Got water in your transmission? Don't try to flush it out!

What happens when water gets into your transmission? Here's why trying to flush the water out is a really bad idea. Doing that could easily do more damage than good! If you live in the Sacramento, CA area, drop in and say Hi!

[gunnz]

I flushed mine out I used 3 gallons then I replaced my filter than I used a other 3 gallons to flush again and 6 years later it still runs but good advertising thoe thanks for the info

[TheWanderer]

If he flushed it 2 or 3 times, the only thing I can assume is that he didn’t change the radiator, because there is too much pink for flushing it so many times.

[AutoRepairTips]

I believe that a transmission can possibly be saved if it is caught early on and properly flushed. I just recently went through this and have put 10, 000 miles on my transmission so far without issue.

[WrenchWisdom-yr]

I had this problem on my honda pilot. Flushed the trans. And 40k miles later it's still good. You trans shop guys are over exadurating sometimes. Plus this is vehicle specific. A pos dodge 3500 is a heavy truck and it takes a lot to move it around.

[jeremiahgroovy]

It worked on my suv. Its been 2 years since I had the slurry of death. Shifts and drives smooth since I flushed it.

[RealDeal]

Good tip if this is the case, drain and flush as many times as needed while replacing filters aswell, then re route your transmission coolant lines to a separate transmission cooler which are not very expensive and that will stop the water from mixing back with the water from the ruptured cooler thats apart most stock radiators come with

[christophermarshall]

I've seen this myself. One other thing that is bad about this is you never get rid of all the water!!! A big percentage of it stays in the torque converter, & it also starts to rust the steel components. Best thing to do while your car is having the transmission fixed is to spend the extra money & have the specialist I.E. YOU install an external trans cooler.

[Emojielly]

Okay Scotty if flushing doesn't work. What do you do? Take it apart manually and wash everything? Piece by piece?

[bryanmartinez]

I hate those radiators with built in transmission cooler I'm always worried that it will let go into my transmission

[LennyHobdy]

I have a auto mechanic saying that he's going to flush the transmission fluid mixed with water out of the truck.I keep hearing that if this mixture gets into the transmission it's over 😮! Has the damage already been done to the transmission? If the "milky" fluid is the transmission is it too late to save the transmission?

[kchilz]

My problem was i had just did a trans fluid change and when I was filling the fluid some fluid got on the exhaust manifold so I took a bottled water and splashed water on the manifold so it won’t catch fire or stink bad, but some of the splashed water made its way down the filler tube. Sometimes when I check the fluid on the dipstick I see little speckles or of white. Nothing big. The vehicle is shifting nicely

[onlydan]

Good advise if you want a 100% reliable fix.
Great Video, love seeing the inside and getting the expert advise, if you were around manteca I would bring my car by, I love honesty.

If your willing to risk getting stuck and wasting money (I drive just around town in my Chevy Venture) then I would;
1. Disconnect the transmission line and get all the bad fluid out while the car is running in park this helps pump the fluid out of the transmission and torque converter. once the fluid is out replace the filter, clean the magnet.
2. fill it and let it cycle and do it again. we don't drive far and this worked on mine.
3. don't plan on taking it far, expect it to fail, and get some plus plan on a new vehicle or taking it in. start saving looking and look for a low interest loan.
this job cost me 450$ because of all the fluid, filter, gasket, and I needed a radiator as well. Taking it to the shop is going to be 2000$ easy. Might want them to replace the engine while they spent the labor to everything out it would be cheaper that way in the long run and if you like the car with high mileage it is worth it.

[Sroor]

It happened to me before 3 years or more in nissan altima 2006 first drained coolant from radiator changed it then drain transmissiin oil refill with oil transmissiin untill its clear or better mean 2 time is ok keep car heating up then change gear after that drive car for 5 minetes all gear then go back and drain oil and refill again and take a ride so total drain refill 5 time from your first drain then refill it with oem transmissiin fluid and you are done your transmissiin will run like a champ no problem for me flushed radiator and ive added external radiator for transmission

[Highlander]

Had a radiator go bad bought new one with lifetime warranty. 2 months later or so coolant in my transmission. Transmission cooler ends up blowing leak into coolant side, transmission fills with fluid. My car was in great running condition until this happened. It's older and not worth much resale but it's very reliable I was counting on it for the next couple of years. I am pretty much broke for the next few months and will be way worse off without a car. I do a lot of auto work and frequent the store and don't need to be hassled in the future. Considering the proper repair is to rebuild/replace the transmission I'm sure they are going to refuse. How far should I fight them if it comes to that? Their part destroyed my transmission (it was a guaranteed store brand part.) Anyone else deal with a similar incidence?

[SaltySalads]

What if it came in from washing it outside the vehicle and hasn’t been circulated through? Can you successfully clean it without tearing it apart?

[nelsonybarra]

greetings, I spend with my ford explorer, entered the transmicion water. repair the radiator. drain the oil. and I have already done 2 oil changes, but I feel the changes as heavy. improved oil color but not 100%. What do you recommend me. the model of my transmicion is 5R55S. perdo by language. I am from Venezuela

[brstovall]

Take water and make sure transmission fluid to find a bad valve on a Chevy do it too many times

[HighVoltageFag]

I have attempted this, possibly ignorantly, on a 1986 Nissan Stanza station wagon with 4speed OD auto.. i flushed it with Diesel multiple times, only runing the engine slightly stationary, working all the gears and changing the diesel with fresh for each session...iv now recently switched it back to used-ATF (drained from other cars in my collection with ok/working fluid..)to flush additional water & to get the diesel out...then began driving it a mile or 3 and continuing to change the fluid for now new atf until it stops becoming dirty...the car only has 105k on it, warehoused indoors since 1999...no rust. Only paid $1k for the car and the ultimate fix is to replace the transmission, which would be fine with me converting it to a 5 speed...used transmissions for this car can be found for less than $250.. im concerned it may already be ruined, it seemed to have a lot of diesel left in it after the first time i started driving it...im seeing slight flakes of metal in the drain pan..but they may be normal...nothing is loud yet, but it shifts sloppy and clunky...the fluid is staying clean longer and i may be close to the last necessary changings.. would something this old, or Japanese be less or more likely to recover with repeated flushings?...the car was flooded, how it got water in it in the first place. wasnt driven after the flood, been restoring and fixing everything else on it. it sat for 12 whatever years and then was flooded more recently..

[caseybyington]

I have a question. I'm remaining a 1997 46 re right now and the reverse drum looks really great except it's got this....little, teeny, tiny bit of rust on it. It's just kind of speckled on there. I suspected it had been running water with the fluid but I didn't notice the rust as I pulled it apart. I left the old fluid on it but it sat on the bench for like a week. I'm thinking it was a mixture of coolant and ATF and maybe it dried and now there's flash rust because it finally got to oxygen. It look spectacular actually otherwise. What will that rust do of I reuse it? It's really, really superficial. You can wipe a lot of it off with a rag.

[momar]

I dumped mine so the clutch wouldn't be sitting in funky fluid, but there was TONS of dust in there, no chunks though, I plan to fill it up with fluid then go get it flushed at the lube place or whatever, any additive products you can suggest that will help me get the most miles out of it?