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Post by reddmonty on Oct 28, 2018 15:39:21 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and like everyone here fell in love with our monteros. Having 225k miles, when driving long distances (50+ minutes) the A/T light comes on and the car's engine temp goes skyrocket and I have to keep pulling over. It also happens when the car idles just after driving long distances, when I get off the highway and get into the city. Usually smoke comes out and I can smell the A/T fluid. I've recently done a transmission fluid change replacing the pan as well. I had my mechanic check the car and nothing seems to be leaking. I recently checked the radiator fan and it works fine, so I'm running out of ideas  . I'm planning on taking a 4+ hour trip on December. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!
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Post by Naeos_Valkarian on Oct 28, 2018 16:37:05 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and like everyone here fell in love with our monteros. Having 225k miles, when driving long distances (50+ minutes) the A/T light comes on and the car's engine temp goes skyrocket and I have to keep pulling over. It also happens when the car idles just after driving long distances, when I get off the highway and get into the city. Usually smoke comes out and I can smell the A/T fluid. I've recently done a transmission fluid change replacing the pan as well. I had my mechanic check the car and nothing seems to be leaking. I recently checked the radiator fan and it works fine, so I'm running out of ideas . I'm planning on taking a 4+ hour trip on December. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks! If you can smell A/T fluid there is a leak, If nothing is dripping from the transmission itself I'd check the radiator. Our radiators have a built in transmission cooler and the lines may have slightly come loose from the radiator. As far as the over heating goes, have the radiator or water pump been replaced at any point? Also try inspecting the radiator for fin damage or debris which could be blocking the airflow. Another thing to note is that the clutch on the radiator fan may not be engaging properly and thus not cooling efficiently. |
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Post by reddmonty on Oct 28, 2018 16:44:27 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and like everyone here fell in love with our monteros. Having 225k miles, when driving long distances (50+ minutes) the A/T light comes on and the car's engine temp goes skyrocket and I have to keep pulling over. It also happens when the car idles just after driving long distances, when I get off the highway and get into the city. Usually smoke comes out and I can smell the A/T fluid. I've recently done a transmission fluid change replacing the pan as well. I had my mechanic check the car and nothing seems to be leaking. I recently checked the radiator fan and it works fine, so I'm running out of ideas . I'm planning on taking a 4+ hour trip on December. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks! If you can smell A/T fluid there is a leak, If nothing is dripping from the transmission itself I'd check the radiator. Our radiators have a built in transmission cooler and the lines may have slightly come loose from the radiator. As far as the over heating goes, have the radiator or water pump been replaced at any point? Also try inspecting the radiator for fin damage or debris which could be blocking the airflow. Another thing to note is that the clutch on the radiator fan may not be engaging properly and thus not cooling efficiently. Thank you for the info! I will definitely check the radiator for any leaks and the transmission once again. Radiator was replaced around the same time. Is there anyway to test the clutch on the radiator? |
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Post by Naeos_Valkarian on Oct 28, 2018 17:09:49 GMT -5
If you can smell A/T fluid there is a leak, If nothing is dripping from the transmission itself I'd check the radiator. Our radiators have a built in transmission cooler and the lines may have slightly come loose from the radiator. As far as the over heating goes, have the radiator or water pump been replaced at any point? Also try inspecting the radiator for fin damage or debris which could be blocking the airflow. Another thing to note is that the clutch on the radiator fan may not be engaging properly and thus not cooling efficiently. Thank you for the info! I will definitely check the radiator for any leaks and the transmission once again. Radiator was replaced around the same time. Is there anyway to test the clutch on the radiator? The clutch will be the round metallic piece to which the actual fan blade hub is attached to. when the engine is cold(not started in the last say 24 hours) if you can spin the fan by hand easily it's a safe bet the clutch is no good or is on it's way out. Another method is to warm the engine up to operating temperature and have someone shut off the engine, the fan should stop spinning within a couple seconds. If it just keeps spinning awhile afterwards(freewheeling) then you know you have a bad fan clutch. Also since you said the radiator was replaced it is possible that there is air trapped in the system or not enough coolant was added to the system when it was replaced. |
