97 mercury sable tranny fluid mixed with coolant

[groovyforster]

I have a 97 mercury sable 3.0L with 114,000 miles. The transmission felt sluggish on acceleration. I looked in the radiator to find that the coolant is now pinkish instead of green. What happened and where do I go from here?
Thanks,
Groovy

[G.A.S.]

dont drive it. sounds like the radiator took a crap.
better make sure there is no water in the trans. expecally in this cold. If your up north that is.
Drain the trans. and pull the filter, blow out the lines to the raidiator. install new filter and fluid and have a trans flush done. Pull the filter and change it again and add fluid till full. Keep an eye on the fluid for discoloration.
Mater fact, After all that I would drive it 100 miles or so and then do it again.
Of course your rad. needs to be replaced as there is an internal leak on a cooling/heating finns.

[groovyforster]

Thanks for the info. How would I know if there is water in the transmission? If the tranny fluid mixed with the coolant, didn't the combination already get into the transmission?
Thanks again,
Groovy

[G.A.S.]

Originally Posted by groovyforster

Thanks for the info. How would I know if there is water in the transmission? If the tranny fluid mixed with the coolant, didn't the combination already get into the transmission?
Thanks again,
Groovy

the pinkish color would be eveident. If your fluid in the trans has even the slightest contamination I highly recomend changeing.
Haveing an (open wound) to the trans cooler/heater has a high rate of contamination.
The trans has pressure, so does the cooling system. When you shut off the engine you loose trans fluid pressure but the cooling systems pressure remains for a while causing coolant to enter the system.

[groovyforster]

I've heard that once coolant has entered the tranny that it damages various seals and that they would all have to be replaced. Is this true or not? Thanks again

[G.A.S.]

Well I did some sole searching and this is what I found.
I have water in my automatic transmission. Can it be flushed out?
In a word, NO. When water gets inside of an automatic transmission, the friction lining of the clutches absorbs it and dissolves the glue that attaches the material to the clutch plates. Usually, some amount of water will come out of suspension and form white gummy masses in various areas of the unit.
Simply put, this is why the unit cannot be flushed to remove all of the water.
In addition, the presence of water will start rust forming on the ferrous metal parts throughout the unit. The amount of water and the length of time that it is inside of the unit will determine the extent of the damage, but the resolve to the problem will be to overhaul the transmission.

There is no shortcut that will "repair" the situation! It's only a matter of time before the unit will exhibit abnormal operating characteristics and fail completely.
FYI, water usually gets into the transmission in one of two ways. First, all transmissions have a vent to maintain equal barometric pressure inside of the transmission. If the vehicle is driven through water (as in a flood) and the water level is at or above the vent, the water will cool the unit lowering the internal temperature and water is drawn inside of the transmission. Also, virtually all modern transmissions (some were air cooler in the old days) have two cooler lines that route from the transmission to a special tank the radiator to cool the transmission fluid. If this special tank ruptures, transmission fluid can enter the radiator and water can enter the transmission. In this case, the cooler tank in the radiator will have to be replaced as well as rebuilding the transmission. One of the common indications of transmission fluid in the radiator coolant is the "strawberry milkshake" appearance of the coolant.

I am just a lill old fashon, I know of, and have myself changed out fluid in a trans that has had water in them and never had an issue.
I guess the contamination must not have been that bad as they drove till they droped.
anyways, I think this will answer your question better.

[groovyforster]

Yes, this info really does help a lot. Thanks agan,
Groovy

[G.A.S.]

Just out of courisoty, How bad is yours? Did it go as far as the strawberry look?

[groovyforster]

Mine looks like a strawberry milkshake. Oh well, thanks again.