Boy, did I make a dumb mistake

[swervin ervin]

Coming home this evening, after looking at the van. I smelled something sweet a couple times, that smelled like antifreeze. I checked the gauge and all was fine. I thought it was another car or truck. So I kept driving. Anyway, I get home and pull my truck into the garage. About the same time, the wife pulls up coming home from work. She asks, what's leaking on your truck. I look and there is a stream of tranny fluid all the way up my drive. Damn. I open the hood and tranny fluid is everywhere. Start searching and it was coming from my B&M tranny cooler. No leaks at the fittings. I then look down through the hood latch hole in the core support. I had mounted it too high and the J hook (for a better word) had been hitting the cooler. Well it finally punched a hole in it. SOB, if it ain't one thing, it's twenty.

Well, at least it's tranny fluid and not oil. It will come off fairly easy. But, damn, it's a mess. I know when it finally punched through. I was at the lumber company right before I went to look at the van. As a matter of fact, the shop foreman was the one who told me about the van. They all was looking at my truck and wanted to see the engine. It wasn't leaking then. So, it happened somewhere between there and home. I don't think I damaged the tranny. At least I hope not anyway.

[LOHRTBT]

doh!! At least you caught it in time...Or I should say your wife did!!! heheheehehe

[PHOENIX]

Damn Mike sorry to hear.

I bet those guys were impressed with your engine though.
Too bad the cooler had to ruin your day.
Trust me, I know how that goes.

[MSL]

Man that sucks lets hope the tranny is fine that will be a pain and some extra cash to have th throw out.

[87 STEPPER]

Damn mike,

That sux but don't be so hard on yourself i don't think any of us here could of caught that one.

I don't think your dumb but lucky

I hope your trany is ok let us know happy cleaning

[1FaastC10]

look at the bright side, when you go pick up the van tomorrow, you'll have another set of wheels to hodl you back. and your garage queen can go back to her resting place. :p

[old Rusty C10]

yeah i hope its just the cooler.. its an expensive lesson but it coulda been more expensive keep us posted

[bigblock73]

Sorry to hear that Mike...hopefully all is well. You could always pull the trans pan and check the fluid to see if it appears to be OK...while you are in there might as well change the filter if you havent in a while. Just a thought. Keep us posted.

-Jeff

[swervin ervin]

Thanks for all the well wishes guys. I think I'm fine. Keeping fingers crossed just in case though.

As far as tranny fluid changes. Believe me, my tranny fluid has been changed too much if there is such a thing. I bet with all the times my pan has been off in the last couple years, it's been changed as much as my engine oil, well almost anyway. I've got to change pans anyway. I brazed another gauge fitting in another pan I had. The one I had brazed in leaks a tiny, tiny bit. I got pissed and bought a cheap brazing kit and brazed the new one myself. Guess what, I'm by no means a welder or brazer in this case, but it don't leak. I been putting off changing it. I guess it may be a good time now.

And, it sure will be nice to park my "garage queen" back in the garage. It sucks having to drive it every day. This was never my intention, but sh*t happens, you know.

[N2TRUX]

Hope the tranny comes out safe Mike. That crap does make a mess, but it cleans up fairly easy.

That reminds me of the time I put a chrome pan on my 84 Z-28. I hated that the pan I had put on didn't have a drain plug. Just like you I decided to take matters in my own hands. I bought a drain plug kit and welded it in the stock pan. Then I had the pan chromed, after checking that it didn't leak.

I decided to put it on the night before a magazine photographer was coming over to shoot my car. All was coool, until I tried to fill it up with fluid. Since the fluid was new, I decided to re-use it. I had drained it in a pan, and tried pouring it back in from the drain pan. That was going well until the funnel slipped.

The end result was 4-5 quarts of fluid dumped on my chromed out motor. It took HOURS to clean the motor again...

[Low87]

Sorry to hear of your woes Mike. I've got tranny fluid all over the garage floor under my truck, I'm just waiting for the next time Dave is here so he can clean it up.

[79BIG10]

I hate to hear that Mike. Makes me glad I didn't install mine yet and can learn from your mishap. Hopefully the tranny is fine. Check on Ebay for the cooler. I got mine cheap.

[gldevall]

Originally posted by Low87
Sorry to hear of your woes Mike. I've got tranny fluid all over the garage floor under my truck, I'm just waiting for the next time Dave is here so he can clean it up.

[apstguy]

Sorry to hear about. Not all of us can have a truck that doesn't stain things everywhere we go! I should have replaced the rear main . . . ^%&@^%!!! Hindsight is 20/20. :p

[swervin ervin]

Rip, one thing is for sure, there will never be a ford product in my driveway that I drive. You can take that to the bank.

My stepson owns a 97 F150 4x4, and some flavor of a tiny economy ford his wife drives. I think he buys these things just to piss me off. He loves fords. I don't know why. I've known him since he was 12 years old, he's soon to be 30. I'm really the only Dad he's ever had. I don't know what I did wrong. GM blood boils in my veins.

I thought about putting up one of those Chevy Only parking signs on the front of my shop, just to piss him off.

[Blue Beard]

Should have stayed with the truck.........

Sorry to hear that happened, sounds like the wife is supportive.

[Blue Beard]

Should have stayed with the truck.........

Sorry to hear that happened, sounds like the wife is supportive.

[swervin ervin]

Good news.

I got the cooler from Mike76251 this morning. Thanks again Mike for sending it so quick and saving me a few bucks. How great was that? The cooler he was selling was the same one I had already.

Anyway, I put it on and hooked everything up. I guess I was lucky, it was only 2 quarts low on fluid. Everything is back to normal for now.

Mike

[mike reeh]

haha! at least you can laugh about it now.. I bet some colorful language was used when you popped the hood.

As far as tranny fluid on everything, I feel your pain. You saw the pics of my chassis before I set the body on it (and everything was perfect).. well the tranny leaked and now everything that was perfect is now coated with ATF & Dirt.... As soon as my engine is back together, Im getting a new 700r4.....

btw, I love that line "GM blood boils in my veins" ..thats great, I may have to steal errr borrow that one in the future

mike

[boataddict26]

While the subject is on tranny fluid, has any one used the synthetic B&M Trick Shift fulid, and if so, can you tell a difference in performance/life of tranny?

[Mike76251]

Mike,
Glad I got it to you so early too.
That is why I went with Priority Mail on it, so you could have it for this weekend and get it in.

As for the question of synthetic B&M.............
Good points:
Makes the trans last longer because it does not break down as fast.
Gives you a little more power because it make the inner works easier to turn.
Bad points:
I do not know how much of this B&M is really synthetic and how much is Dino Juice. This varys.
It's cost is rather high if you have to fill the whole trans and the convertor.

[boataddict26]

Thanks for the advice. It is expensive and I wanted conformation that it worked before I spent the money to get it.
Thanks Michael

[gchemist]

Gald to hear everything is okay. I better check my rubber hoses going through the radiator support. Never checked to see if they rub. I'll add that as part of my maintenance. Thanks Mike.
Good luck cleaning the engine.