Well, I went and killed my transmission. I found myself nose downward on a steep track that was becoming impassable, chickened out, put it in reverse, and could only spin the wheels on the loose rock. I thought I was not spinning the wheels too much in my attempts to rock the vehicle free, but I obviously overdid it. ATF blew out through the dipstick hole into the engine compartment, and now that the car has been towed out, reverse does not work. 1st gear does work, at least for the couple of yards I tried it.
The fluid remaining in the transmission is red and not burnt smelling. I don´t dare drop the pan to look for stuff inside: no one here really knows anything about automatic transmissions and I don´t want somebody with more enthusiasm than knowledge (like myself) making a bad problem worse.
The truck is an 1983 Suburban Silverado, 6.2 diesel. Transmission is automatic overdrive, but no one here can identify the model. It´s 4x4, but it came without a front drive shaft which I never replaced so I only had rear wheel drive to get me unstuck -- stupid.
Now I need advice, and since where I live automatic transmissions are rare I don´t trust the local advice I´m getting. My options seem to be:
- Send the transmission to a transmission shop (a day´s bus ride from here) and see what they say. Not a recommended shop, mind you -- merely one of the few there are in the country. I am leaning toward this option.
- Consider the transmission dead and start searching the junkyards for a replacement automatic transmission. That´s going to be tough: Chevys are rere here, and automatic transmissions on anything is rare, too.
- Consider myself in manual transmission country, and start scouring the junkyards for a manual transmission and whatever it takes to adapt it to my truck, so that the next time I have tranny trouble a local shop can take care of it.
Any thoughts? I´m out of my league here and don´t want to compound my original mistake by choosing unwisely now.
TIA, Warren Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras