Just got a 15-passenger van. It's a 1993 with a 5.8L V-8. We needed something bigger because we got some foster kids, and we've had good experiences with our Ford minivan.

We knew there would be some issues with an older vehicle. I'm just trying to track down a few of them so I can get them fixed:

1. Found oil all over the bottom of the van after a road trip this weekend. I'm pretty sure it's the front crank seal. (It's concentrated on the bottom and around the front cross member). How do I tell if that's the problem for sure, and how do I figure out which seal it has?

2. There's a shudder when cruising at times. Turning to overdrive on or off helps a bit, as does "dragging" the break. If you're using the cruise control, it seems to be mostly noticeable when going up hill or down (depending on whether the overdrive is on or off, apparently). I'm pretty sure it's the torque converter...how to make sure? Are there other possibilities?

3. Now this one is kind of weird: Every so often quite at random, when you go to start the engine, the dash will basically cut off. The only thing that will show up is "Rear ABS" light. It will run more or less normally, although it does seem to shift a little rough. I've found if you see that when you first crank it, all you have to do is cut it off for a few minutes then turn it back on and it's fine again (except the temp gauge doesn't work at all and the oil pressure gauge seems a little weird). Where do I even start on that one?