Strawberry Milkshake question

[KingMedicine]

Alright, since im still new around here and im officially getting my 2002 T4R Limited on Tuesday. I have already started on my few repairs and prevent maintenance plan. She had not had a ton past oil changes on the last 6 years, so i wanna start her off on the right foot.

I have been seeing how horrible this issue is on the 3rd gens, and noticing its been happening with alot of the 1997-1999 models? Did they fix the issue in the later models, or is this purely based on age of equipment, so mine could be a issue soon.

And if so, would it just be smarter for me to have them change the radiator when they do the timing belt, since they are flushing the coolant anyways?

I figure its better to spend a few hundred now, then a few grand later. But i dont wanna throw cash into a hole when i dont need to.

Thanks everyone! You guys have been a helpful bunch with my newb questions.

 

[electronics4u]

Here is what I did and didn't do. I bought my 99' LTD in 05' with 69K on it. I changed the Timing Belt and Water Pump around 90K. Starter had trouble from day 1 so I changed the starter only for a year later for another one to go bad...was under warranty though.

Here is where the trouble started. I noticed that when I got the truck, sometimes if I stopped really quickly at a stop light, the truck would could out off gear...I would have to wait a few seconds for it to re-engage. Hence there were issues already developed when I got the truck.

About 8-9 months ago, I had the Radiator suck all the ATF out of the Tranny. My Mechanic tells me there was nothing in the tranny and it took them a little while to figure out where the fluid went since there are no leaks. Overall, I believe that my torque Converter/tranny overheated and is now the cause of my issue. To repair the tranny or just trade her in.

If I had it all over again, I would have at the very least put on an aftermarket tranny cooler so that the radiator would not impact my tranny. Instead I am stuck doing it the other way around. New radiator...now potentially new tranny and tranny cooler. I would say if you need to save a few bucks, you can keep your current radiator and just add the cooler since the Timing Belt and Water Pump can get expensive on its own.

 

[rjaudi]

I would simply install an aftermarket tranny cooler and bypass the factory radiator. There are a bunch of write ups and it will cost you less than 100 bucks.

 

[Duhockey]

You know... with all the talk about Strawberry milkshake or Pink milkshake and the radiator problems, Im never gonna be able to buy a real Strawberry milkshake again cuz all I think about now is tranny fluid and coolant...