Van with about 180k on odometer, no history on trans before we bought at approx 95k so I have to assume it's original. 3.0L extended 2WD/RWD van had worked perfectly with good strong shifts. Shortly after we got it had a problem with fluid loss but no leaks tracked down to diaphragm in modulator allowing fluid to be sucked into engine manifold. Corrected a few years ago and has worked fine since. One day the wife was heading up the street, slight but minimal uphill climb, and she said it was weak like it was slipping and she brought it back to the driveway (about 3 blocks). Slight strange metallic noise that didn't seem to be trans related. She started it next day and it worked fine. Day after that she pulled into the driveway and it was weak again, like a slipping clutch on a manual trans. I moved it back and forth and it was weak so first though was low fluid. Fluid was fine, no smell or discoloration. No signs of metallic dust either. Dropped the pan and drained the fluid and it was in good coloration and smell and absolutely no signs of wear or broken parts. Replaced filter though it looked good. Magnet had nothing on it either. Replaced the D rings on the piston of the valve in the pan area (first-reverse I think it is called) and put a new gasket and fluid. No change and absolutely no drive or reverse even with 50% throttle. Linkage works fine from column to trans. Still has a weird kind of occasional metal noise like a dull thud you hear when a torque converter is set on the floor. I dont think it could be flex plate related as the starter turns the engine via the ring gear of the flex plate. No inspection plate on this so unable to check torque converter bolts to flexplate.

Last automatic I rebuilt was a slip-n-slide Powerglide on a 1965 Impala in 1992. I am familiar with automatic problems, cures and operation to some extent but by far not an expert (which is why I'm here right). Newer lockup converters are a new thing to me. Just maintaining our two Aerostars (96 3.0L cargo 2WD and this 1993 extended passenger 2WD), not a professional mechanic.

So has anyone had any experience with a problem like this? Could it be that somehow the converter has failed and does not provide the link to send engine power to the trans? Is it common for the bolts from flex plate to TC to break/shear/tear out leaving it as if the TC was not bolted in at all? If this were a case of it going one way and not the other I would suspect a subsystem of the trans but no engagement in either like if the clutch was disengaged on a manual tends to make me think it's TC related. Is there some way the ECM could somehow cause the TC to not engage with a code (OBD I on this year so no I haven't yet seen if there are codes from the ECM yet).

I plan on pulling the trans later this month once another project is done and look at the TC and trans and flex plate visually but thought I would check for hints first.

 

dumb question but have you checked the transmission fluid when hot?

I had a 1986 3.0 for 13 years and when the tranny went, it went, no forward movement, nothing, just the engine revving. I had it rebuilt and it ran until my girl wrecked it.

then I got a 1992 3.0 and never had to rebuild the tranny, but one time I had similar symptoms like you describe which were fixed by adding fluid, and it drank a lot of fluid, almost 3 quarts, then all symptoms dissapeared and it just kept going until I sold it this year. The new owner is a friend and he reports the van rides like a new car.

 

Good point but I did check it cold and warm, in gear with brake on and in neutral (or park) like the stick states. Ran nearly an hour in one session after a couple 5 min periods to see if fluid would pump through. I don't have the pressure equipment to see if I'm getting proper pressure from the test fittings on the outside so not sure if it's a bad pump somehow. The sound I hear randomly sounds like the sound when someone leaves the TC bolts out of the flex plate but thanks to a transmission designer that felt there was no need for a cover on the bottom I can't get in there to look at the TC to flex plate connection like I could with other transmissions I've had. I'm not even sure what to inspect on the TC if I pull the trans down and the bolts are OK. I know what to inspect on the transmission itself including the input shaft splines and pump tangs (I have the Ford A4LD rebuild book about 3" thick and the ATSG book on rebuild too) but other than obvious outside damage to the input tube groves is there anything to look for inside the input tube of the TC? Is there a way to test a TC out of the vehicle? I have the ability to rebuild the trans if it is the trans but why go do all of that and find the TC was the problem? Of course I could just order a converter and chuck it in there to see but I'm a person that doesn't like to replace if not needed.

While I have the trans out I plan on changing the two solenoids and the valve body gasket (likely with a separator plate with the bonded gaskets rather than just replacing the two gaskets on the existing plate) and those are parts that if I put the trans in and that is a no-go aren't lost replacements since they would be changed on a full rebuild anyway and aren't part of a master rebuild kit. Problem is by reading the function of the solenoids it doesn't seem either would affect it's ability to go both forward and back from stop.

We are in a climate here friendly to the body panels so occasional repairs can theoretically keep this van and my 96 going well beyond the 30 yr old mark. Our previous Impala is still owned by the person I sold it to in the 90's and driven regularly and it's 47 yrs old, on it's second rebuild of the engine and my initial rebuild of the trans is still holding up. Car has 650k on it now. With newer technology of fuel and ignition systems more modern vehicles should be capable of easily going 1mil easily if maintained and not exposed to road salt.

We have also previously owned 2 other Aerostars. First was an 86 with 2.8L auto. Blew a head gasket and I was working too many hours to screw with it, sold it to a local who yanked the engine and rebuilt it. After that we had a 95 3.0L with A4LD regular body passenger that was t-boned in the passenger sliding door. Totalled. Should have bought the wrench from the insurance for $250 and saved a lot of parts hassle but nowhere to store parts that I might or might not need later. I did pull things common to the 93 and 96 like starter, alternator and some other items. The wife loves the extended despite it really only being 10 to 12 inches longer. So I get the honor of fixing it with her assistance when needed.

