I am an imbecile - urgent advice required!

[Hibbo]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have excelled myself.
I have managed to pour a tin of Wynn's Stop Leak into my autobox!

I saw Wynn's Auto Transmission stuff on the shelf, had a read of the back of the tin and decided to give it a shot, but that tin was a bit manky so I grabbed the tin sat behind it. These ****** things all look the same to me!

I have just changed the ATF and filter on my w123, and added the Wynn's as I was pouring in the new ATF. I didn't notice the tin until I was tidying up - I could easily have not noticed at all.

The engine ran for no more than 2 minutes and the car was driven less than 20 yards.

My questions are;

Is this stuff bad for an autobox? Or is it pretty much the same as the auto treatment and will be fine in there?

I imagine it is pretty bad, as I am guessing it gums up to stop leaks, and as such may well do the same in the valve block and other intricate hydraulic bits in the gearbox.

Will the brief run have done any harm? If this stuff is bad news, does it need to be hot to start doing its stuff?

Should I; a) do nothing, b) change the ATF, c)drain and flush?

I need the car on Monday, so I would really appreciate some quick advice, so I can act on it tomorrow.

I am hoping to have a dozen replies from knowledgable people all saying 'this is fine, don't worry, it'll do your box good', but am realistic!

Yours embarrassedly,
Hibbo

 

[230ceBruno]

While I can comment about what impact it will have on your gearbox, I think if you you feel worried undo the sump nut and drain it out-- voila.

But I was wondering if it is good for engines, why not gearboxes? You may have set a precedent and opened the market for a new product. I call dibs on the patent

 

[marnix]

These are 2 web pages where you can contact them with your concerns.
Don't know if you'll get an answer before monday.
Or you can ask where you bought the product in the first place. Tell them about the wrong location of the product and try to shift the responsablility on them.
You'll never know, they may be sympathetic.

http://www.wynnswa.com.au/
http://www.wynns.be/

 

[panason1c]

My advice would be to drain the 'box and torque converter immediately, refill with new fluid, drive the car untill warm and then drain again and refill with fresh fluid........it might sound a bit 'ott' but you have a very expensive transmission fitted and it just isnt worth 'waiting' for any damage that this additive may cause to it...

I am sure that wynns technical dept will cover themselves by giving you exactly the same advice.


Were you having probs with your transmission prior to adding the wynns?..........why did you want to put an additive in in the first place?

 

[Stircrazy]

I can just imagine the response!

"Sell it!......

Quick."

LOTFLMAO

 

[Hibbo]

Good lord! That's what I call quick replies!

My initial instinct was to do as Panason1c says and do another couple of ATF changes. I was hoping that someone would say it would be fine!

Bruno, the reason I think it would be bad in an autobox, is that it would try to 'stop the leaks' through the valve block etc. However, as you say it may do some good, and fix the leaky clutch packs. I would be interested to learn how the two pruducts actually differ (leav stop / auto transmission additive). I think this box is goosed anyway, so am a wee bit tempted to leave it as it is and drive on and see what transpires.

Yes, I am having some problems with this box; 1) there is no kickdown, 2) it does not hold the gears longer under acceleration 3) it flares between 3-4. The old ATF was minging and smelt very burnt.
My knowlege of automatic gearboxes is lacking to say the least, I know people say that if the fluid smells burnt then the box is knacked and you need a new one. I am currently waiting for a vacuum gauge to turn up, then I will have a shot at setting the box up properly.
With regards to the lack of gear hold/kickdown, I cannot see a pressure control cable connected to the throttle linkage around the cam cover and injection pump. There is a bowden cable atached, but this is atatched such that it pulls on the linkage (the linkage tries to push this cable when you throttle up). Is this the pressure control cable incorrectly atached, or is it the idle adjustment cable, controlled from the knob by the ignition key?
If anyone can post a picture or point me to a good diagram of the setup on a w123 diesel auto I would be most greatful.

I will certainly not be selling it, took me ages to find a w123 that wasn't rotten! Will be selling the 190 soon though...

 

[Hibbo]

Baals to it!

I have thought about it, read the spec sheets and have decided to leave it in there.

They both claim to 'condition and gently swell rubber seals', so that can only be good for the box. The Leak Stop is a lot more viscous than the ATF treatment, but given that I think the box may well be dead anyway, I'm prepared to take a step into the unkown and see what happens. I am not an imbecile, I'm a pioneer!

 

[panason1c]

LOL (-: ....Good luck.....Taking all you've said into account - i think i would now leave it in there as well.

 

[Hibbo]

From whence it came

I was back in the shop where I bought it from, let's refer to it as 'Fraudhals', and I looked at the shelf where I bought it from. They were sat in a line, one behind the other, ATF treatment, Engine leak stop, ATF stuff, engine stuff....!
I couldn't believe it! I called the sales kid over who then got the manager. He said that people often move stuff round and they can't be responsible for where stuff is on the shelves. I accept this to a degree, but find it extremely unlikely that the tins would end up ATF/engine/atf/engine etc by people putting them back on the wrong shelf. He agreed to refund the fiver for the stuff, but that was it.

