Pink Milkshake survivor stories

S

Seefral

New member
Ok, so I had the dreaded pink milkshake. Searched this forum and found lots of advice on how to flush, and lots of opinions on either side on the effectiveness of a flush. I thought it would be helpful if we had a thread that captured some information on outcomes after experiencing the pink milkshake failure.

So, if you had the pink milkshake, please reply to this thread with your experience AFTER doing a flush.

Please include in your post:

Flush method used: (power flush, manual flush, pan drain only)
Approx how may quarts or gallons you used in the initial repair:
If you re-flushed after initial flush, at what mileage interval(s) did you re-flush:
If your trains is still working please state the approx miles accumulated since flushing:
If your trains failed, please state approx miles after flush:

I hope this thread will help accumulate some data on best practices and real data on flush effectiveness.
 
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After I bought mine I was able to figure out that it had a pink milkshake 10,000 miles before I bought it. The tranny died 500 miles later. It had been flushed with a machine after the radiator failure and I did a full fluid exchange right after I bought it.
 
Clarification...

Hey. Thanks for responding.

So, if I read your response correctly your transmission lasted about 10,500 miles after the prior owner's failure and flush. And, you performed a re-flush about 10,000 miles after the initial flush.

Thanks.
 
I caught right away, and only drove about 5-10 miles with the pink milkshake. I had it machine pumped twice, and it lasted about 4000 miles. I ended up losing reverse, and the transmission would overheat in traffic.

It's cheaper to just swap them out rather than messing with flushing.
 
Seefral said:
Hey. Thanks for responding.

So, if I read your response correctly your transmission lasted about 10,500 miles after the prior owner's failure and flush. And, you performed a re-flush about 10,000 miles after the initial flush.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes, you got it right. The reflush turned brown right away, tranny temp would shoot up to 275 and it would shift hard.
 
We had about 20-30 miles on our pink milkshake.

I either drained the coolant first and refilled or replaced the radiator first and then flushed the coolant and then had the dealer flush it. Then i drained the trans fluid and got 20 quarts of i think the coastal brand trans fluid and just dumped it down the dipstick while it was running to get as much crap out as i could so it was driveable to get it to the dealer.

I had to flush the coolant a couple times since some of the foam/froth would settle at the top of the radiator.

I think i have at least 6 years on the whole thing and maybe 30-40k miles with no issues from that.
 
Quick question,

Will you be able to tell if you have the pink milkshake through the tranny dipstick? Or does the transmission have to be drained in order to know if you have it or not?
 
kiana said:
Quick question,

Will you be able to tell if you have the pink milkshake through the tranny dipstick? Or does the transmission have to be drained in order to know if you have it or not?
Click to expand...

yeah its pretty obvious usually .

if you really have doubt, just do a drain and fill. its even easier than doing an oil change. Just open the drain bolt, change the washer, measure what you lost, then put the same amount of fresh fluid back in. there is no harm in a drain and fill. might be due anyway, and ATF is cheap.

if your old fluid looks like pink milkshake it will be pretty obvious. ATF and water don't like each other.
 
shahsmerdis said:
yeah its pretty obvious usually .

if you really have doubt, just do a drain and fill. its even easier than doing an oil change. Just open the drain bolt, change the washer, measure what you lost, then put the same amount of fresh fluid back in.

if your old fluid looks like pink milkshake it will be pretty obvious. ATF and water don't like each other.
Click to expand...
Okay, my transmission fluid looks healthy since it is still red on a white papertowl. Although I don't have an actual mileage for it, I will get around to changing the transmission fluid soon. Only had the 4Runner 6 months, love it :).
 
red tranny fluid on a used 4runner, it was probably babied. (Or covering up a previous pink milkshake)

Putting vin in toyota owner site should tell you any dealership history services.


check coolant, if its red and tranny fluid is fine, no shifting issues, you should be okay.
 
shahsmerdis said:
red tranny fluid on a used 4runner, it was probably babied. (Or covering up a previous pink milkshake)

Putting vin in toyota owner site should tell you any dealership history services.


check coolant, if its red and tranny fluid is fine, no shifting issues, you should be okay.
Click to expand...
Taking out the tranny dipstick, levels okay, I tapped it on a white paper towel, its red. Coolant is green (aftermarket, I'll change back to Toyota Red).

