Ran Motorhome 200 miles with severe tranny leak

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Memorial weekend I got up from Detroit to Grayling, Michigan, about 200 miles away, only to find the tranny so low it would not take off in drive, but had to put it in first gear to move out from a stop. I put a gallon in and still did not see it on the stick. Put a second gallon in and a few more gallons in the side compartment. This is a 2000 Chevy Class C motorhome (cutaway van chassis) at 27 feet long, with a 454 V8 and auto tranny. So I headed home since I did not see much option at 5 pm on Saturday in Grayling Michigan on Memorial weekend.

Stopped every 40 miles or so and poured a gallon in while watching it run out the bottom and down the pavement. Tranny functioned fine all the way home. There was smoke coming up from under the hood by the time we got near home. Also I found the bottom coated and rubberized onto the exhaust pipes, and up the back of the motorhome was coated too.

A few weeks later I pulled the stick and there was fluid on it (all the torque converter had likely drained down by then), Drove it three miles to my local shop and they pulled the grill. They found the cooler lines rotted because they were inside of that plastic wire protector stuff. They installed new lines and cooler, pulled the pan and changed the filter/screen. They said the drained fluid looked fine and there was no bad stuff in the pan to indicated any damage had been done. Filled it with about 8-9 qts Amsoil synthetic ATF. I think it holds a total of about 12-14 qts, so it was fairly low.

So in August I took it on a 2500 mile round trip to South Dakota (Badlands). The transmission worked absolutely flawlessly and there was not one drop of leakage the whole trip.
 
I had a line rupture on a service van while cruising. Someone actually yelled at me that I was shooting out "oil". When I pulled over there was a huge leak, transmission would not even move the truck.

Had someone bring me some fuel line hose and a pair of clamps, cut the line, and fixed it on the side of the road. 6 quarts of fluid lost!

Never a peep out of the transmission for years afterwards...
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Not a thought to the mess you were making on the road?

My thoughts exactly.
 
If any transmission can take that......The 4L80E can, But to think the frictions didn't take a hit would be incorrect. You will lose a clutch pack eventually.....Probably the Directs.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Not a thought to the mess you were making on the road?


No mess on the road, only in parking areas where I added fluid. It did not leave any visible fluid on the road and the entire trip but for the last half mile was on the freeway. I could not see any drips along my streets by my house but it did drip in my driveway where I had to sit while opening the gate to the back yard. Most of the fluid went up into the undercarriage and cooked onto the hot parts.
 
Originally Posted By: Arkandspark
What's your mileage in that rig?


About 43,000 miles. Had Redline AFT from 10,000 until the leak around 40,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted By: ilikeguns
I crashed my motorcycle on the twisty road to the south entrance of Yosemite Nat. park because of trans fluid dumped on roadway.
lots of damage but I was OK. Ruined a fun ride.


That is horrible. I am glad the only puddles I left are in parking area where motorcycles should be able to see them long before they pull into a parking space, besides being on the truck side of the rest areas so no bikes over there. Worst spillage may have been on the drive up to Grayling before I knew I had a leak because then it would go from full to a couple gallons low.

5 pm Memorial Day in Grayling MI and you are not likely to get a hotel, rental car or anything else. Would have had to sit there until Tuesday and then hope to find a shop that would work on it. Most shops won't touch motorhomes. Wasn't really equipped to make any repairs and would have had to pull the grill to get at the parts. As it is, the shop had to replace the cooler as the fittings were seized from from rust. Also most auto parts stores in Grayling were shut, I tried several before finding an AutoZone still open.
 
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