still don't know how you know the volume of water in the transmission.

you are right.

there may have been much more than I saw.


I know they can fail.... the radiator is a newer replacement.

A friend suggested that this water might be from a previously failed radiator.... thoughts?

Possibly the previous owner was U-Boat Commander ?

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92 500E Silver 66k
82 Porsche 911SC 84K
68 Cadillac ( Gone Now )
03 Suburban Z71 200K
85 300SD 217k From Original Owner ( Dad )

That makes sense.

A more likely supposition:

Current radiator - good
Former radiator - bad

Leaky radiator was replaced once upon a time without due consideration of trans. P.O. drives around with 100K mile-old water-fouled fluid in trans, totally ignorant of proper transmission maintenance.

I have seen these scenarios, heck, in a previous life I was probably guilty of all of the above.

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take a walk down memory lane...

If it is clear water = condensation is possible.

If it is not clear water = bad radiator.

Typically:
A bad radiator transmission cooler = emulsified (milkshake) transmission fluid.

You can pressure test the radiator oil cooler.