Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian21401
I’m not a mechanic. I’ve never owned an auto. I know nothing about Dave’s fear that water may be leaking into the auto box via the cooler.
BUT:
Do I understand this correctly? Water is escaping through the header/expansion tank.
Do you actually mean the expansion tank?
Just to add to the sorry story, I once owned a Ford Cortina Mk3, 1600cc. It was fine around town and on short trips but after a couple of hours on a motorway the coolant all disappeared. The cylinder head gasket was suspect but when the head was removed it was found to be cracked. It was replaced with a good used one. The coolant still continued to disappear. The piston rings eventually gave up (blue smoke etc) so the engine was completely stripped and the block and head checked by a reputable engineering works. No faults were found. The engine was rebuilt but continued to use coolant. No idea where it was going or how. Traded the car into a dealership who wanted the registration number and the Rostyle wheels.
Sorry if I’m on the wrong track here, just trying to help.
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If the heat exchanger in the radiator that cools the ATF has a leak, coolant will escape from the cooling system part of the radiator into the gearbox fluid Ian. This will cause failure of the gearbox fairly quickly. Also because the cooling system is pressurised at between 16.5 -22.5psi depending on the cap on the expansion tank (or header tank if you're in the USA), it overcomes the minimal pressure of the ATF that is on its way back to the auto box sump.
Cortinas were notorious for coolant loss (among many other faults) but the heater matrix was a 10 minute job to change. Two Jubilee clips, a few self tappers, job done. Trouble was, because the heater matrix was the highest point of the system, air locks were endemic in them which in turn caused overheating and over-pressurisation of the system, resulting in coolant loss through the radiator cap. They also were susceptible to radiator blockages with all that entails.
