We have an 86 Sunrader. I have owned her for almost 3 years and the last 2 weekends are the only trips the Wife and I have made in her. Loaned it to my son right after I got her and he blew the HG, so she has sat for awhile. I have many other questions that i will post in the proper threads later.
Ok so trip one. We drove about 65 miles through part of the Mark Twain NF across winding roads with ever changing grades. She had some troubles on the ups (Maybe 500 - 600 feet accents) doing maybe 20MPH with passing gear kicked in. I noticed the temp gauge never reached half way (I think it may need attention) but we started smelling something. When we finally saw a service station we pulled in. checked under the hood and radiator fluid was fine, oil was 1/2 QT low (added) and tranmission fluid was fine but dark and smelled burnt. Also it appears the fuel gauge need attention as it showed 1/2 full, i put in less than 5 gallons and it was full. Fuel gauge still read 1/2. We were only 5 miles from our destination of Meremac Caverns so we went on down and parked her. On the way home we decided to take a more level route. On acceleration from a stop, she would "Chatter" really bad until she was rolling and then ran fine. Got her back to the drive way and she did not make it all the way up before smoke strated pouring out.
Changed the tans fluid and filer, replaced with synthetic.
Second Trip. We decided to go nat as far but again we have to go through the mountains. (Yes I know the Ozark Mountains and not that big) This time she was tooling along up the grades without much difficulty. We even hit the highest point in MO at 1700 ft. On the way to the campground, she started the "Chattering" again from a stop. I checked the fluid and it looked fine this time. She rested a couple days and we started our trip home. Well when i put her in reversed to leave the site, she hesitated, no the engine, the trans. Gave her some gas and she started rolling. Same thing from every stop. Going back up the grades we started smelling the trans fluid again, so this time i stopped for a while to let her cool. 2 stops later i put her in gear and she was slipping really bad. i could only muster 35 MPH before the engine would rev and no more power tranfer. I looked back to see a line of cars way back because of smoke pouring out. Pulled into a station that was closed but they had a hose. I hosed down the trasmission radiator for a while and then felt it. It was cool to the touch. Got underneath and hosed off the transmission, she cooled down. Got back in and started for home, 15 miles or so. Still slipping. Oh and now no Speedo. Got her home and parked her.
While this is a long drawn out story, my question is: Could the ports to the radiator be clogged and no fluid getting in? If so how can I check to see if there is fluid passing trough? If it is working, what else can i do to try to remedy this?
Thanks
Dan