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2000 Tundra V8 trans started slipping today, stopped and found trans fluid all over e

5K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  MetalMonkey 
#1 ·
Greetings, I was driving my 2000 V8 Tundra limited today and trans started to slip after coming to stops. I drove directly home to find trans fluid all over engine bay and even leaking out of my hood. Other possible relative info is that I had an oil change done yesterday and only drove it right home after the change. Any ideas on this guy’s? I am freaking a bit here since I was laid off and have no income coming in now. Thanks in advance. Marc
 
#3 ·
Had my truck looked at today and he found trans fluid in the coolant reservoir and said the radiator is shot. Not sure about the trans cooler yet and said coolant system and trans system would both need to be flushed and filled. Has not given me a quote yet. Any ideas on what this might cost?
 
#4 ·
My brother had this issue with his 2003 V8 Automatic Tundra at around 200K miles or so ~ just after having the transmission serviced.
He bought a new radiator (rather inexpensive online) and installed it himself along with the new coolant.
He returned for yet another transmission service and all is well. I think he caught it right away so the transmission survived in spite of the odds.
His rig now has 225K miles on the clock and counting.
Good Luck with your Tundra.
 
#5 ·
Apparently the coolant was never changed and ate the trans heat exchanger .

Anyway , if trans fluid got into the radiator and coolant yes a rad replacement and a THOUGH flushing of the coolant system.

IF ANY ( any ) engine coolant pushed into the auto trans that would be really bad . Engine coolant and trans fluid mixed inside the trans the trans is toast . They do not play well inside . No amount of flushing will fix it .

This heat exchanger set up , when burst happens in the dodge cummins trucks I'm familiar with .

Good luck sir
 
#8 ·
Thanks everybody. Got a call from my mechanic this morning. Trans cooler failed in side the radiator just as 24hrSparkey thought. He told me the auto transmission is still good. Wants $800 to flush out all coolant, replace radiator and hoses, flush transmission fluid, replace trans filter and refill both trans fluid and coolant. Does that sound like a reasonable price for that work? That includes all his diagnostic time as well.
 
#10 ·
That is a very reasonable quote given the extent of the work, the parts and fluid costs, etc.
 
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#11 ·
$800 is a really good deal. Trans fluid and antifreeze should both be Toyota brand, although I have used universal of both and been okay in the past. Each of those fluids can cost you upwards of $100. Radiator is over $100 on Amazon. There is going to be ~6 hours of labor there @ $75/hr or so so that would be $450. That is $750 by my estimate plus extraneous hoses and whatnot.

I'm not sure how many miles are on your truck, and I know you said above about your lack of money, but you might consider replacement of the trans now as a preventative measure. The early years of Tundra (2000-2002) had a weak planetary gear. If yours is stock, than it may not have a long life left anyways. I also don't generally recommend trans flushes on really high mileage transmissions as it tends to cause transmissions to fail shortly after the flush. In your case, you don't have much choice because of possible antifreeze contamination. And then you have the possible antifreeze contamination itself that may have caused damage to an unknown extent.

I know if I had the money in your situation, I would probably find a nice used 2003-2005 transmission with the upgraded planetary gear to throw in there. I would hate to drop $800 just to have it explode in 1000 miles. When my trans blew up at 192,000 miles, I found a 2003 transmission with 30,000 miles on it for $950 from Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market. It does take the mechanic about 12 hours to change it though which will add considerable cost. In my case, I changed it myself.
 
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