Small amount of water accidentally poured into the automatic transmission

sebastian323 · 01-14-2021, 04:00 PM

Yesterday, I was filling the automatic transmission (4EAT) in the Subaru Outback 2001 . I was pouring in a last small bottle of ATF and it seems to have had some water in it. (maybe left in the rain uncapped) About 1/10th of a quart of water was poured into the car transmission . What should I do ? would the water boil off during operation ? I am considering draining the fluid, inspecting for water, removing the part that has water, and pouring it back in.

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JP Chestnut · 01-14-2021, 04:06 PM

That seems like a bad deal. Any way you can siphon out from the top of the transmission? The water will just be sitting there.

blurred · 01-14-2021, 04:37 PM

Dbl post

blurred · 01-14-2021, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sebastian323

Yesterday, I was filling the automatic transmission (4EAT) in the Subaru Outback 2001 . I was pouring in a last small bottle of ATF and it seems to have had some water in it. (maybe left in the rain uncapped) About 1/10th of a quart of water was poured into the car transmission . What should I do ? would the water boil off during operation ? I am considering draining the fluid, inspecting for water, removing the part that has water, and pouring it back in.

Don't run the car, drain and refill with fresh fluid, and possibly do that twice. You do not want to run the car with water in the transmission.

sebastian323 · 01-15-2021, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blurred

Don't run the car, drain and refill with fresh fluid, and possibly do that twice. You do not want to run the car with water in the transmission.

I drained the fluid and replaced. I did not find any water in the fluid, so the amount of water may not have been very big or it is hiding in a corner or may have unfortunately been absorbed by the clutches.

Here are some other answers I got to this question when posted on a Subaru facebook group (posting here so people can find it when they search on google)
"If you didn't run it, drain it and don't worry. If you did run it, drain it and do a 3-cycle flush."
"Let it sit as the water will settle in the pan, then drain it out till its atf again and top off and go"
"Just drain and refill and change the filter."
"ATF is extremely hydrophobic. When mixed with oil and a plastic safe solvent it makes a great additive to a home made Cleaner Lubricant Protectant. "

01-14-2021, 04:00 PM	#1
sebastian323 Scooby Newbie Member#: 510671 Join Date: Jan 2020 Chapter/Region: SCIC Location: California Vehicle: 2006 WRX Gray	Small amount of water accidentally poured into the automatic transmission Yesterday, I was filling the automatic transmission (4EAT) in the Subaru Outback 2001 . I was pouring in a last small bottle of ATF and it seems to have had some water in it. (maybe left in the rain uncapped) About 1/10th of a quart of water was poured into the car transmission . What should I do ? would the water boil off during operation ? I am considering draining the fluid, inspecting for water, removing the part that has water, and pouring it back in. * Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

01-14-2021, 04:37 PM	#3
blurred Scooby Newbie Member#: 47143 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Toronto	Dbl post Last edited by blurred; 01-14-2021 at 07:23 PM.

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01-14-2021, 04:06 PM	#2
JP Chestnut Scooby Specialist Member#: 504432 Join Date: Jul 2019 Chapter/Region: Tri-State	That seems like a bad deal. Any way you can siphon out from the top of the transmission? The water will just be sitting there.