Just pulled pan to drain fluid, only saw Very small amount of coolant in oil. Hard to tell though with red coolant. No pink milkshake though. I think with the cooler being on the bottom of radiator the trans fluid may have sat in bottom tank and been pushed back into trans until it cooled down. Never paid attention before that the radiator is a downflow design. Put 122,000 miles on it, that is like 40 oil changes i've done myself and I didn't catch that, what WAS I looking at? LOL I am considering plugging off cooler lines at radiator and putting on an external cooler just to flush cooling system and trans out good. Then I can run it to check trans operation before I put in a radiator.

 

Not sure why you would need an external cooler to flush the system (maybe I misread?), but sounds like there may still be hope!

 

external cooler is a good choice because then you don't have to worry about coolant getting into the tranny ever again.

 

yeah i would deff think about just leaving the aftermarket cooler on there... won't ever have to worry about the problem again... but it would be deff a good idea to check the function of the tranny anyway... just hope that your hoses didn't see much of that trans oil... for a safe bet i would change all the coolant hoses just to save from future problems... good time to throw in a new water pump and timing belt also if you haven't yet...

 

I was figuring if I put on an aftermarket cooler I could just plug the cooler lines at the radiator to prevent coolant leaking from them to make sure trans is ok before I spend money on a new radiator. I can also flush out the cooling sysytem before I change radiator so if any crap is left in radiator it will be in the old one.

I was thinking about the timing belt about a month ago, bought used w/20,000 miles, 142,000 on car now. It has original ...... well.... everything except tires, front brakes and fluid and filters. I don't think its been a bad car yet. I was planning on changing all the hoses and might as well do the thermostat while its apart.

 

Ah, ok. I was just curious. I am well aware of what it does, was just wondering if there was another purpose to it such as leaving it on.

 

Its deff time to replace the timing belt then... and always replace the water pump with the timing belt... seen as you have to drain the coolant anyway

 

+1 i have an external cooler

 

Another snail pace update.

The steady increase in gas prices have motivated me.

Pulled trans. cooler hoses off of radiator. Ripped right side fitting out of radiator with hose. Now I have no choice but to get a radiator. Changed filter, installed pan and flushed trans with clean fluid. Hooked cooler lines together and ran it up on jackstands, after a couple attempts tranny filled all voids and runs through all gears now. Seems as if I have dodged that bullet so far. Have to see what happens when I get her on the ground and run her hard and hot.
Just ran it for a short time, coolant dripping out around broken fitting at cooler. Feel like I can spend the money on radiator/W/P/thermostat/timing belt/coolant/hoses/flush and anything else I stumble upon/break in the process with less worry about trans for now.
Need to make room in the garage for the Jeep first to change RF wheel bearing so I can hear the radio again on the way to work tommorrow.

What a crappy set up the cooler is. Cooler pops in tank from inside and the hose nipple fitting screws into it from the outside and that is all that seals coolant inside radiator and seperates coolant and trans. oil. You would think they would put a little more material around the fitting and make longer threads for it to thread into.

 

Blame Mitsubishi. They made the damn engine, lol.