Water in Transmission...

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CElliott

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We have a 727 in our 1973 Duster. Got a Griffin radiator with an AT cooler connected to the 727. We don't have fuel or spark set up yet, but bumped (not even a full revolution) a few times as we got the starter, etc. hooked up.

We were then working on the trans dipstick and when we pulled it out, water/trans oil came shooting out. Trans was full of water.

Disconnected the Giffin trans cooler and water came pouring out. Water poured in the radiator cap goes straight out of the two AT cooler connectors at the bottom.

1). Did we do something wrong? Thought it was pretty simple
2). Should we fly to south Carolina and hunt down Griffin?

And mostly, how do we flush out the trans ASAP?
 
I don't think you did anything wrong here. It seems like there's a leak between the radiator and internal transmission cooler. You could try to blow out the water using low pressure compressed air. Remove the pan and make sure it's drained of water. 65'
 
I think you will be ok as long as you do a few full fills and drains after you get it running.

I would drain it now and if your converter has a drain bung open and drain.

If not I would pull the trans and empty the torque converter, refill and drain a couple more times,

Was it water water or radiator fluid and water?
 
I don't think you did anything wrong here. It seems like there's a leak between the radiator and internal transmission cooler. You could try to blow out the water using low pressure compressed air. Remove the pan and make sure it's drained of water. 65'
Thanks. Dumping the fluid/water out of the pan. What about the rest of the internals? Anything to do about that?
 
I think you will be ok as long as you do a few full fills and drains after you get it running.

I would drain it now and if your converter has a drain bung open and drain.

If not I would pull the trans and empty the torque converter, refill and drain a couple more times,

Was it water water or radiator fluid and water?
Just distilled water, no anti freeze. We were hoping to get it started today before this debacle.
 
My biggest concern would be surface rust on bare metal internal parts due to the water. If it was water antifreeze I would not dmbe as worried.
 
Did you run the engine? If not you can probably get away with just draining it. The torque converter would be my biggest concern whether it was full of water. 65'
 
Just distilled water, no anti freeze. We were hoping to get it started today before this debacle.
I can't believe that Griffin didn't pressure test this. Water poured in the top of the radiator doesn't even slow down on its way out of the AT cooler fittings.
 
You sure there is even a cooler in it? Poke a probe into the fittings and see if you can "feel that it goes straight into the tank. What kind of plugs were in it? Were they substantial plugs? Maybe it was supposed to be a "stick" radiator
 
The biggest question how overfilled was the transmission? Also does your torque converter have a drain if so pull the plug and see if water comes out.
If water comes out of torque converter that means the valve body and all of the passages are probably full of water also. If you have water coming out of the everything my opinion pull the trans out and go through it better safe than sorry.
 
You sure there is even a cooler in it? Poke a probe into the fittings and see if you can "feel that it goes straight into the tank. What kind of plugs were in it? Were they substantial plugs? Maybe it was supposed to be a "stick" radiator
That was my thought too. But I can't imagine how/why they would have attached bungs to the place where the cooler passes through the tank.

Screenshot_20210717-185158.png


On a side note my daughter's 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee had red oil in the over flow bottle, traced back to a leaking trans cooler. It had a slight split that only allowed a tiny amount of fluid into the coolant, no signs of coolant in the trans.
 
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Unfortunately, it does not take much water and exposure time to affect the adhesive holding the friction materials to their steel plates. Be wary and prepared for the potential need to strip it and redo it one of these days. Sorry for the negativity.
 
Unfortunately, it does not take much water and exposure time to affect the adhesive holding the friction materials to their steel plates. Be wary and prepared for the potential need to strip it and redo it one of these days. Sorry for the negativity.
Appreciate all the help . It is what it is, have to move forward and get this beast on the road.

Ordered it as AT directly from Griffin and these bungs look pretty AT to me...

radiator.jpg
 
If you cranked it enough to get fluid pumped through the transmission you'll never get the water out of the convertor. It will have to be sent out and cut open. Transmission fluid and water don't play well together
 
Just my two cents looks the trans cooler line is hooked to the drain and you have the drain hooked in trans cooler fitting. The welded bung is usually for the radiator drain. The brass looking ones are usually for trans cooler.
 
Yes it looks like you hooked up to the radiator drain line. The welded one goes to the petcock to drain the radiator, the two ports with what look like nuts are the trans cooler ports. This does not look like a Griffin mistake. Looks like operator error mistake.
 
