Did I run over a pedestrian? No. It's the other kind of tranny fluid!

Yeah it's transmission fluid.

You probably need a new gasket on the fluid pan. It's a huge pain in the *** to change it, but it only costs like 10 bucks usually, and you can change it yourself.

Make sure a baby didn't crawl up under the hood.

Yeah I know. I figured that out when it wouldn't go in gear. This is what I get for driving a dodge.

Or a kitten.

Just get the new gasket and a quart of fluid. You'll need a single socket and socket wrench, if it's a dodge, it'll probably be about 5/16in.

Actually, it's the cooler line. The transmission is under warranty. So is the transmission cooler. But the GOD DAMNED HOSE ISN'T!

And, considering all the fluid drained out leaving a trail down the street, I think I'll need more than a quart. More like eight. Cheapo part. Hours and hours of labor.

If you ever do end up changing your gasket, you need to use a torque wrench; those gaskets can/will leak if too loose or too tight.

torque wrenches are only really needed for internal components... usually... just get it "tight enough" and it'll be fine.

WTF, I know computers, not cars. I can't fix it myself. I consider it a job well done if I avoid getting hosed by the shop too bad. I'll know more tomorrow morning. I always send it to the same shop, just because they are open on Sunday.

Just don't try to drive it anywhere.

Bill, while that's generally accepted, it really shouldn't be done. Bolts like those have torque specifications for a reason.

Heh, reminds me of a story my driving instructor told.
He was on a truck parking lot with some pupils and they saw some clear, yellow and steaming fluid under their truck. He already guessed that that had to be cooling fluid, so he called his pupils so that they could tell him what it was. Cooling fluid tastes sweet, so that is how they went to determine what it was. The first pupil tasted it and said that it tasted salty, not sweet. The second pupil couldn't believe it and had to test it himself and he, too, concluded that it wasn't cooling fluid but something else, that tasted salty.
They looked for the third pupil to see if he had any idea what that fluid might be. The instructor refrained from tasting the fluid, because he had a leaking suspicion. At that moment the third pupil came from behind the truck and was just zipping his pants up.
From this day on the instructor wouldn't make his pupils identify an unknown fluid by tasting it.

It's easy to tell he made this story up.

No one is going to taste antifreeze, it's deadly toxic.

It sounds like a joke.

A really really dumb one.

Yeah, I wouldn't dare put my mouth to anything that leaks out of my car >.>

Antifreeze isn't deadly from a taste. Geez. Though, really, everything in the car is color-coded anyway. Just stick a sheet of paper over the puddle and let it soak in, then look at it. And coolant isn't yellow. It comes in blue and green varieties. I think some power steering fluids are yellow, though.

Apparently, the line literally broke off of the transmission cooler and sprayed transmission fluid all over the bottom of the engine. It's still dripping out - it got everywhere. It's even on the inside of the hood. It looks like my car ate somebody. They didn't find any other leaks, but I'll still be leaving puddles for a few days. After that I just need to watch it and see. It's still leaking coolant, though. Prohibitively expensive to fix. It's leaking from somewhere on the side of the engine, and unfortunately fixing it will require taking all sorts of stuff out. And it's been leaking for a long time, so I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets worse.

Anyway. Dealership quote : $600 to replace the Transmission Cooler Line.

Normal shop quote : "Uh... it's cracked less than an inch from the end. I'll just trim it and put on a new clamp..." The 9 quarts of transmission fluid it needed to fill it back up cost more than the repair. (The spot where the puddle was is still slippery.)

But my check engine light is still on. It came on when the transmission fluid lost pressure and the car fell into neutral. If it doesn't reset by the end of the week, I'll take it back to the shop and have them manually reset it, and see if it comes on again.

All this trouble started right after I paid the thing off. DON'T PAY OFF YOUR CAR!

Wrong.

Coolant definitely comes in yellow -- and I've never seen blue. Blue is washer fluid...

You ran over a transvestite?

Coolant comes in all sorts of colors, depending on application.

ANTIFREEZE however is normally green.

Is not. That's the way to quickly check if you have a correct antifreeze/water ratio. Just dip a finger in it and then put it into your mouth, no need to swallow though.



Green.

Standard Ethylene Glycol engine coolant is green; however, there are various other colours, such as yellow, orange, and red.

I've never seen yellow. And making it red is stupid, tranny fluid is red for a reason. So you know when you've got a tranny leak and can panic in a suitable fashion. If your car's coolant isn't green, you've got an odd car.

My coolant is red. VW biyatches.

If you see red coolant and tranny fluid next to each other there's an obvious difference. Tranny fluid is much thicker and darker while red coolant runs like water. Very easy to tell the difference.

Cars without green coolant aren't odd, they're GM's. Usually.