Yesterday I was driving and noticed that the acceleration was really poor when starting from a stop. The RPMs seemed to be up, but the car moved forward very slowly until I caught some speed and then it was normal.

I made it home and was parking on the street when I put it in reverse, which didn't work at first. I put it back into park and then back into reverse, and it backed up just fine, but when I put it back into drive and inched forward a bit, it died. I opened the hood, and it had obviously overheated (it was smoking from around the radiator, and there may have even been some fluid on the radiator - I can't remember exactly).

I waited a few hours for it to cool down and started it up just fine, but in the overflow tank the coolant is definitely below the full line. I haven't driven it since - I only started it up again because I was blocking a driveway and had to move it maybe a foot.

My plan is to wait until Monday, add coolant, and drive it to someone who can take a look at it, but I was hoping maybe y'all could tell me something before then.

Oh, and I'd say in the past month or so (maybe a little longer), I've noticed that when I first start the car and put it into drive, there's a very short delay between my pushing on the gas and the car moving forward. It usually stops happening, though, I think after it's warmed up.

I've had the transmission replaced fairly recently in case that makes a difference.

Thanks.

 

Did you check the fluid level in the trans? It sounds like it may be low.

 

X2 on the fluid level

Your overheating could be different issue though. Have you checked the timing or the t stat to see if it's sticking?

 

You have an overflow tank but yet there was coolant on the radiator????? Seems to me you have a leak, could be a hose, water pump, loose clamp....

X4006 on checking the trans fluid level. If your that low on fluid, I would say your transmission got pretty warm too.

 

Ok, so there's definitely fluid underneath the radiator, which I'm assuming is coolant. Bear with me, but coolant is green, right? So I stand by my plan to add coolant and take it to the shop tomorrow.

As far as the transmission fluid goes, I checked it, but to no point and purpose because it says I have to check it when the car is hot. Think I would be ok to add coolant and drive it around until it warms up enough to check the transmission fluid?

Thanks again.

 

I would check it cold and running in park, it should be at least to the 1 pint low mark. The drive it a bit and check it again, but this time fill it to the full mark.

It is not hard to determine where your coolant is leaking. Get the engine up to operating temp, pop the hood and look. This can be accomplished at the same time your filling your trans.

 

Do you have a transmission cooler by any chance?

 

I don't know what a transmission cooler is! I don't know much about cars.

I added coolant and added about a pint of transmission fluid while it was still cold. When I checked it cold, it was barely registering on the dipstick, and I was advised that I should go ahead and add some based on that.

I drove it for maybe five miles or so after that, and the acceleration problem didn't change. When I got home, it was hot (but not fully overheated), so I checked the transmission fluid again and then added another pint. I haven't done anything else and fully intend to just go to the shop tomorrow.

My only question is whether it takes some time between adding the fluid and feeling the effects of it? Or should that have corrected the problem if that was it?

Thanks again.

 

Oh, and when I say hot, not fully overheated, my temperature guage doesn't work, so I couldn't tell you for sure how hot it was. I just mean that the first time it was clearly overheated and smoking, but this second time it wasn't nearly as bad.

 

You would know immediately.

You did not say whether you got the level to the proper mark on the dipstick.
If you didn't, then you don't have enough ATF in the transmission, which can cause the problems you describe.

Keep adding fluid until it is at the appropriate mark. Seems silly to take it to the shop when the problem is that your fluid's low.


Forgive me, but engines do not generally smoke when they overheat.
They just get hot.
It might help to know where the smoke was coming from and what kind of smoke it was.

If your gauge is broken, then how can you even be sure that it overheated?

- Eric

 

Well, here's the thing. After I put the transmission fluid in cold, I tried checking it and just ended up with fluid all over the dipstick, which I assumed was because I had just added fluid, so I decided I would drive it home and then check it again. So I checked it hot before I added the second pint, but then I didn't check it again because I figured the same thing would happen where I wouldn't be able to get a good reading. Should I be able to get an accurate reading right after I add fluid?

