Hello fellow Org members. I recently punctured a whole in the transmission pan. I was at a car wash and the pan hit the rail that guides the car through the wash. I did not know this though until I went to Pep Boys to purchase some misc items. The car wash and Pep Bpys must have been not even 5 minutes away. After I walked out of Pep Boys and started my car, I noticed that the car wasnt engaging in any of the gears. No reverse no drive, nothing. it did move forward a little in Neutral. It is an automatic. I looked under the car to see a stream of tranny fluid leak from under the car. I didnt know that I had punctured a hole at the time until they rolled it in and inspected the car.

SO, my question is, do you think I damaged the transmission changing gears? I did not hear any grinding noise or metal noises before or after PepBoys. I did notice that when changing into drive, the RPMs moved verrry slightly , not much. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

I think u'll be ok, the good thing is the low fluid didnt let u drive it.

 

I'd guess its fine as well.....unless you spent a good amount of time messing with it and trying to get it to go once you came out from Pepboys. Good amount of time? Not sure, more than 2-5 minutes I'd guess. Anything more and some damage is likely. The extent is anyone's guess and would partially be connected to the overall condition of the transmission to start with.

You know, this is one time I might actually suggest a tranny flush. If the pan was punctured and shavings/debris got circulated in the fluid.....

I think if you drop the pan and hammer the dent where the puncture occured, and it looked like it was a clean tear....then don't do a flush. If it looks like there is a portion of the pan missing, however small, and it not immediately seen in the pan once removed.....then you might want to speak with the mechanic on his thought regarding flushing the tranny.

 

Thanks for your replies, I am somewhat relieved now. To answer some of your questions, the hole is about the length of a penny and maybe as wide as two pennies. It's really not that big. So I feel like if any metal parts wear torn off, it probably would have leaked out by now. And I might have tried for maybe 1-2 minutes? turning off the car and starting it again. I was having one of those wtf moments so it felt like an eternity sitting there. They are actually replacing the pan and gasket tomorrow morning for $243 minus the parts. I pray to God that it will run fine

 

Let us know the outcome.

 

You just got ripped off. It will take them 15 mins to replace the pan.

 

Your saving grace is probably the fact that you probably have a few litres in your torq converter so even withe the amount of fluid lost in the car wash, you still have a few litres left in the tranny. Hope it goes well for you...

 

I would have dropped the pan myself but it was already there and immobile. Towing it would have been what $100? Parts $68 plus $50 worth of fluid and working in this heat just wasn't worth it. But if it was in my driveway, hell yeah I would have done it.

But with all that being said, the pan was replaced and it drives 100% !! I had the tech show me the old pan and there were no metal shavings on the pans magnets. So for me, that's a beautiful sign that this trans is still in good condition. Thanks for everyone's feedback!

 

Oh and PS I was able to find a 10% coupon on my phone while waiting in line to pay. WOOO!