transmission fluid in reservoir tank

Asked by johneggemeyer Mar 01, 2016 at 10:58 PM about the 2001 Ford Escape

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hit a deer and broke the top leg off the
radiator on my 2001 ford escape. Bought a
new radiator and when replacing my coolant
reservoir now has transmission fluid in it.
Tranny runs high rpms and shift hard. I was
told that I put the two lines on the bottom
driver side of radiator on backwards and
should switch them around and I should be
ok. Is this true?

3 Answers

159,085

It is likely that the transmission cooler tubing inside the replacement radiator has a hole in it. Are you certain that the transmission fluid showed up after changing the radiator. It would make more sense that the internal radiator transmission cooler was damaged when you hit the deer. If the transmission gets engine coolant in it you will be buying a transmission. I really don't see any difference in how the transmission lines could be installed backwards as the cooler inside the radiator is just a closed loop coil or loop of tubing.

1 people found this helpful.
100

Yes you did switch the hoses.. hoses from tranny will attach to metal nipples from radiator... supply is top return is bottom

4 people found this helpful.

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