Keep Cool When the Heat Is On. GotTransmissions.com
We were on the road to Maryland to visit my sick Dad, my Mom, my sister and brother in law and respective excellent lovable family’s, about 300 miles into the trip as we are pulling into a rest stop, my wife mentions the temperature gauge is all the way to the right.
That woke me up. I’m thinking transmissions and radiators OMG. I probably overreacted, getting really exited and in a loud voice with great urgency “find the first parking spot”. The first thing to do is not panic. I’m a longtime mechanic, professionally, and I have an advantage in as much as I can get a good vibe on the problem fast and make a solid decision.
What was my concern? Well two fold, one being damaging the engine, the more likely problem would be to burn the transmission fluid and possibly the transmission. Remember, your transmission cools with the engine, so if the engine overheats, so does your transmission. Perhaps the largest cause of unnecessary transmission problems.
The action I took though is the same action anyone should take if caught in an unpleasant situation like this. However, I did a brief examination and determined the radiator fluid was coming out of the radiator coolant reservoir or underneath it. So I had a good feeling this was not a really bad situation.
As a matter of fact if I had not had my elbow surgically repaired last week (from 35 plus years as transmission mechanic, my right shoulder is up for surgery in two weeks) or I probably would have got underneath the van and found the problem and fixed it.
We simply called AAA and had the van towed to a hotel in town and we stayed in a hotel with our van that night. Making the best of it we watched TV and ate junk food!! BTW: The tow driver was really friendly and recommended his buddy to fix the van. I chose the dealership. When out of town, go to a dealer or some one who has accountability in case your repair fails during the warranty in another area.
I had the van towed to the dealer in the morning, asked for an estimate and they drove me back to the hotel. Turns out the problem was very simple and because my wife does look at the gauges periodically, we averted a possible nightmare. If you want to know what it was and how the situation turned out you have to read tomorrows blog. GotTransmissions.com 866-320-1182.
