Now I Killed my Transmission?! (all the sadness)

[Benzo'Linz]

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/389353-atf-leaking-line-what-part-300d.html

I did not repair it quickly enough, and thought that as long as the ATF level was okay, a leak here was ok to drive with.

I had to pick my kids up from school and figured I'd limp home and repair it tomorrow. It never ran out of ATF. But now I see it lost too much pressure.

To be honest, I mistook the shift hesitation for a need to diesel purge. I went and bought LiquiMoly and was about to run that when it suddenly stopped shifting altogether. (I haven't driven it in 2 years, it sat there and I apparently forgot what is what.) Fixed the leak but still cant even get in reverse.

So I didn't replace the line fast enough, and now I have no car and need to replace my transmission?

This is a hobby, not just transportation. This is an education, and those are never cheap or easy. BUT DAMN. I just know when I get the quote for fixing this, I'm going to consider junking the car even though I just bought 4 new tires and did the motor mounts. I go through cars faster than I go through shoes. Third one this year.

BUT SERIOUSLY (pitiful rant ensues), how dare the car (or anything! or anyone!) have any limits!? When I was an (even more foolish) kid, I sometimes ran my 300TD without oil or ATF and hauled a house worth of concrete and bricks and moved 5 times with that beast, and it took 10 years of my abuse before that tranny slowly failed. I had no mercy on it and total confidence. I'd drive down to the beach, or into the middle of bad parts of the city at night alone, no fear. The 300D gets a tiny crack in a line that seems to have been made out of soft squishy thin tin, and thar she blows! I always believed this sedan was inferior, but I thought that was due to my irrational preference for wagons. AND WTH CAN'T I FIND A MANUAL TRANNY 300? Who decided to put whiplash-shifting automatics in these things? Let me shift it myself! I can shift like butter!!!

I decided the best word to end this on is: butter.