Another Pink Milkshake Question

[Natural_Nativ]

I recently bought a 99 SR5 4X4 AT and the PO stated that he replaced the radiator and had the paperwork for the work. He said that he did this as a preventative measure to avoid problems down the road. Upon looking at the coolant inside I noticed that it has the pink milkshake going on. However, I have been driving it like this for two months now (~2000 miles) and haven't noticed any issues with the transmission shifting hard. Shifting into gear from park does make the truck jolt "a little bit". But nothing that is too extreme to cause me any alarm. Shifts smoothly going down the road.

My question: Is this something that should cause me to be concerned or is it possibly a case of old fluids not being properly flushed out at the time of the radiator swap? I have checked transmission fluids and they do not appear to be "pink" and are the common ATF maroon-ish/purple color and are also at a good level.

Newbie comment alert…. It does have a separate transmission cooler located in front/below the radiator. Not sure if this comes stock or if it has been added.

Please tell me good news. ray:

 

[Natural_Nativ]

Hate to do this but I'm gonna bump. Would like to see if anyone has any insight….:bump::bump::bump:

 

[RichardLillard1]

Do the transmission lines run through the radiator and the cooler, or just the cooler?

If the previous owner bypassed the radiator and used a method similar to the picture below for sealing the stock transmission fluid feed to the radiator, then it's possible the radiator burst internally and mixed with whatever transmission fluid was left in it.

Also, your transmission fluid should be a pretty bright red (to my eye, anyway) and if it's dark, it is probably due to be changed.

That said, if change the transmission fluid and it's a milkshake, that's bad news bears. If it's just dark, then you should be good.

I would drain and refill the fluids in the tranny and radiator, then see where you're at.

Just my .02¢; I just bought a '99 SR5 4WD myself and after reading about the transmission coolant problems, I decided to order a separate cooler. I'm not nearly as qualified as most of the people here to answer your question, but this is based off most of the things I've read so far.

Good luck!

 

[Natural_Nativ]

I'll check this when I get the opportunity to. Thank you for your input. Maybe our definitions of bright red and purple are closer than we think. I'll still check it out though. From what I can tell, I definitely don't have the milkshake getting into the transmission.

 

[JBurt]

If you don't know the last time your tranny fluid was changed it's probably a good idea to do it now. Then if you have any problems you know it's not old fluid and your tranny will be happier.

Make sure you bypass the stock cooler if you've got 2. They don't need that much cooling and why risk a pink milkshake (if you haven't already gotten one that it).

 

[danz]

Wipe the dipstick on a clean white paper towel so you can tell the color of the transmission fluid. I put in an ext tranny cooler when i bought mine last year. Figured it's cheap compared to replacing or dealing with the pink milkshake. Doesn't take very long to do it.