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Post by reddmonty on Oct 28, 2018 17:27:13 GMT -5
The clutch will be the round metallic piece to which the actual fan blade hub is attached to. when the engine is cold(not started in the last say 24 hours) if you can spin the fan by hand easily it's a safe bet the clutch is no good or is on it's way out. Another method is to warm the engine up to operating temperature and have someone shut off the engine, the fan should stop spinning within a couple seconds. If it just keeps spinning awhile afterwards(freewheeling) then you know you have a bad fan clutch. Also since you said the radiator was replaced it is possible that there is air trapped in the system or not enough coolant was added to the system when it was replaced. I'm going to try that method for checking the clutch fan! There could be air trapped, I've always checked on the coolant level and its never gotten low, also I tested the coolant for any rust or deposits with one of those anti-freeze testers and it came out fine! Most likely it is the clutch fan or leaks. Will update if I find something interesting or solve it! Thanks ninestar! Already feeling the brotherhood in this forum lol |
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Post by reddmonty on Oct 28, 2018 18:35:00 GMT -5
The clutch will be the round metallic piece to which the actual fan blade hub is attached to. when the engine is cold(not started in the last say 24 hours) if you can spin the fan by hand easily it's a safe bet the clutch is no good or is on it's way out. Another method is to warm the engine up to operating temperature and have someone shut off the engine, the fan should stop spinning within a couple seconds. If it just keeps spinning awhile afterwards(freewheeling) then you know you have a bad fan clutch. Also since you said the radiator was replaced it is possible that there is air trapped in the system or not enough coolant was added to the system when it was replaced. I'm going to try that method for checking the clutch fan! There could be air trapped, I've always checked on the coolant level and its never gotten low, also I tested the coolant for any rust or deposits with one of those anti-freeze testers and it came out fine! Most likely it is the clutch fan or leaks. Will update if I find something interesting or solve it! Thanks ninestar! Already feeling the brotherhood in this forum lol UPDATE: Just tested the clutch fan with the engine warm at normal temp and it stopped right away when turning the car off. |
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Post by jkdv8 on Oct 28, 2018 22:27:28 GMT -5
Was SPlll fluid used and is at the correct level. A leak is at all possible but if it's overfilled or has the incorrect fluid it'll burp it out the vent tube which drips on the exhaust when it overheats. Shop I had do mine one time overfilled it and while on a road trip it did that. Light came on and couldn't pull off for a mile or so and when I was able to stop it was billowing smoke. Let it idle to cool off, light went out, and it was fine for the rest of the trip and back. Luckily it didn't catch fire, trans fluid is extremly flammable. Aftermarket trans fluid cooler isn't a bad idea either.
As previously mentioned look your cooling system over. Turn the temp knob to hot when bleeding the system to make sure you get all the air out. When testing the fan do it a couple times, best 2 out of 3, 4 out of 5. It moves quite a bit of air to which makes a distinct sound when it's working correctly.
Also worth mentioning that if either of the three systems (a/c, engine cooling, trans cooling) is having issues it can affect all three as they're all trying to complete the same task of removing heat.
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Post by dclambertt on Oct 29, 2018 18:30:04 GMT -5
One other thing to check is that any air in the coolant system has been evacuated. If you lose coolant and simply refill the recovery tank you will get an air pocket in the system and it can cause the engine to overheat, and probably the transmission fluid as well since it runs through the radiator. WHEN THE ENGINE IS COOL check the coolant level at the radiator cap. If the coolant isn't right at the top then you have a air pocket. There's a bleeder screw on the engine back behind where the top radiator hose connects. That's where you can evacuate the last bit of air. Do a search here on coolant system bleeding for more info. Edward has a good procedure write-up.
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Post by jkdv8 on Nov 1, 2018 22:54:46 GMT -5
To the OP my intention wasn't to alarm you with the firehazard but merely pointing out the importance of proper maintenance. Knowing a mechanic that is Mitsubishi certified or at the very least familiar with them is highly recommended. Also, if yours is a 97-99 they're not as picky about fluid type but the 00 and up 4x4's are. However, regardless of model year (or any car for that matter) if they're overfilled this scenario is possible. Welcome to the forum btw  |
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. I'm planning on taking a 4+ hour trip on December. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!
