90 240 drriven ~ 1,000 miles with almost no oil in tranny - what kind of damage should I expect?

Just bought a '90 240 w/ 90,000 miles. Last 1,000 miles, the tranny
was leaking and it looks like there was practically no oil in it.
When driven, sometimes gears slide. Got better after I added a bit of
oil. Will take to garage tomorrow to check for leaks and add oil.

What I would like to know is: should I expect short/long term damage?
After oil has been propely added, will the tranny stay the same or get
worse? What's the most likely scenario.

Thanks.

 

Is this auto or manual? Usually the torque converter will start slipping
badly before an auto is too far out of fluid. With a manual, once they
have been damaged, they usually deteriorate pretty quickly. Wouldn't
hurt to fill it up with the proper amount of fluid and try driving it,
but there's a good chance you'll be looking for a replacement
transmission or rebuild.

 

auto

It did slip, but nothing too dramatic. So I might be "ok"...?

Should it remain the way it will be after all the oil is added? Or
should I expect deterioration from that point on?

 

Powerflush it.

 

How low was it? It holds something like 11 quarts of fluid. There's no
way to tell really, but when my mom's 240 was auto, a cracked cooling
line drained enough fluid that it started acting up and it went another
100K once I fixed that so you might come out fine.

 

When you (OP) filled it, how much did it take? That will tell you how
low you ran it...
Cold start, first stop or speed bump, my '83 (250k miles) will 'come out
of gear' when about a quart low. Still plenty of fluid in the system.
On a hot day, no slip at all when a quart low.
....guess it's time to change the rear seal.

 

Did you check it after it warmed up with motor running, how low was
it.

 

Thanks for all your replies, the car spent more than a day in an
independent garage (cheap...). Few things to do...

For now, it looks like everything is fine. Apparently there was about
4-6 quarts left. I test drove the car on highway (no police...) up to
90 mph and it runs perfect (for now anyway). No slipping at any speed
or under any type of acceleration.

The original owner did his engine oil change at Costco. And last
September, the guy at Costco wrote a note on the invoice that "Trans
is leaking have it checked". Unfortunately, original owner did not
read invoice. Also, two months later, he went to a Volvo dealer, but
the dealer didn't say anything about it... And one more, a month ago
he went to an "Oil Changer" outfit and asked if tranny oil was low.
The woman pulls the stick, have a look at it and says everything is
fine...

The car drives like a bomb. I use complete treatment fuel system to
remove some junk in the engine. The car was switched to synthetic at
70,000 miles in 1999 (10 yr old). Minor leak in upper engine seal.

On a fun note, during the 20 years of ownership, he NEVER changed the
power steering fluid. I asked to have it changed and it came out
black.

 

Auto transmission leaks are fairly common on those, the cooling lines
crack where they bolt to the frame under the car.

I think most people never change their power steering fluid. I've
changed mine once, but it isn't something that tends to get done in the
life of a car.

 

I'm not too "mechanical" myself, but the mechanic wrote:

"replaced rear transmission sleeve and seal"

Hope it helps.

 

That's the other common problem, the output shaft bushing wears and the
slop in the shaft causes the seal to leak.