Yep, transmission cooler lines hook to drain line. If any water got to the bands or clutches your transmission is toast.
 
Operator error is a constant around our shop... There is a petcock on the other side of the trans that I assumed was the drain. There are two 5/16 nipples side by side on the side where the trans cooler lines come out of the trans. That's what we used.
 
Yes indeed. You have a transmission line connected right to the bung where the pet **** for the radiator drain is supposed to go. The transmission line bungs are always on either side of the tank and never that close together.

That said, There's no way in this universe I'd trust that transmission now. No way no how. It come out and back down to get cleaned up. Think about what had to happen. You said water and transmission fluid came out of the dipstick tube. That transmission had to be SLAM FULL of water. It's done as it is. End of story.
 
Yes indeed. You have a transmission line connected right to the bung where the pet **** for the radiator drain is supposed to go. The transmission line bungs are always on either side of the tank and never that close together.

That said, There's no way in this universe I'd trust that transmission now. No way no how. It come out and back down to get cleaned up. Think about what had to happen. You said water and transmission fluid came out of the dipstick tube. That transmission had to be SLAM FULL of water. It's done as it is. End of story.

Yup. Looking at it now makes sense. But it did come from Griffin with the petcock on the other side..... Still our error. Water didn't come out of the dipstick, we pulled the entire dipstick tube out of the trans and water/fluid came out of the hole. Engine never spun. We poured a bunch of trans oil through and everything is red, not pink. We're going to bet that water didn't get in the torque converter. At this point I think we'll take the risk and run the trans and see what happens. I'm guessing it will be relatively short lived... Thanks!
 
Yup. Looking at it now makes sense. But it did come from Griffin with the petcock on the other side..... Still our error. Water didn't come out of the dipstick, we pulled the entire dipstick out of the trans and it came out of the hole. Engine never spun. We're going to bet that water didn't get in the torque converter. At this point I think we'll take the risk and run the trans and see what happens. I'm guessing it will be relatively short lived... Thanks!

I see. You might be ok. Read up online and see if HEET makes a product for transmissions like the do for gas tanks. You pour it in and through a chemical reaction it removes water. It's worth some research. You may be ok in this case. I hope so. Good luck!
 
I see. You might be ok. Read up online and see if HEET makes a product for transmissions like the do for gas tanks. You pour it in and through a chemical reaction it removes water. It's worth some research. You may be ok in this case. I hope so. Good luck!
Not the first dumb mover on this build and definitely not the last! Thanks everybody (he says slightly embarrassed).
 
Sounds like we need to get it running ASAP and keep feeding AT fluid through it.

Wow, how nconvenient. Sorry to hear this.

Get that trans pan off, pull the plug out of the torque converter, let it drain down, blow out what you can, cooler lines back into the trans too. Speedo cable gear out, get in there with the blow wand too.

Step 2 put the pan back on and a filter, put the torque converter plug back in. Then fill it plumb full with Diesel Fuel. Water is heavier than oil, so the diesel fuel will displace the water.

Step 3 at your discretion: Pull all the spark plugs on the engine, loop the cooler lines together at the radiator. Crank the starter a few times to cycle the diesel through the torque convert. After you have cycled the engine without starting it many times, pull the loop off the cooler lines. Cycle the engine a few more times and see what comes out of the cooler lines in the catch pan.

Like I say Water is Heavier than Diesel so the water is going to the bottom of the pan.

Step 4 pull the pan and drain all the Diesel fuel out. See how much water settles to the bottom of your 5 gallon catch buckets, you will see it in the bottom.

Re-Evaluate, probably have to do one more diesel flush to get the water displaced out of the torque converter.

Now back together and fill it up with trans fluid and a new filter, plug back in the torque converter. Cycle the engine over with the starter many times then see what comes out of the cooler line. If looking pretty good, everone knows what a transmission transfusion is all about. Plugs back in and fire it up with the transmission transfusion machine. Start running the new fluid through it while it is running, transfusion machine has a sight glass so you can keep a watch on the fluid coming out and what is going in at the same time.

Crazy, Crazy. I would give it a try.

Good Luck . . .

PS: We have all done our own version of the transmission transfusion at our home shops. Pour the fluid in the fill tube as fast as it is coming out the cooler lines into the catch pans.
Get another pair of hands for some help.
 
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