Help! Car just overheated and started smoking... red fluid all over engine compartment...

[geargarcon]

Luckily you'll probably get out of this with minimal cost and without hopefully without damage. If it's just a ruptured transmission cooling line and you didn't spend too much time trying to drive without transmission fluid, you should just need the line replaced and the transmission filled. Hopefully no drama!

Thanks for the encouragement. I’m praying it wasn’t too long. I haven’t had any evidence of leaking in my driveway. I left this morning on a 22 mile drive. I thought I noticed some smoke out the back with about 5 miles left, but I couldn’t tell so I tried to wash my back window and it still wasn’t clear if it was smoke and I was almost to my destination. Didn’t drive more than a few hundred yards once I felt the car performance was strange.

praying no real damage was done......

 

[AlpineAccess]

Thanks for the encouragement. I’m praying it wasn’t too long. I haven’t had any evidence of leaking in my driveway. I left this morning on a 22 mile drive. I thought I noticed some smoke out the back with about 5 miles left, but I couldn’t tell so I tried to wash my back window and it still wasn’t clear if it was smoke and I was almost to my destination. Didn’t drive more than a few hundred yards once I felt the car performance was strange.

praying no real damage was done......

The temp light may have been the AT temp light warning trans temp was above normal.

In general, low fluid will prevent torque converter engagement. Trans will start slipping or gears won't engage - trans won't shift.

Most of the time topping fluid up restores full function.

 

[geargarcon]

Oh no! So sorry to see this... bummer to miss the trip though, dang it. Looks like you're close to the leak though hopefully it's not too serious in the end.

thanks. Yeah, after all that effort getting the rack finished and installed before the trip, it doesn’t look like this rig is going anywhere next week. Though it will look really good sitting there in the parking lot of the garage I had it towed to...

 

[geargarcon]

The temp light may have been the AT temp light warning trans temp was above normal.

In general, low fluid will prevent torque converter engagement. Trans will start slipping or gears won't engage - trans won't shift.

Most of the time topping fluid up restores full function.

Man keep all of the good news coming!!!!


It may have been the AT temp light theat came on, it was so fast and brief and I was so busy risk assessing where I was in the road and the traffic around me I cant be sure

 

[AlpineAccess]

Man keep all of the good news coming!!!!


It may have been the AT temp light theat came on, it was so fast and brief and I was so busy risk assessing where I was in the road and the traffic around me I cant be sure

Well, if it helps - the trans on these things are stupid durable and can take major abuse. There have been people run them low on fluid over long durations, experience slipping, etc. And keep driving. When they solve the leak and exchange fluid the trans is back in spec.

It could just as easily been your power steering lines blowing fluid but you'll know soon enough. If power steering it's a relatively simple system

With the amount of miles and years on 100s now it's probably a good lesson to us all to inspect any older lines for cracking/drying or abrasion.

 

[geargarcon]

Well, if it helps - the trans on these things are stupid durable and can take major abuse. There have been people run them low on fluid over long durations, experience slipping, etc. And keep driving. When they solve the leak and exchange fluid the trans is back in spec.

It could just as easily been your power steering lines blowing fluid but you'll know soon enough. If power steering it's a relatively simple system

With the amount of miles and years on 100s now it's probably a good lesson to us all to inspect any older lines for cracking/drying or abrasion.

thanks again. Yeah, I will know for sure on Monday once the shop reopens. I’m just learning how to work on these things myself so I still have a lot to learn.

my biggest gripe in all of this is that I just took it in to Christian Brothers Automotive to have them conduct a check up and preventative inspection. In the past I have been very happy with their service, I haven’t had them “miss” anything before and they don’t push service that isnt needed. The guys I normally deal with have old Toyota’s and get what makes these things great.

This time they had some new guy there who felt more like a pushy car salesman who said “well based on the miles on your car you should replace these 12 things...”. It was the first bad experience I’ve had. And then to have something like this happen less than 30 miles after getting it back from them it makes me wonder if they missed something they should have caught or caused something (assuming unintentionally) in their inspection.

 

[AlpineAccess]

thanks again. Yeah, I will know for sure on Monday once the shop reopens. I’m just learning how to work on these things myself so I still have a lot to learn.

my biggest gripe in all of this is that I just took it in to Christian Brothers Automotive to have them conduct a check up and preventative inspection. In the past I have been very happy with their service, I haven’t had them “miss” anything before and they don’t push service that isnt needed. The guys I normally deal with have old Toyota’s and get what makes these things great.

This time they had some new guy there who felt more like a pushy car salesman who said “well based on the miles on your car you should replace these 12 things...”. It was the first bad experience I’ve had. And then to have something like this happen less than 30 miles after getting it back from them it makes me wonder if they missed something they should have caught or caused something (assuming unintentionally) in their inspection.

Probably nothing to do with their work, just an odd experience with a go getter who wanted to sell some extra service.

These kind of things can happen, rubber gets old and failures occur. A lot of us have taken to replacing hoses as preventative maintenance now that our vehicles are 20+ years old.

Hopefully the tow was cheap. I'd count on whatever failed to be pretty reasonable to repair or at least able to be done diy if more expensive.

Network with your local Toyota 4x4 club and you'll have some helpers come out of the woodwork. Today they will help you and tomorrow you'll know more and can help one of them.

 

[gungriffin]

Could be it...

leak at the very front of the car and see a leak at the base of that line

View attachment 2375610

View attachment 2375611

This likely indicates that it is something with the transmission cooler that is above this. The line that you took a photo of with the drips is an AC line. I know because that is the exact AC line that failed on me from doing a body lift (It rubbed against the frame cross member just above it and failed). I believe that the oil in the AC system is usually clear too.

