Vehicle History: 1986 Chevy Astro Van. 4.3 V-6 700R4 transmission. Started life as a "Bell South" repair van, sold to a crew of painters, (who painted the van with leftover paint), sold to my brother then given to my other brother who then gave it to his son who then gave it to me. I've had the van for about 8 years.
I use this van as the "workhorse" to maintain my parents property. My father is 94, my mother is 85 and they live on 15 acres of land. Due to their age, they are not able to do any outside work, so I do that once a week for them.
This van is never driven on the highway. It has no doors, no windows, the body is very rusty and the motor burns oil and smokes.
I use this van to haul equipment, haul brush, carry things from point "A" to point "B" and pull small oaks trees and dead orange trees out of the ground.
Van is never driven over 20 mph and rarely goes fast enough to shift into second gear. So basically, I'm using first gear and reverse.
About six months ago, the front seal in the transmission started leaking. What started as a dribble at first, soon turned into a river of transmission fluid. I was using between 2-4 quarts a week, the fluid literally flowed out of the front of the transmission, right onto the cross-over pipe which created a cloud of smoke).
About three months ago, I had no fluid to fill the tranmission. I didn't feel like going to town to buy another case of fluid, (plus it was getting expensive) so I started digging around my shop and found a stash of 40 weight motor oil I bought some time back, stored and forgot about, (I paid 88 cents a quart for it - that will give you an idea of how old it is). I thought, "what the heck, it's dying anyway." So I grabbed three quarts and poured them in the transmission, fired up the engine, put it in gear and off we went. Transmission worked great with no issues what so ever, (other than leaking).
Next week, added three more quarts of 40 weight. Once again, worked great.
The next week, I only had to add two quarts of 40 weight for the whole day.
Week following, I only added one quart of 40 weight. But, I did notice a shudder in reverse.
The following week, I added one quart USED transmission fluid and shudder went away. (The fluid came from a trans flush I did on one of my cars) I've added an additional two quarts of transmission fluid (used Dex III/M) and the shudder is totally gone.
Leak is now down to a slow drip and I've gone two weeks now without adding any fluid at all.
Now I'm wondering. Obviously a 40 weight motor oil is much thicker than your average transmission fluid, could it be that this thicker fluid is acting to stop the leak? Keep in mind, prior to adding 4o weight, the fluid literally poured through the front of the tranny in a steady stream. Now, it just an oily drip.
I'm wondering as well if this isn't bascially the same kind of thinking behind products like "Lucas Transmission Fix." I have used that stuff in other cars and it is really thick, (like gear oil or STP). Could their product simply be thick oil with a red dye?
Finally, obviously, this old van is worth more dead than alive. It has served me and my family well and owes us nothing, (keep in mind, that when my first brother bought it from the painter crew, he paid 500 bucks for it). Even so, for the sake of discussion, does anyone have any idea what that oil is doing inside the transmission - heating, burning, sludging or just flowing.
Thoughts, comments and ideas are welcome.
I use this van as the "workhorse" to maintain my parents property. My father is 94, my mother is 85 and they live on 15 acres of land. Due to their age, they are not able to do any outside work, so I do that once a week for them.
This van is never driven on the highway. It has no doors, no windows, the body is very rusty and the motor burns oil and smokes.
I use this van to haul equipment, haul brush, carry things from point "A" to point "B" and pull small oaks trees and dead orange trees out of the ground.
Van is never driven over 20 mph and rarely goes fast enough to shift into second gear. So basically, I'm using first gear and reverse.
About six months ago, the front seal in the transmission started leaking. What started as a dribble at first, soon turned into a river of transmission fluid. I was using between 2-4 quarts a week, the fluid literally flowed out of the front of the transmission, right onto the cross-over pipe which created a cloud of smoke).
About three months ago, I had no fluid to fill the tranmission. I didn't feel like going to town to buy another case of fluid, (plus it was getting expensive) so I started digging around my shop and found a stash of 40 weight motor oil I bought some time back, stored and forgot about, (I paid 88 cents a quart for it - that will give you an idea of how old it is). I thought, "what the heck, it's dying anyway." So I grabbed three quarts and poured them in the transmission, fired up the engine, put it in gear and off we went. Transmission worked great with no issues what so ever, (other than leaking).
Next week, added three more quarts of 40 weight. Once again, worked great.
The next week, I only had to add two quarts of 40 weight for the whole day.
Week following, I only added one quart of 40 weight. But, I did notice a shudder in reverse.
The following week, I added one quart USED transmission fluid and shudder went away. (The fluid came from a trans flush I did on one of my cars) I've added an additional two quarts of transmission fluid (used Dex III/M) and the shudder is totally gone.
Leak is now down to a slow drip and I've gone two weeks now without adding any fluid at all.
Now I'm wondering. Obviously a 40 weight motor oil is much thicker than your average transmission fluid, could it be that this thicker fluid is acting to stop the leak? Keep in mind, prior to adding 4o weight, the fluid literally poured through the front of the tranny in a steady stream. Now, it just an oily drip.
I'm wondering as well if this isn't bascially the same kind of thinking behind products like "Lucas Transmission Fix." I have used that stuff in other cars and it is really thick, (like gear oil or STP). Could their product simply be thick oil with a red dye?
Finally, obviously, this old van is worth more dead than alive. It has served me and my family well and owes us nothing, (keep in mind, that when my first brother bought it from the painter crew, he paid 500 bucks for it). Even so, for the sake of discussion, does anyone have any idea what that oil is doing inside the transmission - heating, burning, sludging or just flowing.
Thoughts, comments and ideas are welcome.
