coolant in the tranny
 

replaced filter and fluid in tranny 100 miles ago, warning came on, low coolant, found atf mixed with coolant. now replacing radiator. any advice on flushing engine of oil and tranny of coolant. i dread the thought of dropping the pan again to change the filter. 98 a8 / 100,000

I doubt you have any problems with the engine oil, but you.....
 

surely have coolant in the transmission. Do NOT start the engine until you drain and replace the tranny fluid after replacing the radiator/tranny cooler. I would drop the pan to get as much of the tranny fluid as possible, and then I would repeat the drain and fill in a week or so. A lot of work, but it beats paying for a new tranny!

Re: coolant in the tranny
 

your right, engine oil is clear, it's the oily slime left by the atf in the enginge coolant system.

2nd

Re: I doubt you have any problems with the engine oil, but you.....
 

You have to pull the pan and de-slime it. The coolant is denser than the transmission oil it will stay in the bottom of the pan. Don't wait.

Agree ...
 

The engine oil cooler and tranny cooler are two totally seperate heat exchangers. The ATF cooler is located inside the main radiator (which is why ATF is now mixed with coolant), but the oil cooler is integrated with the oil filter. It would be extremely bad luck if both the ATF and engine oil coolers happened to fail at the same time.