Shortly after i left my house, my car started smoking really bad. I pulled over and i was leaking fluid. Once my car cooled off, I checked under the radiator cap and the fluid was a milky brown color. I checked my oil and it‘s full so i‘m pretty sure it wasn‘t oil in my radiator fluid. Later I started my car up so i could try to move it, but the transmission struggled to shift out of neutral. I checked my transmission fluid and it was low, so it led me to believe it was transmission fluid that leaked into my coolant. If it helps any, i have a 2004 Dodge Neon with an automatic transmission. What would cause this!?
Ruptured transmission cooler tank on the side of the radiator. You need a new radiator and change the trans fluid and filter.
change the radiator. there,s a transmission fluid cooler in it and the cooler has a hole in it, mixing the coolant with the transmission fluid. once you change the radiator you should drop the transmission pan, clean it up and change the fluid and filter.
The transmission cooler inside the radiator could have ruptured. You need to get the cooling system and the transmission fluid flushed immediately before anymore damage is done. Oh and replace the radiator too since thats the only way to fix that properly, or you can go buy an aftermarket external trans cooler and reroute the cooler lines to that. that might be a cheaper, and more effective alternative especially since the patient car is a dodge neon.