I may write to their customer service dept explaining what has happened and how I've had to have my car trailered to the garage and pay them to drain, flush and refill the box - a bit of an expansion on the truth (well, complete fabrication really!) - and see what they say. If you don't ask you don't get!

 

[Parrot of Doom]

I'd empty the box and refill it. Its not worth taking a chance. To my mind, its like filling your diesel fuel tank with used engine oil - it would run, but wouldn't do the engine any good whatsoever.

 

[Rory]

He agreed to refund the fiver for the stuff, but that was it.

Maybe he's admitted liability by giving you your money back?

If they refund the repair cost, then great. But I doubt it's worth pursuing further - a court may say you should have exercised more care yourself.

 

[TimN]

I suspect that the Wynns product works on high pressure/high temporature/exposure to air. If you have run for only a few seconds then you will not have met any of those criteria. Best get it out and the do a system flush.

 

[Hibbo]

http://www.wynns.uk.com/contextra/documents/Engine Stop Leak.pdf

http://www.wynns.uk.com/contextra/documents/AutoMatic Transmission.pdf

The two products do sound remarkably similar, and as such I don't think the engine leak stop will harm my box.
My initial concern was that the engine leak stop worked by 'gumming up' and thus plugging any leaks, and this would therefore clog intricate parts of the gearbox up. It is now clear that it does not work in this way, it simply acts upon the seals. This can surely not be to the detriment of the gearbox?

As I have previously stated, I am half-resigned to the fact that I may well have to shell out up to £150 on a replacement box, so am not overly concerned. If I'd poured it into a 2 year old S-class then I think i would still be flushing it now!

 

[Hibbo]

I have just leafed through the datasheets for both products
http://www.wynns.uk.com/contextra/Documents/Engine Stop Leak 50664.pdf
http://www.wynns.uk.com/contextra/D...d Power Steering Stop Leak and Conditione.pdf

and it is clear that the Engine leak stop is purely a seal conditioner and has no effect on oil characteristics or performance. It also appears that the main active ingredient in the Engine stuff is exactly the same as in the ATF stuff (1,2-benzenedicarboxylix acid,di-C6-8-branched alkyl esters (C7 rich, obviously) off the top of my head), the main difference between the products is that the ATF stuff has loads more stuff in it. I must stop using the word 'stuff' so much. (Wonder if Wynn's do Stuff Stop stuff?)

The 300D is off the road at the mo whilst i get it ready for its MOT (got to drill out what's left of a stupid stud/very siezed bolt from the ****** trailing arm so I can bolt the stupid damper back on) but I will report back with how the gearbox performs after a good few hundred miles.

 

[bibamus]

The Wynns stop leak does indeed swell and soften rubber components.
I used it in an early Jag XJ6 ( 2.8 ) to try and stop a seal leak around the timing chain cover. It didnt stop the leak ( it was a fibre gasket,) but it did soften the new rubber on the new timing chain tensioner and it all wore away in a few hundred miles leaving a loose flappy timing chain. I had to strip it all down, fitted a new tensioner and new gaskets, so, in a way, I suppose, by using that product, my leak was eventually cured!!!

Allan

 

[rio678]

The Wynns stop leak does indeed swell and soften rubber components.
I used it in an early Jag XJ6 ( 2.8 ) to try and stop a seal leak around the timing chain cover. It didnt stop the leak ( it was a fibre gasket,) but it did soften the new rubber on the new timing chain tensioner and it all wore away in a few hundred miles leaving a loose flappy timing chain. I had to strip it all down, fitted a new tensioner and new gaskets, so, in a way, I suppose, by using that product, my leak was eventually cured!!!

Allan

LOL in a expensive sense :|

 

[steve kane]

Well Hibbo its been about 3 months now, hows the gearbox? Im hopeing your going to say its flying along,,better than ever,,,
Steve.

 

[Hibbo]

3 months and a couple of thousand miles later...

The box is ace!

Really. It changes on full throttle up hill without the slightest hint of slipping or flaring. The box is superb!

This is all true, however it is down to my fixing of the vacuum system. It turned out that the proportioning valve on the side of the IP was worn and as result wasn't dumping enough vacuum. I took it off, drilled the rivets out and took the backlash out of the spring in it. Gearbox is now spot on!
I may write a full how-to guide (I took some pics too) if it may prove useful - and if someone can 'host' it somehow and post links to it.

A vacuum gauge is a must if you own an old Merc.


I don't think that leak stop stuff has had any really effect on the box, one way or the other.

I will say that the colour and smell of the ATF in the box was unbelievable - absolutely minging. Most people would say that that immediately means 'your box has self destructed - you definately need a new one'. This is clearly not always the case. Burnt fluid merely means something has been slipping, it doesn't necessarily mean that some hing is slipping BECAUSE the box is knackered.


Just got to sort the rust hole under the rear screen where I put a glowplug through it whilst showing my mate that the rust patch "wasn't that bad" :Oops: