Topic: Water in transmission ATF

[via3d]

 -79 Firebird .403 TH350

I discovered I have water in the the ATF.

I have just replaced the radiator and I am confident it is either:
A. the leaking original radiator caused this problem too...
Or
B. condensation for last couple weeks caused it..
No doubt at all, it is milky pink fluid.

I drove car maybe 1 mile at most in this condition before I discovered.   
It has sat idling in approx. 1.5 to 2 hours total time working on other items.   

Anyways, I have dropped the pan, cleaned it, and it is draining over night.  Doing new filter & gasket of course. 

I realize at least 1/2 or more of the fluid in the Torque Converter.

What are your opinions next step? :

A. - Dont put filter on, run the car around the block and drain again? repeat until full red ATF is observed ?
B. - Disconnect cooler line hose and drain this way instead?  run at idle in neutral for couple minutes draining then top off again?  doing this intermittently until ATF is 100% red observed??  (run w/ filter to catch impurities and then replace with another new one)


I know I know... A lot of people have said do not run at all and rebuild now right away! 
Did I catch in time that draining a 2-3 times will suffice without future damage

Thoughts please. Buttoning up the tranny pan this weekend.

~J

[81Turbo TA]

So far every search said to drain it like you did,  put pan back on and to use the lines to radiator to flush the system. Sounds like a lot of bottles of atf fluid.  But,,,they said depending on how long it might have been this way a total rebuild is next.
Also,,,,remember to flush out the atf in the radiator

[78w72]

you can do a few drain & fills at the pan, adding a drain plug when the pan is off is cheap & easy.  but the quickest easiest way is to drain from the output line at the rad, it comes out pretty fast so use a large container to catch the fluid comeing out, if you have it set up right you or a helper can pour new fluid in the tube to keep the trans full & just run it untill it comes out fresh red. ive done this before with great results.

i doubt condensation cause milky fluid, most likely it was a bad trans cooler in the radiator.  if it wasnt ran much & the trans still worked/shifted ok there is probably no damage.  you only need to change the filter one time unless the fluid/trans was excessively dirty, filters wont hold water.  after you drain or flush for clean fluid the best thing to do is drive teh car for awhile to full operating temps... water will burn off rather quickly at operating temps.