 

Transmissions are an area where I don't have much experience, so I have no answers to your questions. Others here are more "been-there-done-that".

what I would do is tow it to a transmission shop and pay for a diagnosis. Otherwise you're going in blind. Get someone to look at it who has seen those symptoms before.

there is a guy who advertises on Craigslist (in Florida) who has rebuilt trannys for Aerostar and other Fords, he installs them too, all for $1,250. Or you can buy a rebuilt one for less and install it yourself if you're up to it, but remember that you can buy an entire running Aerostar for under $1,600. so it's a matter of what you want.

If I needed to put $1,200. on a transmission, I'd just go and buy another Aerostar.

 

Rebuilt for $1200 versus $1200 approx for another Aerostar with unknown wear and tear? I hate to say it but I would rather the rebuilt I know is starting a new life, personally. Some people get starters and alternators from the salvage yard, I get them rebuilt by a local auto electric shop so I know the wear parts are new. As far as a shop I've never taken anything to another mechanic except for alignment and I am there during the process. Only because I don't have an alignment rack. The transmission isn't a problem for me but thr converter diagnosis is a new area to me. I would probably be better to spend $125 on a new converter rather than a tow and diagnostic. I'd probably have to spend the money on a converter anyway. If I rebuild the transmission it will get a converter regardless of if it's good or not - sort of like replacing both headlights even though one is still good.

But as the story goes - if it's worth doing at all do it well. Probably time to yank the whole thing and put a TC in and do a full rebuild. I did also check to see if the driveshaft turned - I know a person some 20 yrs ago that didn't check and ended up finding that something broke in the differential where the pinion shaft still turned smoothly but no drive. He found that out after putting in a non-returnable rebuilt transmission.

 

The simple way to look at the flex plate nuts is to remove the starter motor. There are 4 of them, and they are about the only non-metric fasteners in the whole vehicle; 9/16 or 5/8, I forgot. They are locking nuts, so I don't expect them to work loose by themselves. Don't damage or lose them, as Ford wants $12.50 each for them. The torque converter does not have a drain hole, in case you were wondering.

The transmission input has at least 2 concentric shafts, and they engage 4 splines in the torque converter. At least that's the impression I got when I installed mine; four distinct steps pushing onto the input shafts. I'm guessing that one of these shafts engages the impeller drive, while the other engages the direct drive (lock-up), and the activation of the lock-up occurs inside the transmission by engaging one of these shafts. (again, my WAG)

Your experiences with transmissions probably exceeds that of most members on this forum. We would certainly be interested in hearing about what you find.

 

Starter hole - aha. That makes sense though the design of an inspection plate would have made more ;-)

Appreciate the info and it was very helpful. I plan on having a camera nearby and taking some photos and posting anything that might be useful to me for future use and to post. I've not found anything on this with all the searching and also by asking the same on the FordStar (Aero*, Wind*, Free*) group on Yahoo Groups I have been a member of for a few years. Since the Aerostars stopped being made after 97 there needs to be plenty of info exchange between maintainers and owners to help others keep theirs in service rather than junkyarding them for simple stuff that seems difficult.

Hope to get this out of the way soon and get back to getting my 84 Ranger and 89 Festiva on the road. They were set aside projects that got set aside longer than expected and now I have people constantly knocking at the door wanting to know if I want to sell them (some as scrappers, some that know how good they are on gas).

 

I have some pictures of the work I've done on my Aerostar:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1155523...F8Z5pB8qNFRUNA

But the more important information are the details that you can't really see in the pictures. I've tried to write down some in the captions, but I'm sure I didn't cover them all.

 

Wow full teardown it seems. I too rebuilt the suspension (ball joints, bushings, tie rods, etc) but I used an on the vehicle ball joint press like a big C clamp with adapters. Use it for the U joints too. My trans jack is a floor jack I took the shoe off of and mounted a length of 2x8 onto with a bolt and washers and use straps similar to your red one on your jack setup. Saved me from buying yet another tool from China.

 

The transmission jack in those pictures was lent to me by our moderator, copper_90680 (Tung). He and other members of this forum talked me through a lot of the process, which seemed pretty daunting when I first looked at it.

 

I would have to buy one from Harbor Freight here since it's been 10 yrs since we had a tool rental place in our area. Sure they are down to $80 for one like you used but I hate to have to buy something I may use 3 times in a lifetime. I have an engine stand but have used it a couple times already but it takes up room even broken back down and put into it's box. I just put my son's S10 manual trans and transfer case in using a floor jack I mounted a platform on and it made it easy enough that I did it myself in the driveway. Not as easy as a tranny jack just not all that much harder.

Once I get to the 93 Aero I'll have a camera nearby to photograph anything I find as a I tear it down.

 

I have the feeling that you may be able to make a jig to adapt your floor jack to your transmission, and it may work better than the generic transmission jack. But you would need another jack to align the engine to the transmission when you're trying to remove/re-install it.

Good luck with your investigation.