Coolant in Transmission Fluid

Mitsubishi Delica L400 production commenced in 1994 -- After much anticipation, the L400 arrived on Canadian Soil in 2009!
Post Reply
Smellica
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:18 pm
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Mitsubishi Delica
Location: New Brunswick

Coolant in Transmission Fluid

Post by Smellica »

So I pulled over to see why my van wasn't going into fourth gear and found that I had coolant in my transmission fluid...awesome

I got it to a transmission shop and he plugged his computer into it...

He found that I need a transmission speed sensor and a throttle position sensor. He wants to fix these two things before he moves forward and addresses the problem of the new radiator

Does this sound like a good course of action??

Any help/info/guidance would be greatly appreciated

Has anyone else had a similar problem??

Thanks
User avatar
Big-Bird
Posts: 1218
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:57 pm
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/index.php?cat=20974
Vehicle: 96 PE8W Spacegear
Location: Calgary

Re: Coolant in Transmission Fluid

Post by Big-Bird »

dude has an MUT II computer reader??? WTF? Thats rare....not impossible but rare as chicken lips!

The water pump and engine heat would create a higher pressure than the the tranny pump which would force coolant in the little tranny cooler tank. Its very small approx 6-10' long and maybe 1 - 1.25' diameter. Probably has a crack or pin holes on the metal. Coolant it the tranny fluid could compromise the grab/friction of the clutch packs that engage each gear. The filter could be plugged too. Water/glycol and oils just make a frothy mess and gum up everything..and a tranny has so many little springs and fluid passages the gummy junk could plug the works to a point where a rebuild is the only recourse.

Hopefully you caught it early and all you need is a filter clean/change and a tranny flush which I would recommend to ensure all the coolant is purged from the torque converter and the internals of the tranny.

You could bypass the coolant tank and plug it off with a closed loop. Then conncect the tranny lines into them selves with a coulper/barbed fitting. This would get you by until a new radiator is sent/installed.

I thought the L300's had an auxilary tranny cooler under one the front steps?
Yeah I joined the Dark Side because the medical plan is top shelf!

Image
EricE
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:02 pm
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: 1995 l400 swb
Location: Victoria

Re: Coolant in Transmission Fluid

Post by EricE »

Check your overdrive temp sensor first , you can short the wire to ground then see if it will shift to od , yes the speed sensor and tps are also involved , you can easily check the tps for adjustment vita a volt meter.
Diver
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:16 pm
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: L400
Location: U.K.

Re: Coolant in Transmission Fluid

Post by Diver »

Big-Bird wrote:
I thought the L300's had an auxilary tranny cooler under one the front steps?
L400 has one too - under the passenger side headlight.
Post Reply

Return to “L400 Technical”