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[jharv]

Anyone???.....

Torque converter is not sealed. The gearbox fluid is circulated through it by the pump in the gearbox.

I would first disconnect the cooler hoses at the gearbox and the radiator. Thoroughly blow these through with an airline to purge them of any water. Blow through the cooler part of the radiator, again, to remove any water. Use something like an old killaspray to purge these with fresh ATF, if possible.

Drop the sumps on the gearbox and discard the fluid, reassemble and refill.

As an extra precaution when refilling with the engine running I would leave off the return hose from the cooler (can't remember which one this is) until it has bled off a little fluid before stopping and reconnecting it, just to be on the safe side. 

I'm sure a tiny amount of water will probably do no harm and get "breathed" out of the box as soon as it exceeds boiling point but any significant amount of water will wreck it, so it is vital that the above is done before starting the engine IMHO.

I would also suggest a second fluid change once the car has been driven and found to be OK, just to make sure.

Kevin

Thank you all for the various replies & suggestions.
I have now emptied both sumps plus the water & remaining ATF, blown through the rad pipes (rad itself was OK), and done everything to try to remove any water in the box. I have then refilled & taken the car on a short test drive, and it is working so far, but I will empty & refill the box shortly to see if there is any more water flushed into the sumps.

Q
From the above re tiny amount of water breathing out, can it actually do this ?  I.e. is there a breather on the gearbox as such as I thought that the box was essentially sealed in that what ever is in the box stays in the box ? If it is essentially sealed would the steam not blow a hole in a gasket somewhere ?

Many thanks

[aaronjb]

There's a breather tube on the gearbox that runs up from the gearbox, up the bulkhead and can usually be found dangling around somewhere around the back of the engine/inlet manifold.. quite a few people find the 'hose with no home' and panic, then post up trying to work out what to attach it to

All gearboxes have breathers of some form or another to allow for the expansion & contraction of the oil inside the box (at least, all the gearboxes I've ever looked at )

[Kevin Wood]

From the above re tiny amount of water breathing out, can it actually do this ?  I.e. is there a breather on the gearbox as such as I thought that the box was essentially sealed in that what ever is in the box stays in the box ? If it is essentially sealed would the steam not blow a hole in a gasket somewhere ?

Many thanks

Yes, there is a rubber pipe about 10mm diameter that comes from the top of the gearbox casting about 2/3rds of the way along the gearbox. It runs along the top of the box and is clipped up just behind the engine.

It's worth checking that this is present, secured at the end and that the open end faces down, otherwise it can collect water.

If the box were sealed, pressure would build up due to expansion of the fluid and air inside as it reaches working temperature and lead to failure of the seals.

Kevin

[jharv]

Presumably there is no simple way of draining the torque converter before reassembly of the sumps & refilling with ATF (for example, I assume that the outlet to the rad is not from the torque converter before feeding into the sump) ?

[henryd]

Presumably there is no simple way of draining the torque converter before reassembly of the sumps & refilling with ATF (for example, I assume that the outlet to the rad is not from the torque converter before feeding into the sump) ?

no,the converter can't be drained but in your case should be fine anyway as the car wasn't started after the mishap

[Kevin Wood]

Presumably there is no simple way of draining the torque converter before reassembly of the sumps & refilling with ATF (for example, I assume that the outlet to the rad is not from the torque converter before feeding into the sump) ?

no,the converter can't be drained but in your case should be fine anyway as the car wasn't started after the mishap

Yep, water won't have got into the torque converter unless the engine was run because the fluid is pumped there by the engine driven pump in the gearbox.

Only way to drain the torque converter is to drop the gearbox and remove it.

Kevin

[jharv]

Presumably there is no simple way of draining the torque converter before reassembly of the sumps & refilling with ATF (for example, I assume that the outlet to the rad is not from the torque converter before feeding into the sump) ?

no,the converter can't be drained but in your case should be fine anyway as the car wasn't started after the mishap

Yep, water won't have got into the torque converter unless the engine was run because the fluid is pumped there by the engine driven pump in the gearbox.

Only way to drain the torque converter is to drop the gearbox and remove it.

Kevin

OK Thanks for this,
I was just a bit concerned as I have just dropped the 2 sumps again after a short drive (~8 miles) and the newly refilled ATF seems very dirty (mid brown rather than the red) and there was some "mayo" already in the main sump box). But emptying the ATF into a clear container, the oil has not yet seperated after an hour or so into water & oil layers - unlike before where there was more water than oil !.

[aaronjb]

I seem to recall the torque convertor holds a significant percentage of the total oil volume (close to 50%?) - that won't be contaminated with water, but it will make the fresh oil come out dirty as soon as it's all pumped around, if you see what I mean

A little mayo just means remaining water is getting beaten into emulsion in the fresh oil - I'd expect a second change, if you did one, to come out cleaner still.

[Entwood]

Presumably there is no simple way of draining the torque converter before reassembly of the sumps & refilling with ATF (for example, I assume that the outlet to the rad is not from the torque converter before feeding into the sump) ?

no,the converter can't be drained but in your case should be fine anyway as the car wasn't started after the mishap

Yep, water won't have got into the torque converter unless the engine was run because the fluid is pumped there by the engine driven pump in the gearbox.

Only way to drain the torque converter is to drop the gearbox and remove it.

Kevin

OK Thanks for this,
I was just a bit concerned as I have just dropped the 2 sumps again after a short drive (~8 miles) and the newly refilled ATF seems very dirty (mid brown rather than the red) and there was some "mayo" already in the main sump box). But emptying the ATF into a clear container, the oil has not yet seperated after an hour or so into water & oil layers - unlike before where there was more water than oil !.

Remember you only "change" about 50% of the total volume when you drop both sumps, so the "new" has mixed with the "old" which would explain the colour change.