Perhaps someone can help me understand what happened before I go to the GM Dealership tomorrow morning. Here is what happened so far. I had been driving on freeway for 50 miles doing about 65mph and it was about 90 degrees outside in NorCal. About 5 miles before my exit traffic had backed up and when i hit the brake, H3 pulled to the left which has never happened before. About a mile from my exit it started to feel like the transmission was slipping and after exiting and stopping to turn< it jerked forward when i accelerated but then drove fine until Iturned onto my street it jerked when accelerating along with a squeal noise. I parked it once i got home and popped the hood. First thing i noticed was that the radiator coolant reservoir
was completely full and had spray all over the passengerside suspension, wheel and lower half of the motor. It got hot and had no idea. I always pay attention to the temp gauge and it was at normal. I then started it back up and checked tranny fluid level and it barely registered. I shut it off and here i sit. I just turned 60,000 miles and i am out of warranty. I never even got a warning light or anything. Can anyone please enlighten me as to what happened and the outlook.

 

Your transmisson cooler failed. It is in the bottom of your radiator thus mixing the fluids. If your rig is a 2007 or newer, and depending on the in service date, GM may cover it under powertrain warranty. There are several threads on this. Do a search for additional information so you are a little more prepared when you go to the dealer. A radiator and transmission replacement are in your future. If not warranted, call GM and inquire about their Goodwill program. Good luck.

 

Thank you for your reply. I see nobody else read into my post but I will share my happy ending with you. I just got my H3 back from dealership. They replaced the Tranny and water pump on the PowerTrain Warranty. The dealership replaced the radiator on Goodwill Warranty. My cost was 567.00 for hoses including the heater hoses. They also picked up the costs of a rental vehicle for 7 days.

 

That is great news.

 

My radiator cracked on the top tank 4weeks ago I just got new oem radiator but reading this im kind freak out. So I just cut open the lower tank to see why is the reason for the oem radiator to fail.what I discover is kind of intresting oem automatic transmission rad. Is made of aluminum for what I can see is really well made maybe the reason for failure is: using the wrong mix. Of antifreeze since regular water will corrode aluminum. Other reason maybe when people buy an used car they dont know whats in it, last owner maybe put some cheap rad. But by looking this one look very well made ill post some pics when I get a chance. I would like to know if any body has an oem trans. Rad. Fail I dont want to have my tranny @#$$$&;%

 

Regular water corrode aluminum? I think not. If that was the case there would be a whole lotta aluminum boats in the bottom of lakes..

The most common reason for radiator failure is internal corrosion, which can have multiple causes. If the coolant is not changed regularly for preventive maintenance, the coolant can turn acidic and eat away the radiator from the inside out.

The corrosion inhibitors in conventional green antifreeze are gradually depleted over time, and the recommended coolant change interval has traditionally been every two years or 24,000 to 30,000 miles. The new long life orange and yellow OAT-based antifreeze formulas can typically go 5 years or 150,000 miles between changes.
Aluminum is more vulnerable to electrolytic corrosion than either copper/brass or cast iron because aluminum is a highly reactive metal. When the corrosion inhibitors in the coolant are depleted and the pH of the coolant drops to 7 or below, aluminum becomes a sacrificial anode and is eaten away.
Checking the pH of the coolant with chemically-treated test strips can help you determine if the coolant is overdue for a change. The alkalinity of a typical antifreeze/water mixture will vary depending on the additives in the antifreeze and the ratio of ingredients, but is usually somewhere between 8 and 11. The average for most antifreezes is around 10.5, but when diluted 50/50 with water and added to the cooling system the pH drops to the 8.5 to 9 range. Higher is not necessarily better, though, because some of the new long-life coolants have a pH of only 8.3.
ELECTROLYTIC CORROSION
A different type of corrosion can also occur in the cooling system even if the coolant is in good condition. Electrolytic corrosion can occur if the engine does not have a good electrical ground connection. Voltage from the charging system and ignition system will flow through the coolant to ground, creating eletrolosys corrosion that eats away at the metal components in the cooling system. This may eat pin holes into the radiator or heater core and cause coolant leaks. It can even eat away at the inside of rubber hoses and cause them to fail also.
This type of corrosion can sometimes be detected with a voltmeter. Place the positive test lead into the coolant, and touch the negative lead to battery negative terminal or body ground. If the voltmeter shows more than a few tenths of a volt, current is traveling through the coolant and may be attacking the cooling system. Check the engine ground straps for loose or corroded connections. If a ground strap is missing, replace it (or install an extra strap if one is not enough).
Just like changing the brake fluid in your vehicle due to excessive corrosion. fascar test strips are an awesome indicator to find the copper in you brake fluid...
Peventative Maintenance is the key!

 

boats are anodized

 

X2. Seems like this member likes to just cut and paste stuff he finds on wiki? Looked through some of his/her latest posts and they are pretty much all like that? Hmmmm........

 

Use the Google search some more and you'll find that the orange Dexcool often doesn't make it to 5 years. Turns to brown sludge. I take the safe route and change it every 2 years like any other antifreeze.

 

Sorry about that... Just thought I would share my 30+ years experience as an automotive master tech/service manager/manager/owner... Not wiki? I Have all kinds of resources including: mitchell on demand/alldata/identifix/carfax/tsbs/recalls/etc.....