I drive all over the East Coast in the summer for work. I spent over $6,000 on my 98 Kota 4x4 Sport this year. New leafs and hangers, DS bearings, AC overhaul, EVERYTHING with the word "brake" in it including copper lines, 4 gas shocks, ball joints and tie rods, steering shaft, and more. Day before Thanksgiving my mechanic calls me to fix a ding for him, and truck heater seems cool on the way there. So I asked him to look at it, and see why it's leaking tranny fluid too. He tells me that my radiator leaked into the tranny, and caused the front seal to leak. I left it there, and he dropped the pan and texted me a photo of metal in the pan. Didn't sleep Wed. Thu, or Fri worrying about this. I can't afford a new truck, and have a ton of money in this one already. So I had him put the pan up and had it ramped home. I cut the tranny lines to the radiator and ran the rad. back into itself, and filled it with new coolant. This is working fine now, and heater is hot. I bought a remote cooler for 50 bucks and ran that to the tranny, and drove it around town a few days. Shifts strong, stays cool, no foam in the dip stick... so I'm thinking my mechanic was full of it. He wanted $1,200 to replace the seal and the radiator. $800 just to do the radiator. That's the end of HIM as my mechanic. so I solved the problem except for the front seal leak, and see NO evidence the radiator ever leaked into the tranny. I suspect the tranny into the radiator would be MORE likely.

ANYWAY, now people are telling me if I have a transmission shop drop it for a seal, I'm crazy to not have it rebuilt with 185,000 miles on it. And I might as well put a rear seal in the engine (V6) and replace the rusty oil pan, and while THAT is down, put an oil pump. Am I crazy doing all this? I can't afford to break down in the summer when I'm out fixing hail cars Another mechanic I know said I'm better off having MY tranny rebuilt than buy a rebuilt because I had mine flushed every two years and never beat on it. I'm guessing the next things to go will be timing chain, starter and alternator. Everything else has been replaced, and the engine doesn't use a drop of oil. Should I stay the course or bite the bullet and buy another truck?

 

IMO if you just killed the front seal around the convertor, just have a shop drop it down, pull convertor, change the seal, and put it back up. Maybe do a trans flush to make sure all the crap [AF] is cleared out. It's not that big of a deal.

the radiators are in fact known for cracking and letting fluids mix. So I'm not surprised at all, honestly.

That said, it would seem to me if the fluids mixed, then you'd have a big fluid flow from the disco'd stock cooler lines.

 

If you had done the majority of the work yourself you would have only forked out $3K max probably more like $2k max.

Most of what you had done wasn’t all that hard to do.

DIY saves you a ton of $$$ but if not DIY inclined can be hard very frustrating and end up costing you more paying a shop to fix your disasters.

Some people are just not DIY inclined

A new rad is about $200 max it depends on other things like new hoses and other attached parts and fluids so maybe more like $250 max.

 

Thanks for the replies. Yes, a new radiator is only $145. But I don't need one. As I said, I plugged the lines from it and added a remote independent cooler for the tranny. Did it myself. So that saved me the ridiculous $800 my mechanic wanted to replace the radiator. If it was a 2wd I MIGHT attempt doing the job myself. I don't have a lift or jacks to muscle this beast out and lift it back in. The local tranny shop wants $600 to do JUST the seal. Someone told me, it's not a lot more for a total rebuild. And with all those miles I'm probably due for one soon, so it's dumb not to do it now, as opposed to on the side of the road in another state during work season? I'm going to drive to the tranny shop now and get a rebuild price, I suspect they will give me a little more time in person than they did on the phone.

 

Well, they want $2,000 to rebuild it. Time to say good bye.

 

that sounds a little high to me.

 

So your main problem is a seal on the trans?

I would get a second opinion on just fixing the seal first.

Is the trans shifting ok?

 

AWE, say it ain't so! Or, are you saying that to your mechanic?

It's hard to know when enough is enough. You have $6K into it now, another $2K practically gives you a new truck.

How much can you get for your truck now?

What will it cost to get something else (you won't know about)?

Hard decisions... choices...

Good luck!

 

To replace the seal, based on $100/hr shop labor, it's probably 2.5 hours to get trans out and 2.5 to get it in (there's more time since it's a 4'er and you have to deal woth both DS and the TC), so thats $500, and the seal itself is $25. so $600 is about right.

My trans was 2800 to do the first time and 1800 the second time (different shops, but hard parts needed replacing first time).

 

It's shifting fine, but I don't go far. The seal is leaking. I keep checking the level and see no FOAM. The WIFE of course has "input" going on. She's wanted me to buy a new truck for a few years now. I hate hearing the "I told ya so" from her. Like when I said cancel the collision insurance on my Toyota, and some ditz came over the center line head on, totaled my truck, and she had NO insurance or license , and was on welfare and owned nothing. I have no reason to think the tranny will fail. I purge it every 2 years and have had the filter changed twice. I'm thinking maybe $600 is worth it for the seal and just baby it til I see a good deal and trade it in. Sometimes when I'm out fixing hail cars I see new trucks I can get $2,000 or $3000 off because of the hail damage, and I can fix that all day long at home. You guys have some sweet looking rides! If I keep mine, I'm painting it red. I fixed the big dent I put in the door a few weeks ago. Got it in primer yesterday. I'll be in a tree stand tomorrow morning at 6 AM. This will give me something to think about up there all day besides how cold and snowy it will be. How much more than 185,000 miles can I expect from a transmission? That's the BIG question now.