Even when foamy, transmission fluid is red, and reverts back to just a red spot when given enough time. For it to be "strawberry milk’ it has to have liquid in it.
I saw a car (not a Cougar) where someone accidentally hooked a windshield washer fluid hose to the transmission vent, and created a situation. It, too, had pink foam. But that’s not at all exclusive to windshield washer fluid.
I find myself wondering if someone tried to ‘fill’ something on your car but got the transmission dipstick by accident (or worse, on purpose?)
So… I installed the transmission cooler and was getting ready to flush. As I was adding the 6th qt it started to leak from here, above the neutral safety switch, looks like somewhere near where the shifter linkage mates with the transmission:
Looks like it’s coming out the vent which is above that area. Another question not meant to insult, but I’m assuming you’re adding fluid and checking with engine running? That’s the only way to fill the converter since I know you drained it…
No offense at all @EliminatorClone . Yeah, I thought it would be the vent after digging further.
What I ended up doing was ran it and flushed the transmission (let it pour out the hot line as I poured several quarts in fresh until I saw cherry red fluid). Then I connected the new transmission cooler. I checked the level when up to temperature at idle.
For good measure I put it into drive and reverse while I held the brake, When I checked the level then to try and top it off… I weirdly did not see a fluid level register on the trans dipstick. I picked up some more type F fluid tonite and will idle again until hot and see if I can’t get it to register on the dipstick. No leaks btw this go around after all of the above. It’s possible that the dipstick I have is the wrong dipstick for the transmission but I can’t see it being that far off. Hoping she’s just still low.
The trans probably holds 9-10 quarts total. Depending on how much you flushed through, you’ll probably have to add more to get it up to level. As long as the pump can draw in some fluid, the trans may still have engagement with the fluid below the stick.
If your question about external cooler wasn’t answered earlier. Yes, you can run it like that permanently…as long as the cooler is of sufficient size.
Thanks @9F91H581221 for your guidance and reply. I thought I was going crazy when trying to get it to register on the dipstick as I wondered ‘what did I do wrong?’. I idled it yesterday for about 20 minutes and topped it off. It might be just a smidge over but, it sure felt nice to see fluid on the dipstick.
