I was cleaning the engine bay on my car today and shot around a few places with the hose. Last time I did this was I very careful, I only shot places where there are no electronics or even plugged holes like dipsticks or oil caps. I take no chances with water forcing its way past seals.
Today I did the same thing except for some reason I forgot about the location of the transmission vent cap. Last time I specifically made sure to avoid this area but this time...
I shot water into the area that has the cap and may have missed it or hit it with some glancing blows. I used one of those nozzle wand attachments on a regular garden hose. No pressure washer here. I don't remember if I shot directly on to the breather/vent cap. After I was done and finished drying off the engine bay I realized and had a few choice words for myself (lol).
The breather cap was on tight, I checked after I did this and I made sure it was on tight last time. The breather cap has a little tube that sticks out with a passage through it that goes to the center of the cap. From there, it has a little plug that sits inside the breather tube and the plug has notches cut out on both sides.
This means in order for water from outside to enter, it has to be shot directly into the 2mm orifice, enter, go up whatever space remains between outside of breather tube and the inner cap, reach the top, then come back down through those notches in the center plug that sits inside the tube. I can see how air or transmission fluid can make its way up and out if it was over pressurized.
I guess it's a sort of labyrinth I wonder if the water made it that far. Should I dump the fluid? There's a chance no water got in or maybe a few drops though it has quite a journey to go and I guess it has to fight against the air already in the transmission. I also wonder if the fact that the hole on the outside is small (about 2mm) and the notches are also small (about 1.5mm), the rate at which water could pass through those.
Looking at the way the cap sits on the tube, it's tight, I wonder if the vent is even open to atmosphere normally or if it pushes the cap up a little to vent out only when pressure exceeds a certain amount? Which means the cap was totally watertight while the car was off.
What should I do? Here's somewhat of a diagram of the breather cap from the bottom. The green is the breather tube showing how the cap sits in it.
Today I did the same thing except for some reason I forgot about the location of the transmission vent cap. Last time I specifically made sure to avoid this area but this time...
I shot water into the area that has the cap and may have missed it or hit it with some glancing blows. I used one of those nozzle wand attachments on a regular garden hose. No pressure washer here. I don't remember if I shot directly on to the breather/vent cap. After I was done and finished drying off the engine bay I realized and had a few choice words for myself (lol).
The breather cap was on tight, I checked after I did this and I made sure it was on tight last time. The breather cap has a little tube that sticks out with a passage through it that goes to the center of the cap. From there, it has a little plug that sits inside the breather tube and the plug has notches cut out on both sides.
This means in order for water from outside to enter, it has to be shot directly into the 2mm orifice, enter, go up whatever space remains between outside of breather tube and the inner cap, reach the top, then come back down through those notches in the center plug that sits inside the tube. I can see how air or transmission fluid can make its way up and out if it was over pressurized.
I guess it's a sort of labyrinth I wonder if the water made it that far. Should I dump the fluid? There's a chance no water got in or maybe a few drops though it has quite a journey to go and I guess it has to fight against the air already in the transmission. I also wonder if the fact that the hole on the outside is small (about 2mm) and the notches are also small (about 1.5mm), the rate at which water could pass through those.
Looking at the way the cap sits on the tube, it's tight, I wonder if the vent is even open to atmosphere normally or if it pushes the cap up a little to vent out only when pressure exceeds a certain amount? Which means the cap was totally watertight while the car was off.
What should I do? Here's somewhat of a diagram of the breather cap from the bottom. The green is the breather tube showing how the cap sits in it.
