Did I cook my Trans?

[SpThomass]

I’ll start off by saying I have a 2006 GMC Yukon denali XL, 6.0L LQ4, with a 4L60e trans.

Yesterday I upgraded my stocktrans cooler to a Trucool performance trans cooler, all went well and I thought I was set to drive it the next day for an event. Anyways, earlier my husband and I were driving to a friends party, and from what I can recall the whole event was about 30 or so seconds. I was coming around a bend and noticed smoke coming from Smoke coming from the front of the car, then from behind the car once my husband noticed it as well. I was on a busy parkway and couldn’t get over immediately but eventually I got over to the side of the road. I didn’t accelerate anymore after I noticed the smoke, and all-in-all the trans temp never went about 175.

It’s a lot of text I know, but after I got the car settled and the smoke stopped I checked the trans dipstick and it was basically dry.

I guess my questions are;
Did I cook my transmission?
Could this cause other issues?
What should my next move be?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[iamdub]

I’ll start off by saying I have a 2006 GMC Yukon denali XL, 6.0L LQ4, with a 4L60e trans.

Yesterday I upgraded my stocktrans cooler to a Trucool performance trans cooler, all went well and I thought I was set to drive it the next day for an event. Anyways, earlier my husband and I were driving to a friends party, and from what I can recall the whole event was about 30 or so seconds. I was coming around a bend and noticed smoke coming from Smoke coming from the front of the car, then from behind the car once my husband noticed it as well. I was on a busy parkway and couldn’t get over immediately but eventually I got over to the side of the road. I didn’t accelerate anymore after I noticed the smoke, and all-in-all the trans temp never went about 175.

It’s a lot of text I know, but after I got the car settled and the smoke stopped I checked the trans dipstick and it was basically dry.

I guess my questions are;
Did I cook my transmission?
Could this cause other issues?
What should my next move be?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

1) Find the leak

2) Repair the leak

3) Refill the trans

4) Send it.


I have a feeling you sprung a leak (missed a hose clamp?) and the fluid sprayed onto the exhaust pipe and burned. There's a decent chance the trans didn't operate completely dry, but with no pressure in the valve body, you won't have any gears.

Focusing on the positives, your undercarriage is now ready for winter if you live in a salted area.

 

[BG1988]

I’ll start off by saying I have a 2006 GMC Yukon denali XL, 6.0L LQ4, with a 4L60e trans.

Yesterday I upgraded my stocktrans cooler to a Trucool performance trans cooler, all went well and I thought I was set to drive it the next day for an event. Anyways, earlier my husband and I were driving to a friends party, and from what I can recall the whole event was about 30 or so seconds. I was coming around a bend and noticed smoke coming from Smoke coming from the front of the car, then from behind the car once my husband noticed it as well. I was on a busy parkway and couldn’t get over immediately but eventually I got over to the side of the road. I didn’t accelerate anymore after I noticed the smoke, and all-in-all the trans temp never went about 175.

It’s a lot of text I know, but after I got the car settled and the smoke stopped I checked the trans dipstick and it was basically dry.

I guess my questions are;
Did I cook my transmission?
Could this cause other issues?
What should my next move be?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

30 seconds it did not hurt anything

no I ran low on fluid in my old car it took about 100 miles before the clutches started slipping.

 

[Rocket Man]

I had basically the same thing happen. On of the cooler lines popped out of the quick connect on the side of the trans. I was on the freeway and immediately exited. I had it towed home, refilled it, and it was fine.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I had basically the same thing happen. On of the cooler lines popped out of the quick connect on the side of the trans. I was on the freeway and immediately exited. I had it towed home, refilled it, and it was fine.

Lol, same thing happened to me. Got it towed, repaired line, filled it--good to go.

 

[SnowDrifter]

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what was smoking.

Fluid dripping onto exhaust but no clutch slip? Meh.

Smoke from clutch slip and frying the things into oblivion? You poor bastard.


Inspect the fluid from the trans. If it smells burnt and horrid, start saving, fill it up to see if it even functions. If it works, it's roulette on how long. If it's just low, consider yourself lucky. Barring a teardown, about the only thing you can do is fix the leak, fill it up, and function test it.

 

[adventurenali92]

When we did the trans cooler upgrade to my 4L65E on my 2006, the lines leaked going into the trans cooler. We caught the leak before we even fired it up. The trans lines are kind of a pain in the ass to get them to properly secure into the ports on the cooler itself. Check those lines to make sure they are all intact.

 

[BG1988]

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what was smoking.

Fluid dripping onto exhaust but no clutch slip? Meh.

Smoke from clutch slip and frying the things into oblivion? You poor bastard.


Inspect the fluid from the trans. If it smells burnt and horrid, start saving, fill it up to see if it even functions. If it works, it's roulette on how long. If it's just low, consider yourself lucky. Barring a teardown, about the only thing you can do is fix the leak, fill it up, and function test it.

this happened to my grandpa car a oil line blew apart you should count one blessings that is did not catch fire
OIL EVERYWHERE in the engine bay very lucky it did not catch fire..


the car was fine and not damaged except for a oil line


on the 3800 engines there has been reports of fires even on the 5.3 with AFM (VLOM oil leakage)

 

[Rocket Man]

Any update @SpThomass ?