 

[skyblue]

well AAA on the way. I put on the gas out of a stop light and it didn’t respond well, I could decide if I was imagining it... then gave it some gas and little to no response. The engine temp light came on. Pulled over immediately, started smelling smoke, opened the hood and saw smoke come out. Car then proceeded to dump fluid all over the ground once I pulled over.


The odd thing is all of this happened right after I washed the back windshield, I walked back there and there is red fluid back there too....

I just took it in for a check up last week..... curious if something wasn’t put back together right.......

hoping this doesn’t end up being a major expense....

This happened to me tonight on the way home from the lake...
Rolled thru a green light and gave it gas.. Acted like it was in neutral for a second and then 'bam!' it engaged... I had been using the gears to hold back coming down a hill. Tried shifting thru the gears and they all felt "soft" or neutral. Couple hundred more yards and we could smell hot oil. Pulled off and shut off the engine... Oil everywhere. (and I mean totally everywhere) I immediately thought transmission but the weird thing was the oil has more of a brownish engine oil look.. Definitely not red. (haven't owned very long) Any ideas? I just had the engine oil changed a few days ago by my local shop..



Got a tow back to the house... Just researching the possible issues now..

 

[AlpineAccess]

This happened to me tonight on the way home from the lake...
Rolled thru a green light and gave it gas.. Acted like it was in neutral for a second and then 'bam!' it engaged... I had been using the gears to hold back coming down a hill. Tried shifting thru the gears and they all felt "soft" or neutral. Couple hundred more yards and we could smell hot oil. Pulled off and shut off the engine... Oil everywhere. (and I mean totally everywhere) I immediately thought transmission but the weird thing was the oil has more of a brownish engine oil look.. Definitely not red. (haven't owned very long) Any ideas? I just had the engine oil changed a few days ago by my local shop..



Got a tow back to the house... Just researching the possible issues now..

This sounds like a similar problem but Id start your own thread to not have things get lost between two separate owners and vehicles.

Remove skid plates and crawl all over and unded it with a flashlight looking for the leaks source. Find some of the leaking fluid and put it on a clean, white paper towel. Take pictures of the leak you find, and of the paper towel with fluid on it.

Turn engine on and pull codes with a cheap code reader.

Post maintenance history of fluid changes as well.

 

[Eyedaho]

This happened to me tonight on the way home from the lake...
Rolled thru a green light and gave it gas.. Acted like it was in neutral for a second and then 'bam!' it engaged... I had been using the gears to hold back coming down a hill. Tried shifting thru the gears and they all felt "soft" or neutral. Couple hundred more yards and we could smell hot oil. Pulled off and shut off the engine... Oil everywhere. (and I mean totally everywhere) I immediately thought transmission but the weird thing was the oil has more of a brownish engine oil look.. Definitely not red. (haven't owned very long) Any ideas? I just had the engine oil changed a few days ago by my local shop..



Got a tow back to the house... Just researching the possible issues now..

Check your dipsticks. The one that shows empty will likely be your source for the fluid on the ground.

 

[skyblue]

Thanks...
Engine oil dipstick looks good.
No transmission oil dipstick after March '04 (sealed tranny) but I'm very confident this is transmission fluid. Hopefully just a blown line or something simple..

Original symptoms were very similar to what @geargarcon described.

What a mess...

 

[geargarcon]

it was the coolant line! replacing that, degreasing the engine which is covered in atf, and topping off the ATF fluid. Should have this thing back on the road again very shortly!

 

[JunkCrzr89]

it was the coolant line! replacing that, degreasing the engine which is covered in atf, and topping off the ATF fluid. Should have this thing back on the road again very shortly!

Coolant hoses do not carry ATF

Also, what caused the transmission cooler hose (not coolant hose) to bust and spray atf everywhere? If they don’t find the cause, then you’ll encounter the same issue sooner rather than later...

 

[geargarcon]

Coolant hoses do not carry ATF

Also, what caused the transmission cooler hose (not coolant hose) to bust and spray atf everywhere? If they don’t find the cause, then you’ll encounter the same issue sooner rather than later...

Yes, it was the "cooler hose". I appreciate these are two different things.

I'll make sure to ask if they can identify why this happened.

Thanks for your help on this.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Yes, it was the "cooler hose". I appreciate these are two different things.

I'll make sure to ask if they can identify why this happened.

Thanks for your help on this.

Also, do make sure that they fill your transmission up to spec using the Toyota FSM and fill procedure. The number of these things that get overfilled is quite high.

 

[geargarcon]

Also, do make sure that they fill your transmission up to spec using the Toyota FSM and fill procedure. The number of these things that get overfilled is quite high.

Great! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Eyedaho]

Great! Thanks for the heads up.

On those newer transmissions without dipsticks, they basically overfill it, run it until it reaches a certain operating temperature per the FSM, it overflows out the fill hole as the fluid expands with the heat, and when it's done overflowing at the correct temperature, the right amount of fluid is left in the system. Just so you know basically what they should be doing...

 

[medtro]

Great! Thanks for the heads up.

There is a tranny dip stick in your 2003 LX470. 2003 is the best year!

 

[gray rider]

Maybe I'm the third victim in this thread of similar jettison of ATF fluid and I hope I'm not hijacking the thread but my deal today was SO similar:
1) felt the tranny slip under power at 45 mph.
2) coincidentally I had just missed a turn and pulled off to turn around
3) tried to throttle up and felt high revs but limited forward movement
4) limped her around the parking lot and shut her down
5) tranny fluid everywhere under vehicle and in engine compartment. Tranny dip stick showed no fluid, none.
6) will tow her in tomorrow for diagnostics

Curiously, I had the radiator and coolant hoses replaced by "new to me" shop, 3 days ago......