Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

A couple of issues. Not sure if they are related.

1K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  ToddsBrother 
#1 ·
1. 99 7.3 4x4 Super Duty with manual trans and just hit 200k.

2. Replaced my tie rods monday and while giving my truck the once over I noticed some sludge in my coolant reservoir and that I had lost a little coolant. Checked my dipstick and oil was still full and looked normal. While I was driving the truck to check my steering it became harder to shift gears than normal and the truck would hardly go in 5th gear. Half the time it would act like it was in neutral and half the time I could finally get it in. Off and on today it was a little tough to get in reverse.

3. This morning I noticed that my coolant reservoir was completely empty and when I moved my truck there was a huge pile of brown sludge. After shutting it off another pile of sludge eventually formed. I put more water in and crawled underneath the truck and in almost a steady stream water looked like it was dripping from where the shifter enters the top of the trans.

In trying to educate myself it sounds like a leaking hpop puts oil in the coolant and causes the sludge. Does that also affect my trans cooler and is that all related or am I just having extremely bad luck?
The truck runs like a champ but I was afraid to drive it anymore when I saw the piles of sludge today. Can anyone look at these pics and help me or has anyone had something like this happen? I apologize if the pictures of the trans are hard to distinguish but you professionals will probably pick it up instantly. Thanks in advance.
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#2 ·
Found out a little tidbit in case anyone cares. I found a good thread on powerstrokenation.com on the inner shifter boot replacement. That is where my leak is coming from. You can order the part from Ford but the inner and outer have the same number so specify which one you want(part #7277 ). After saying all that, does anyone know whether the coolant leaking out of the shifter boot would cause my transmission to become hard to shift or to not go in 5th/6th gear? Would an overheating trans be harder to shift?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Heavy_GD
#4 ·
Sounds like your radiator sh!t the bed. Leaking coolant into the trans cooler that is inside of the radiator, filling your trans with coolant.

Buy a new radiator, drain you trans and blow out the lines. Refill trans with cheapo Atf and drive for 50 miles or so and drain the trans again. Refill with cheapo Atf again. Repeat tell clean Atf comes out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: strokinpower
#5 ·
And I'm assuming that the oil in my degas bottle is coming from leaking hpop or oil cooler rings/gaskets and the coolant in my tranny is just a seperate issue with the radiator leaking? Am I even close?
 
#6 ·
I would guess the oil in the degas is atf. If you have coolant in your trans your bound to have atf in your coolant.

If you didn't know your trans takes atf.
 
  • Like
Reactions: strokinpower
#7 ·
I knew my trans took atf but I guess I just had oil+coolant=sludge in my mind without considering that ATF was getting recirculated back into the system. I've already ordered a new radiator and while I've got this monster torn apart I'm going to go ahead and replace gaskets/rings in my oil cooler and hpop for peace of mind. I took the shifter boot off yesterday and discovered that my inner boot is indeed shredded and that part is ordered also. I appreciate your input since you're the only one that responded. I've learned quite a bit the last few days.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top