My Genious son

[bluesboyst]

Hi,
My eldest son has a 96 Lincoln Continential. Last night he mistakenly put a quart of Tranmission fluid in the crankcase. He did not start the car and he drained the oil out and replaced it with fresh oil. Would a quart of tranny fluid in the crankcase cause issues?


Thanks,

Steve

[MagicRat]

There would be no issues at all. Your car is good to go.

In fact, running an engine using a quart of auto trans fluid in the crankcase (mixed with 4 quarts of engine oil) was an old trick used to help clean accumulated sludge and deposits from the insides of older engines, particularly to free up stocking, noisy valve lifters.

The theory is based on the idea that transmission fluid has lots of detergents in it, more than engine oil and will help clean deposits. Older, more worn engines may be able to tolerate some ATF, but I would not do so on a modern car.