Oh boy...Pink milkshake

[yakobo75]

Bought my 01 4 years ago with 90K miles...currently have 119k and service is religiously at my local dealer. Other day while picking up my kid, sitting in my truck idling in the parking lot, I noticed the heater was not working and temp started to rise...turned off the truck and went out to look and sure shit...pink milkshake on the ground (I've read about the Milkshake). Called the tow company and had it towed to my local independent shop (as I knew dealership was going to charge premium)...local shop replaces radiator, hoses, and flush and does 4 flushes through the trans (50 qts; shop bill came out to $849). He says the tranny shifts fine now and tranny fluid is now clear. I'm worried because I don't think I've read any threads where a tranny was saved once antifreeze got in. Should I have just saved my money and got a salvage/rebuilt/new tranny installed? Also, should I have towed it to my Toyota dealer instead? Just picked it up today and it seems to drive fine but have only put on 10 miles thus far.

 

[riggsy]

Where is the dislike button.

Sorry to hear that.

Hope you dodged the bullet!

 

[Franky_Dabbs]

My 96 (owned for 2 years so far) has almost 200k miles and I'm 99% sure it's still running with the OEM radiator. When i first bought it I did a radiaor flush and noticed that the radiator was filled with water.. not coolant due to the oxidation inside. Flushed it and filled it with proper coolant (thus causing the gunk to be cleaned out and soon to find out a failing water pump). I'm curious as to why some get the milkshake of death before others?? Is it luck?? Is it maintenance??

I plan on changing out my radiator real soon..

Hope your tranny was saved with 50qt worth of flushing buddy!!

 

[Kyngfish]

(50 qts; shop bill came out to $849).

This is a significant point - isn't a used tranny like --- 400 plus install?

 

[jgue467]

Many say yes to saving $ on attempted salvage. Once of my buddy mechanics says he's seen this several times and done what your shop did and they stay fixed. Only time will tell. What's done is done, now just drive it around town until you feel comfortable enough for longer trips.

Now go fix those lbjs before that is too late.

Luck and enjoy. :cowboy:

 

[amalik]

holy crap. that looks like a freaking strawberry milkshake from Sonic's coming out of the car.

OP, what's done is done. Don't think about the what ifs. Toyota dealer would probably charge you the cost of another 3rd gen. In that sense, I think you made a great move.

Drive and maybe you can give us a success story of reviving from the milkshake. Your indy shop seems very thorough with the 50QT flush.

 

[thegipper]

850 seems like a lot more money than it should have cost but what's done is done.

Many of us have survived the PMS. You need to closely monitor the tranny fluid for the next few months. If it has any signs of coolant in it (my bet is it will), you need to keep flushing.

This time though, do it yourself and save some major money.

Good luck

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[yakobo75]

Thx for all the promising words...guess I'll just see what happens...850 is pretty steep but I do work with this indy shop all the time (small son/father shop that's been in business for 60+ years) and they've always been more than fair. Gonna stay positive...onward to 2017!

 

[yakobo75]

This is a significant point - isn't a used tranny like --- 400 plus install?

Shop and I did a search on car-parts.com for salvage trannys in the midwest and the cheapest that was grade A was 820...If we could've found one for 400 that was in good shape, I would have been all over that.

 

[thegipper]

You have a good chance that you can save it, especially since you caught it early.

Long story short, mine got flushed with about 8 gallons of fluid. Few months later, the fluid looked like crap again and clearly had coolant still in it.

I did a series of about 10 drain and fills over a couple weeks until the fluid looked brand new again. I still check it every now and then. Knock on wood, nearly a year later, it still drives perfect, shifts perfect and fluid still looks brand new.

Moral of the story, it may survive, it may not. If you keep an eye on the fluid (check for black clutch particles when you do any future tranny fluid drains) and replace as necessary, you have a good chance of saving it.

If you see chunks of black pieces in the fluid, that is the clutch plates falling apart and its just a matter of time before it shits the bed...

 

[yakobo75]

Just to update...4 months and 4k later; still no problems...transmission fluid looks great too and shifts silky smooth...Luck was on my side!

 

[alumarine]

Good stuff!

 

[96Runr]

Your karma points paid off!!

 

[krenaud33]

Good to hear. Had pink milkshake several years ago. I replaced the radiator and flushed the tranny as best i could. Took it a tranny shop to haven it properly flushed. They took across the street to a shop where the cooling system was flushed.I have 315K on my 4Runner. Probably 100K after the pink milkshake. I think you are good now.

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[DK327]

My 96 (owned for 2 years so far) has almost 200k miles and I'm 99% sure it's still running with the OEM radiator

You're brave! I bought mine @ 230K miles and 1st thing I did was replace the radiator, which was still OEM at that mileage. If you already have oxidation inside the rad, is that an indication that things are corroding which eventually leads to the milkshake?

 

[Beaumont67]

Thx for all the promising words...guess I'll just see what happens...$850 is pretty steep but I do work with this indy shop all the time (small son/father shop that's been in business for 60+ years) and they've always been more than fair. Gonna stay positive...onward to 2017!

yakobo75 - I have never used a dealership (in 4.5 decades), on a vehicle off warranty.
- the small independent garages (owner operated) are usually the best

I thought the $850 seemed high, until you said:
>> Shop used 50 quarts, to properly flush = $500 in Fluids ??

^^ For materials, $10/quart does add up...but my Jeep XJ, only took several quarts, to Re-fill.