Milkshake...Not!

[pdubrule]

I'm in Africa using a 96 with a 3RZ engine....to do what it's designed for. I do truly love this truck (cue the Country music)!! My deep concern is for the contamination of the transmission with coolant. The truck is old but has been well cared for with coolant changes and a transmission cooler. Still, I'm haunted by the thought of a trashed auto trans. Junkyards do not exist here and a new A340F would cost more that the rest of the vehicle. Am I worrying about nothing or should I pay the freight to have a radiator air freighted in?
Thanks for the opinions!

 

[badattitude]

If you already have an external trans cooler you don't have to worry about the milkshake. Your transmission fluid never enters the radiator, instead flows through and external cooler, staying completely separate from the coolant with no possibility of exchange or contamination.

 

[KidVermicious]

If you already have an external trans cooler you don't have to worry about the milkshake. Your transmission fluid never enters the radiator, instead flows through and external cooler, staying completely separate from the coolant with no possibility of exchange or contamination.

This is correct, if the transmission cooler was installed to bypass the radiator, which is not a given.

OP, you've got a couple options to keep the milkshake at bay. Option one is to replace the radiator every 100k or so (and run only pink coolant!). Option two is as badattitude suggests, install an aftermarket transmission cooler and bypass the stock cooler in the radiator. The third gen section of the forum is literally swamped with threads on the subject, I recommend lots and lots of reading.

 

[nicolasballia]

Check the lines, if they are completely separate then you're good. But some people out the cooler in line with the radiator and in that case you may still see the milkshake