03 Grand Am: oil in coolant

[Smittro]

i seem to remember someone saying something about the tranny cooler in the radiator a few weeks ago .. the fill bolt on the trans is at the end of the snout by the inner cv of the passenger side.

Thanks for posting that!.. My knowlege/experiance of J-body is limited, I had to dig to find the dipstick/cap info.. The 4t45e and 40e's are a cavalier type trans. I'm mostly versed in w-body and x-vin iron block engines and thier trannies.. Since I can't use them I let the knowlege lag a bit... I stopped using the orange coolant in my 01 years ago and went back to plain old green.. Only to find later the damage was done..

[Smittro]

I do know however that they are a "sealed" unit designed to go 100k "maintainance free".. But........ Dexron III is/was used, and some have said that Dexron VI or VII was used and is said to double the percieved maintainance mileage/longevity..

[bdub2145]

yeah but the dealers can say these systems don't need service for so many miles but we all know thats a bunch of bull . if you really want to take care of your ride and anything that takes fluid it should still be changed once in awhile . i think you will agree . but anyway thats off the topic . well good luck with the coolant issue and if you find that the cooler is broke then i would flush the coolant again after it has been fixed and put green in it instead of the orange crap.

[Smittro]

yeah but the dealers can say these systems don't need service for so many miles but we all know thats a bunch of bull . if you really want to take care of your ride and anything that takes fluid it should still be changed once in awhile . i think you will agree . but anyway thats off the topic . well good luck with the coolant issue and if you find that the cooler is broke then i would flush the coolant again after it has been fixed and put green in it instead of the orange crap.

Agree! Those trannies are barely rated for holding much over the engines stock crank hp. I can't see them being maintainance free for that long.. Notice also they won't dare put a 660 to a 5spd getrag f23.. The twin cam 2.4 could rearange their internals pretty good a 660 would likely destroy it even tho it will bolt to it..

[SteveCZ28]

wife got the coolant system flushed...she says it still gets warm if she lets it sit.....so im still gonna do the thermostat this weekend....but i got off work and looked at the coolant....its still red...now i dont know if the shop used that red/orange coolant, or how well they flushed the system.....so i guess i get to call the shop in the morning and see what they did do....i can tell it was flushed cuz its not the consistency of syrup, but still feels "oily" but then antifreeze kinda feels a little oily too.....haha im lost

found out they used normal greenish/yellow coolant. so its something red (tranny fluid) mixing

[bdub2145]

it has to be in the radiator trans cooler then . thats the only place it could mix. replace the radiator

[SteveCZ28]

it has to be in the radiator trans cooler then . thats the only place it could mix. replace the radiator

yea that was the plan...getting a new radiator, and thermostat, and a new tranny filter all at once. replacing the rad, and changing thermostat(while im in there) and then gonna take car to get coolant system flushed again, along with a new tranny filter installed, and a fluid flush in the tranny also