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Water in an autobox - repairs

Andrew Prince

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2010
Messages
2,232
A friend of mine is looking at a 12v 80 that had the oil cooler fail inside the rad and coolant ended up in the gearbox. The seller says that the gearbox was repaired by a specialist transmission crowd and it all works fine now. I presume that the first sign the owner had of the problem was when the truck wouldn't go, so some damage must have been done.

The question is - what is likely to have failed/broken in the 'box when the coolant fed in?
Is the box likely to be ok after whatever broke was replaced or is it likely that fundamental parts of the box are damaged and it will never be the same? (we're trying to find out what work was done and what was replaced).
Is there anything "non-obvious" that is likely to have been damaged and might have been overlooked by the repairers and could be cause for concern down the line?

Is there any cause for concern about ATF that might have been fed round the engine block?

Cheers,
 
If it drives ok now I wouldn't stress about it too much except to negotiate on the price :) If it doesn't drive ok then I'd assume a new box and torque converter is needed.
 
He wants to do as much due diligence on it as possible - and avoid discovering that it needs a complete new box after he's taken ownership. :shock:
From your comment, it sounds like a complete replacement could be a requirement here, Jon?
 
Without knowing how much coolant leaked into the box or how far it was driven like that and what symptoms lead to its discovery we're not going to know what damage might have been done but IMO the best indicator of condition is how it drives now. If it drives well then everything is probably in perfectly good working order and no more likely to fail than another 80 you might look at and not know the real internal condition of the box ... A bit of coolant in the box isn't automatic or instant death for it, mine got a bit slushy on a 50:50 ATF and muddy water mix but it took me several more years to kill it from something else :)
 
Ok, thanks for that, Jon - sounds much more optimistic :D If I hear more on what was replaced, I'll report back!
 
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