Changing Radiator - Now Car will not get into gear.

[GoldenZenki]

Sup guys I'm new to the forum =).

1995 240sx - Automatic

I bought an aftermarket radiator, it came with dual 12" fans off of ebay. Now we removed the old radiator, the clutch fan, the electric fan that came with the car.

I noticed that the O.E.M radiator had 4 plugs in total, the 2 main coolant plugs that go into the engine to transfer the coolant, and then 2 towards the bottom(which I have no clue what they are), I called a friend of mine to see what the deal was with that, and he said don't worry about it. He's had a couple of 240sx but never an automatic.

I turned on the car, and this red oil shot out from the one of the bottom hoses and hit my fan, (hopefully that didn't mess it up). Followed by trying to get the air pockets out the radiator by rev-ing the engine 2 - 3 times. (the previous owner jb welded the whole that is use to bleed the coolant.... ), so now my car is heating up with the ac on, and to top it all of it won't go into gear. Also one of my fans no longer works, it was working fine before and while the red oil shot out.

No light outside so I guess better luck tomorrow .

Does this have to do with that red liquid, perhaps some wiring, I have no clue. SCHOOL ME please!

Thank you.

[AZhitman]

Hoo boy.

Don't EVER ask that "friend" for car help again. The red fluid is transmission fluid.

This is why I always encourage people to download the FSM for their car (available here) BEFORE turning a wrench.

Those 2 ports on the radiator are the inlet and outlet for the transmission... there's 2 hardlines that carry trans fluid through part of the radiator to assist in cooling.

Clean up your mess, hook up those 2 lines properly, refill trans fluid and hopefully you didn't damage the trans.

[lancet913]

red liquid=transmission fluid.

Usually vehicle's with automatics have a built in transmission coolers in the radiator, this must be the other two holes in your radiator.

edit

Hitman already got it before I finished!

[r3v_v3ng3]

hopefully you didn't drive it around or have the car running long enough to mess anything.

[GoldenZenki]

No I was not driving the car... I called him back and he was like "oh I forgot you had an automatic". , the after market radiator I bought does not have the hoses for the bottom, I guess it's for a stick shift car.

What can be my solution, perhaps a separate radiator for the transmission ?

Also would the car still be heating up because the transmission is not being cooled?

Where exactly can I download the FSM?

[89twoforty]

Run a search on the site. I've seen them around here a few times.

If your old radiator is in working condition your best bet would be to put that back on for the time being. If it isn't you'd be better off finding a new radiator and selling or returning the ebay one.

[scooz14]

or put in a 5 speed

[goldfish]

No I was not driving the car... I called him back and he was like "oh I forgot you had an automatic". , the after market radiator I bought does not have the hoses for the bottom, I guess it's for a stick shift car.

What can be my solution, perhaps a separate radiator for the transmission ?

Also would the car still be heating up because the transmission is not being cooled?

Where exactly can I download the FSM?

If you really want to use this aftermarket radiator you could always buy as you had suggested a separate and smaller radiator or cooler for the transmission. The not being able to shift into gear probably has to do with a lack of line pressure. Automatic trans require a certain level of fluid pressure for the valve body to actually shift gears. Since the lines weren't connect, the pressure wasn't where it would be normally That's my guess anyways. You should be able to run 1 or 2 oil coolers for the trans, but you're going to need to mount them in such a way that they get a lot of air flow to keep the transmission fluid at the proper temperature.

-fish

[GoldenZenki]

Alrighty, so I got a transmission aftermarket cooler, and got it installed. The car gets into gear and I moved it down the block.

Also got the other fan working, it was just a bad put connector.

Now, I had my car running for a bit, the fans kicked in but the car is heating up to the H, I have a 2.5" after market radiator, twin 12" fans, and the transmission cooler. I don't know why it's heating up... it took longer to heat up than before but what can it be?

The engine was making like sucking noise, as if it was gulping water, perhaps I don't have enough water in the radiator, I used 1 gallon of coolant and the rest water...

as i type this, I'm letting the engine cool and then checking the water level, and adding some more if I have to.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

[goldfish]

You need to burp the radiator, let it cool all the way. Refill the radiator as it's probably not totally full. Then warm the car up again. If I knew more about the 240sx I'd love to tell you there is a bleeder valve on the thermostat housing. A lot of cars have these, you basically attach a clear tube to it and crack it open and while the engine's running air in the system comes out. No more air in the system leaves only water to push around (which is what you want)

Hope that made sense/helps.

EDIT: Reason I say I'd "love to tell you" I am just learning a lot of the ins and outs of this car myself. I'm not a stranger to tooling around on cars, but the 240sx I have is still a stranger to me. Not for long though, I'm going to be redoing a lot on it

[GoldenZenki]

I wish I had a bleeder valve also, the previous owner JB welded it closed... I don't know why , maybe he lost the screw... and didn't know what to do.

[goldfish]

I wish I had a bleeder valve also, the previous owner JB welded it closed... I don't know why , maybe he lost the screw... and didn't know what to do.

You could buy a new thermostat housing down the road to fix that.

Only other suggestion I have to rid the bubbles without a bleeder valve is something I wouldn't recommend to you right off the bat. Hopefully someone else will chime in and say nay or yes. K... so my brother had a miata and his car didn't have a bleeder valve either, we raced the engine in neutral here and there over a couple of days when we installed his koyo and that seemed to get all of the bubbles to go either to the rad cap or overflow tank(maybe?). He was having a problem where the water temp sensor would get a pocket of air and spike up, as soon as you revved the engine up it would go away(bubbles would rush past it, heh).

Again above suggestion... may not work, may be harmful. Let someone else say their bit on it before you jump on it. I'm not responsible if it's a bad thing LOL. just something we did. I was 19 so, take that as you will.

[jaimecollins]

I wish I had a bleeder valve also, the previous owner JB welded it closed... I don't know why , maybe he lost the screw... and didn't know what to do.

park it on a hill, place it in park and open the radiator cap. Fill the radiator until you can clearly see the liquid (it will almost be overflowing) and let your engine run throttling it a little here and there, but mostly letting it idle. It will bubble and eventually it will bleed completely. As far as bleeding any other fluid i woudn't know. I bleed my **** because I bypassed my leaking heater core. It would spike to H quickly until i did this, make sure to not let it get that high.