93 850 mixes ATF with water in the cooling water bottle

gee01 · Post by **gee01** » 05 Aug 2004, 11:37

Glad to be a member of this forum!

Just changed my radiator after the previous one cracked and started losing water. Noticed though that the replaced one mixes water with ATF and makes the ATF lighter, while ATF deposits in the water bottle.

Secondly, car drags while accelerating and takes a while for the autotrans to engage higher gears.

Could these two problems be related?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 08 Aug 2004, 19:32

It does sound like you have had a problem that could have gone unnoticed for a while. The transmission sounds like it was being contamninated by the radiator. The only way to possibly fix the problem is to flush out the trans and then drain the coolant again. Then you should use a detergent to clean out most of the trans fluid in the engine block and related cooling system. This can be done by taking dishwasher detergent and putting it into the recovery bottle a little to start but it could take more if it dosent clear out the system. You have to use disher washer granulated soap as it is non foaming.
Do this a couple of times and then run freah water in it until you see that it is clear . It wont take all of the trans fluid out but it will make a difference int the cooling factor of the system.

potroast · Post by **potroast** » 08 Aug 2004, 19:38

run distilled water, not tap water.

Also, there should be NO atf in the coolant bottle. If you see ANY atf in the coolant bottle you have a leak -- and it needs to be fixed on the spot.

Jiffy Lube and those types of places will do a good high-quality power-flush and use Synthetic atf for around $100.