Either way, I have to take it to the shop for the coolant problem. I don't know enough about cars to do anything beyond the really basic stuff. I came to the conclusion that it was overheated based on a few things - the fact that the engine seemed to be working so hard to barely move the car, the fact that there's coolant all underneath the radiator, and the fact that it was smoking.

Oh, and one other question because I don't want to drive the car again but figure if I'm going to add more transmission fluid, I'm going to need to get the engine warmed up. Any idea how long would the car have to idle before it would get warm enough?

 

I'd be careful about that tendency of yours to just keep adding transmission fluid. You could end up overfilling and that's just as bad.

You don't idle the engine to warm up the tranny. You have to drive it AT LEAST 5 miles to warm it up. When you stop, leave the engine running and pull out the trans dipstick. WIPE it on a cloth, then re-insert it to the hilt. Pull back out and have a look at where the fluid is on the hash marks. Also, when you add fluid to the tranny use a funnel to avoid spilling it down the dip tube. If it spills onto the manifold it will smoke really bad. Add only a bit at a time and re-check the dipstick levels after each 'fill'.

As far as the coolant goes, I agree with Eric. Look under the hood for the leak. There are only so many hose connections under there, and you should also check the thermostat area to see if the gasket may have failed. But if it does, you'll see a pool of 'green' yes it's 'green' coolant sitting on the intake manifold. It will also smoke pretty good if not cleaned up.

Check your rad cap (when cold only) to see what the level of coolant is before you start the car. If it's full? you're ok. Just another thought. Did you check the petcock area to see if it may be leaking there? (bottom of rad on driver side)

 

Based on what you are describing here, it seems that your coolant is boiling over due to the transmission overheating. When you said earlier that you had replaced the trans, how long ago was it? Was it by a reputable shop, or your cousin's buddy's wife's dad? To me, it sounds like the trans was either improperly rebuilt causing slipping , or is very low on fluid. Either of these will build heat in the fluid. The trans has a pair of lines that run to the radiator where there is a heat exchanger to cool the trans fluid. Very hot trans will cause the radiator to boil over. I suggest taking the car to a shop that you know does good work and knows their way around older cars. The latter of the two is somewhat hard to come by these days.

 

Perhaps the smoking is being caused by the tranny fluid leaking on the exhaust?

Greg

 

While you getting the coolant leak fixed have them install a temp gage. It's hard to just be able to tell if a car is running warm. If you are really unsure on the transmission fluid I would let mechanic fill it for you. To much fluid is worse than being low. If you are afraid to drive it I would would rather pay a 100 dollar tow bill then an engine or transmission rebuild. IMO Good luck

 

So if the car needs to be hot to check the transmission fluid, and I have to drive the car to get it hot, but I shouldn't be driving with low transmission fluid, I don't really see a solution.

 

You don't have to drive it. Just make sure it's up to operating temp to check the trans fluid. Let it idle while parked. Also when checking the trans fluid make sure the car is parked in a flat level spot!

 

Any idea how long it needs to idle to get up to operating temp?

Thanks.

 

You're putting way too much mental energy into this.

Start the car. Let it warm up for a few minutes. Drive it around the block a few times. Check the fluid level.
If you add more fluid, give it a few minutes to run down the sides of the tube before rechecking, then wipe the dipstick off well, and look for the level where the fluid goes all the way across the dipstick from one side to the other (not where the fluid just runs in a stripe along one edge).

None of the problems (or potential problems) you've described is a big deal.
You are not going to hurt anything by warming it up and checking the fluid level.

So far all we've got is an engine that has a small coolant leak (no puddle on the ground), that had an unknown amount of an unknown type of smoke from an unknown location one single time, a slipping transmission, and a low ATF dipstick reading that didn't seem to come up after adding a quart.

More information is absolutely essential to figuring out what's going on here.

- Eric