H-E-E-L-L-P!!! BLOWN STICK TRANNY ON 4x4!!!!

Francesca Knowles wrote:
Please don't laugh when I tell you it's a Kia Sportage 5 speed 4x4- the trailer it's intended to tow weighs less than 2,000 pounds, and
I've towed with its virtual twin over 60,000 trouble-free miles!

We bought the "new" one Saturday, Hubby drove it home the two hundred miles, and the next time we tried to drive it the transmission was GONE. It seemed to shift through the gears all right, including in and out of 4x4, but as soon as I let out the clutch to go- boy howdy! Crashin' and bangin'! Pushed 'er into the shop and finally discovered that- get this- there was no fluid in the transmission due to a missing drain plug. Nothin' much comin' out now but metal filings- dunno how she even made it home...

Anyway, dealer's being pretty good- looks like he'll make the tranny part right, but my question is:

What damage besides the transmission itself might have been caused at the same time? Would damage be confined to the tranny itself, or could other components have been affected, too?

Please advise asap- we're trying to decide whether to fix-or-force-feed-back.

If you want your replacement to last any time any cooling components that had tranny fluid flowing thru them need to be replaced ... flushing just isn't going to do it and your new tranny will be lucky to make it to 30K miles before grenading again. The dealer will insist that flushing is sufficient, but IMO that's simply not true.

Larry