I've learned more about my Aerostar in the last 4 hours reading this forum than I have about fords in my entire life.

It is amazing the detail provided by the users/pros here. Many thanks and hats off to all that haunt this place.

I've got a 96 XLT Aerostar (170k, 4.0, beautiful, strong, dark green/silver all the seats in like new condition) with a title problem that I think I just solved today. The thing sat in my back yard for the last 8 months or so, and when gassing it back up (was totally empty) starting and moving, discovered that while it was sitting, it drained about half the transmission fluid underneath.

??? I've been working on cars all my life and never saw one that would just up and decide to leak the fluid out of the tranny - not running just sitting. It just made no sense. Prior to parking it, it drove and shifted perfectly. Well, I dropped in about 2 quarts of fluid, and it immediately pumped out a quart of crap (running) - I say crap because that's what the fluid looked like... awful. Apparently, this transmission hasn't been serviced in years. Man I wish people would pay attention to the 30k fluid/filter swap required by these things - (not to mention the rest, including brakes etc).

Well, That's all it did. Pumped out x quart of transmission fluid. The level is so difficult to reliably check because of the 4 foot long dipstick... and it doesn't stick well to check within the hashmarks. Perhaps I need to go ahead and soft flush it now, change the filter etc... and see what happens. This fluid is terrible. I imagine when I pull the pan the magnet will be covered in sludge.

What I'm wondering, is where on earth is this "pump out" coming from? All I can see from underneath is that all of the bolts holding the pan are covered in trans fluid. After reading a bazillion posts here, I'm guessing possibly the modulator valve or something like that could be leaking, but what the heck, I'd swear that the transmission on this aerostar has an overfill valve that opens up when it's got too much fluid in it. (Even that makes no sense - it drained fluid out when it was PARKED for 8 months!)

Btw, I consider myself lucky at this point, the transmission shifts perfectly, and doesn't leak anymore. I'm almost tempted to throw in another quart or two to force the leak issue again just to answer my own question.

Well, it makes me really happy to find such an intensely knowlegeable bunch of folks here - especially regarding transmission issues. This is an amazing place. The level of technical detail here is amazing.

Thanks for any suggestions or recommendations. Perhaps now I should go search for trans leak since I'm registered.

 

Where are you seeing the fluid "pump out"? If there is a leak in the pan gasket, it's very possible that it lost its fluid that way, over the 8 months of sitting still. I don't know of any overflow valves, except possibly the vent tube on the top side of the case, or the dipstick tube. In any case, I would try to do the full flush and filter change. I presume you've found instructions on how to do the gentle flush.

 

Best way to louse up anything mechanical is to not use it regularly. Gentle flush and clean fluid and filter are a must. My concern here is that the fluid looked bad ("crap"). Make sure no water is getting into the trans.

Other than that, after the fluid is cleaned, do not look for too much trouble. Just enjoy it. Sometimes we make problems.

Ken

 

Prob a rusted cooler line.


Dick

 

Hi Aeroster:

Welcome to our FTE forum

Get a fiber pan gasket from your local transmission shop and just put it on dry without any sealant. The cork gasket is totally useless.

As far as the modulator is concerned, I'm almost certain that the '96 models do not have one, and Cliff may be able to confirm this for us. Cliff?

 

aeroster
Hello aero.It is possible that you have a servo cap leaking my 93 3.0 lost the heat shield and the 0 ring on the servo cap cracked.It would leak fluid when running leak fluid when setting.Took a long time to find the leak.It sat over winter and most of it leaked out.On mine it was the front were the lines and the filler tube goes in,on the 3.0 the cat is right by this and cooks the o-ring.Wash the trans with pressure washer and then see were it is seeping from with out the van running this is how I found the leak on mine.The only place I could find these O-rings was at ford for $7.00 a piece and they came in a package of 3. Speaking of crap mine had been getting a couple of quarts a day put in it and when I took the pan off it looked like used oil from diesel.I thought it would have been a lot cleaner in side from putting a bunch of fluid through it but no way.If this is what yours looked like you should clean converter out also.

 

aeroster-sitting 8 months and then finding a puddle of anything is usually the norm. When Items that run hot and cool off again sit for awhile you will normally have leaks. The seals help mate up between parts, but when the metal cools off again and is not in use the metal surfaces move away from one another causes a "loose" seal and not a "tight" fit.Over a period of time well----you saw. My orginal 1990 Aero. purchase had leaked out 2 quarts of trans fluid too. Word of caution. I know the hash marks are sometimes at best hard to read. One thing I learned when I had over serviced mine was that if you notice I believe the hash marks are on one side and not both sides like on the oil dip stick. At one point I had over serviced mine because I was reading from the wrong side. Sounds funny? Well, try it a couple of times yourself. The stick goes in at a slight angle which will give you a different reading. Over-servicing is not cool when talking transmissions.

 

about 3 quarts of ATF drain into pan when rig sets for long time from converter, servos, etc....puts the ATF line above the pan gasket which is not a good thing on an old hardened dried out 10 year cooked pan gasket....guarenteed leak

as ken says, new pan filter and gasket, I prefer the screen filter for better flow and the premium hard to find neoprene gasket, followed by the Aero gentle 12 qt flush
put in a bottle of Lubeguard Platinum or Red to clean the tranny with esters which also gently condition the seals...liked the old whale oil esters that used to be put in ATF prior to whaling ban.
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me..._Code=lubegard
NO other snake oils or tranny urine please

you will probably have other tranny leaks from hardened dried out seals, monitor leaks and ATF for condition...may want to change again in 1k >5k miles

there is NO vac. modulator on 96 4R55E, all electronic controlled by PCM

any white foamy in ATF? have ATF checked at tranny shop for coolant or try to locate test kit at your parts store or put a UV coolant dye in your coolant and check ATF and oil in 1 week

check for ATF in coolant...run finger around radiator neck, any oily scum?
I would bypass the in radiator ATF cooler, they kill thousands of perfectly good trannys every year...put in the largest plate and fin cooler that will fit

good ATF should be translucent to almost transparent with a titty pink color and almost no odor to a very slight petroleum odor

 

Wow thanks for all the responses. The fact that everything probably drained down into the pan, plus the pan gasket is probably shot dead too makes a lot of sense.

In my previous life I have rebuilt a few automatic transmissions, my last one was on an Aerostar - 1992 model I think. It didn't take and it had shifting issues that never went back right. Had to put in another trans, and that was the end of my home tranny career. (Ughhh - I hate dealing with valve bodies!)

I started the thing up just a little while ago and drove it around a bit and it drives like it's new. No leaks. But I'm going to get the entire mess flushed out totally to ensure this thing will continue to run like new.

Again, thanks very much for all of the replies here. Very informative and enlightening!

 

When I bought my 91 3.0 it had sat up for about 12 mos. By the time I got it to my house (3 blocks) the tranny was acting up. It had dumped out quite a bit of the fluid. The front seal on the tranny had dried up and was leaking badly. Took it out and had a shop replace the seal and all the seals in the pump. Has been perfect ever since........

Just my 2 cents worth...

Klaus Cook
Houston, Texas