The radiator is brand new as well. I've put about 2000 miles on the car. Car shifts fine in drive. When I put it in Reverse, I can actually hear the gear change like (thunk) and it's ready for reverse. Still no problems but is it normal I can hear that? I can take video if need be.
 
We'll see how I do...

I changed the radiator and then pumped 12 gallons of ATF (not kidding) through it before it ran clear. Drove about 11 miles home. Next morning was disappointed to see fluid was a bit foggy vs perfectly clear. So, I ran another 3 gallons throughout it till it ran clear again. Drove it another 15 miles and will check it tomorrow. If necessary will flush again.

Fortunately, Walmart sells dexron III for $11 a gallon. I think I bought most of the dexron III in the state on Maine :wacko:
 
Seefral said:
I changed the radiator and then pumped 12 gallons of ATF (not kidding) through it before it ran clear. Drove about 11 miles home. Next morning was disappointed to see fluid was a bit foggy vs perfectly clear. So, I ran another 3 gallons throughout it till it ran clear again. Drove it another 15 miles and will check it tomorrow. If necessary will flush again.

Fortunately, Walmart sells dexron III for $11 a gallon. I think I bought most of the dexron III in the state on Maine :wacko:
Click to expand...

How are you flushing it? drain and fills?

can you post pics of the tranny lines on the old radiator?
 
However you do it, flush many, many times. Then a few days later, flush it again many times. Buy the cheapest compatible fluid you can.

mine had about 7 gallons flushed through it and weeks later it still showed signs it had coolant in it. I flushed another7 gallons until the fluid now looks new again. This is the key to survival post milk shake. Mine has about 8k miles on it since it happened and shows no signs of failure.

good luck
 
Mines now gone 46,000km (28,600miles) past its milkshake.....and no signs of leaving me....

Strong as before. Theres always hope. and the key is getting at it quick and flushing excessively, aswell as obviously a new rad and highly reccommended an auxillary trans cooler installed.
 
Shahsmerdis

Here's the method for flushing I've used...

Removed trans cooling line at the radiator (passenger side). Attached 1.5 ft clear tube. Used an old windshield washer fluid bottle marked at 2 ATMs to collect the drained fluid. Ran truck in park until 2 qts pumped out. Refilled with fresh fluid through filler/dipstick tube. Kept doing this over and over. The only thing I changed in the process was I changed the gear from park, to reverse, to other drive gears.

Yesterday, I checked it and I was happy to see it was still clear. Even so, I ran another 3 gallons through using the method above. Then I drove 75 miles and checked it again. Still looked perfectly clear. But, just to be safe, I ran another gallon through it. Then I drove 500 miles (long day). No issues. Truck ran fine, shifted fine. Checked the fluid color again just now and it's still perfectly clear. I have another 300 mile trip Tuesday so I plan on running 3 more gallons through today.

Fingers crossed.
 
2KT4R

Good to hear. I think I got to it quick. And I have 22 gallons through it so hopefully that is a good start. I will probably flush it again in another 500 miles. After that I will probably drain the trans pan and refill every time I do an oil change.
 
Seefral said:
Shahsmerdis

Here's the method for flushing I've used...

Removed trans cooling line at the radiator (passenger side). Attached 1.5 ft clear tube. Used an old windshield washer fluid bottle marked at 2 ATMs to collect the drained fluid. Ran truck in park until 2 qts pumped out. Refilled with fresh fluid through filler/dipstick tube. Kept doing this over and over. The only thing I changed in the process was I changed the gear from park, to reverse, to other drive gears.

Yesterday, I checked it and I was happy to see it was still clear. Even so, I ran another 3 gallons through using the method above. Then I drove 75 miles and checked it again. Still looked perfectly clear. But, just to be safe, I ran another gallon through it. Then I drove 500 miles (long day). No issues. Truck ran fine, shifted fine. Checked the fluid color again just now and it's still perfectly clear. I have another 300 mile trip Tuesday so I plan on running 3 more gallons through today.

Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
Just keep checking it every couple hundred miles. If you see any signs that there is still coolant, keep flushing.

I don't think dropping the pan and "filter" is necessary IMO. The filter is just a screen.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
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