I'll try and make this short and sweet. I bought a buddies 2000 ram 1500 360 mag auto with 120k for a hundred bucks. had it for a few weeks sitting on jack stands waiting to get rims and tires, i was able to drive it once and it drove and shifted great. Finally got a set and after a few days of driving it she started shifting funny and banging into overdrive a bit hard. The previous owner babied this truck so i thought ill give it some gas maybe some crude was in the valve body or something. From a stop 1-2 shift was perfect then held on to 2nd a bit to long then hit 3rd and immediately hit 4th then banged into overdrive. Get home and start looking at tv the cable and had a pine cone kinda wedged between the tv line pressure lever and the trans and thought well that was my issue. Broke it all out and went on the road, 1-2-3-4 shift were right on the money but still banged into overdrive sometimes. Then i start noticing its banging into reverse and drive.

At this point i drained the pan (aftermarket pan with a drain plug that had a small leak) fluid looked like crap but i noticed some milky ish when i pulled the filter.. maybe, it was getting kinda dark out and my eyes suck. I also pulled about 6-7 pieces of what im assuming is band material out of the filter - the things you dont want to see.

So i have a new oem band coming with gov solenoid, sensor, od solenoid, filter, 3-4 spring, harness and 4 gallons of mopar atf (about 250$ which was way cheaper then the china marts) and my plan is to drop the trans and replace all these things and clean out the valve body.

Something to note is when i bought the truck the coolant reservoir was empty and maybe a year ago i remember the trany fluid was way too high. I think he said someone told him to fill it high and i told him to not do that, we were both drunk so its hard to remember lol but i could be wrong and maybe there is a crack int he rad and water is getting into the trany and making the bands fall apart. I looked at the coolant in the radiator and it looks perfectly green and not like a strawberry milk shake but maybe that would sit at the bottom of the rad and i wouldn't see it.

I dont know im a little worried that im going to get this all together and have the same issues or worse. What else should i check / do that im not thinking of. Thanks all!

 

DANGER, DANGER, WILL SMITH, DANGER!!!!!!! Stop driving the truck, RIGHT NOW! Your radiator has sprung a leak inside. Coolant is contaminating the transmission fluid. You absolutely need a new radiator. You probably need a rebuild on the transmission. With the symptoms you describe, the transmission is grenading itself.A transmission shop might get lucky and save the transmission, maybe.Coolant is why the fluid looked milky. Water and oil will do that.

 

Thought that was Will Robinson?

I would take a close look at the fluid. If it's milky, yeah, you have a problem. Also, if you are going to go to all the trouble of disassembling the trans to replace a band, why not just do a complete rebuild?

 

Actually, you're right. I guess Will Smith does so many movies he might be in a remake. I'm old. When you get over 60, your priorities change. I had to "go" at the pool last summer and figured I'd go in the pool. The lifeguard yelled at me so loud I nearly fell in.

Seriously, I've seen the problem before. If I'm ever not sure, I'll add a stand alone radiator cooler and bypass the radiator. On my '02, it's separate anyway.

 

You'll never get all of the antifreeze/water drained just by changing the fluid. Looks like a rebuild is due considering your finding parts of the band in the pan. You have new parts, don't contaminate them with the bad oil.

 

Yeah, water breaks down the adhesives used on the bands, and clutches. If the band is coming apart, the clutches aren't going to be far behind.

 

Thanks for the all replies. Well obviously im not driving it theres no fluid in the trans as we speak while im waiting for the parts lol. I did mention that the coolant was perfectly green, Im not certain there was water in the trany it was kinda dark and my eyes suck but if there is im thinking it got in there from the cheap china trany pan which always had a drop hanging from the drain plug and the pan bolts didnt feel very tight. Also didnt have the nice oem gasket on it.

What are some ways to verify for sure if there is atf in the radiator and coolant in the trany? Iv read it turns into a strawberry milk shake which its not but maybe that settles on the bottom? We cant check the drain pan because some moron left the pan outside all night getting rained in, wasnt me though i swear. Im getting tight on cash havnt been working much making money just been spending money getting my trucks ready for winter and my cummins parked.

Anything else i should look into? Thanks again all!

 

I don't know what pressure the trans cooler operates at..... but, if it's less than about 15PSI, then the coolant will get into the trans, but, not vice versa. If there WERE tranny fluid in the radiator, I think it would be patently obvious, just looking down int it. Also, look in the overflow jug, if its clean, then no tranny fluid there.

 

If you still have the old oil, send a sample in and have it tested.. Go somewhere that sells semi parts and ask for an oil sample kit. They're $10-20. Throw it in the mail and they'll email you the report. They usually test it the day they get it. Antifreeze can be tested also.

 

Yeah im starting to lean more toward getting the oem master rebuild kit which is another 200$ not the end of the world. I think im going to drop the trans and see what all is going on. Maybe if i swap out the old trany fluid in the lines with new fluid into a clean bucket i can better tell if theres water in it then decide if im going to get the rebuild kit or not. Can there be chunks of band material in the filter without water being the issue? Can just the hard shifting that was going on make that happen? Can i drain the trany lines and pressure test them relatively easily? What do you think my next course of action should be? Thanks!