How Much Damage???

On my way home from the girlfriends place after valentines day, i accelerated from a stop light, and the vehicle was all of a sudden having a hard time shifting, staying in 2nd gear. once she warmed up a little more, it would drop to 3, but only if i accelerated slowly.

Anyways, turns out i blew a line on my aux. tranny cooler. Drove a couple Km's this way, but when i was cruising, it wasn't slipping out of gear or anything, i just babied it home and when i took a look to see what i had done, turns out i blew a line. its around -35'C tonight, so i dont see the tranny overheating with lack of fluid. i know it didn't run dry b/c it was still dripping in the driveway when i got home.

Any guesses on how much damage was done?

my hopes are that there was enough fluid in there to keep things lubricated, and didn't overheat. i didn't smell any burning, which is a good sign. The O/D light didn't start flashing until the last Km.

95 LX 3.8L
93k on reman. motor

My bet is you are OK. I've had an Escort tranny dump after I installed a cork gasket iimproperly ... my daughter is still driving car many miles later.

Driving a tranny with low fluid is not good. But "dumping suddenly" causes the pump to quickly cavitate and the tranny to shut down before much damage can take place.