I was just given my grandfathers '93 Aerostar with a 4.0L V6, RWD. It has 82,000 miles on the clock. As I was driving it home, the drivers side rear tire blew, and the spare was too low on air to use. When the it blew, the treads also completely took off the rear left plastic fender, which was then drug down the freeway by the plastic moulding strips that wrap all the way around the bumper. Anyways, we got the spare inflated, put it on, then drove to a walmart and got a new tire put on for 60$.

Then another problem. I noticed when I got the van up to around 70 - 75 mph, the check engine light came on. The guages read normal temp, oil preasure, and voltage, so I continued on. I also noticed as I drove down the freeway, that under acceleration, the car would buck a little as if one of the cylinders wasn't firing consistantly. I thought no problem, I'll just give it a tune up when get home.

It continued this way for about 1.5 hours of freeway driving, and then thick black smoke started to come from under the van. The engine light had been on steady for about 20 minutes at this point, and I had been driving pretty fast to make up for lost time. The guages still looked normal, except the temp guage was 'slightly' higher than where it normally sits. It normally sits on the cool side, my grandfather said the thermostat is probably stuck open because the temp guage never reads more than 1/4 of the way from the cold side. I pulled into a parking spot, but left it idling. I noticed oil was dripping from the rear of the engine, onto the tail pipe which was causing the smoke. However, it quit dripping oil and the smoking stopped. I was able to drive home the rest of the way, with no smoke, at 60mph instead of the 70-75 mph I had been doing. The engine light never came on and it didn't buck as much at this speed either. What would cause this (engine oil leak only during heavier acceleration)?

 

Are you sure it was oil and not tranny fluid that was leaking? Sounds almost like a bad transmission seal. Common if the care has been sitting for a while, or not driven very often. My 91 would run ok as long as I did not go over 60. After that I trailed a plume of smoke that looked like a vapor trail.

The check engine light could also be tranny related. Check the vacuum modulator to make sure the diaphragm is not ruptured. Crawl under the car and pull the hose off of the modulator and see if you get any fluid dripping out. It's pretty easy to replace, several threads here on how.

 

Hi Slownis

Welcome to our FTE forum

 

It might have been transmission fluid. It was dripping right where the tranny bolts to the engine. It looked brownish in color, but it was kinda dim outside, and I could have been mistaken. I hope its not a tranny problem. This is my first car to have that is not a 5 speed. I have lots of experience with 5 speeds, I completely rebuilt my Eclipse, but I know nothing about automatics.

 

sounds like the rig has been setting and not running for awhile

for the auto tranny seals
either the Transfusion or Transeal
http://www.gunk.com/menu_TA.asp

put in a bottle of engine oil stop leak seal conditioner
http://www.valvoline.com/pages/produ...asp?product=33
or the Bearing Seal or engine stop leak
http://www.gunk.com/menu_EO.asp

put a large bottle of this in 1/2 tank of gas to clean injectors
http://www.gumout.com/products.asp?products=1_4
or this
http://www.gumout.com/products.asp?products=1_3
both have polyetheramine, best FI cleaner there is

these may give you some time to decide a course of action for your new Aero

if the tranny ATF is brown, it's time for a filter change and full 12 qt. gentle flush, search Aero forum

 

Not sure how I feel about the stop leak stuff, but the gentle flush is something I'll try.

 

i don't normally recommend seal conditioner adds to oil and ATF but when the rig has set for more than 6 months, it's the only potential solution besides seal replacement=big bucks unless one is a DIYer

the only time mine has been in a commercial shop was for Ford warranty issues

 

It's not really that bad, money wise. I pulled the tranny and took it to the shop. 225 for the seals and to have the pump rebuilt.

 

A DIYer I am, which is why I think my grandfather gave it to me. I also avoid shops at all cost, and I'm not afraid to pull the tranny, having done it once on my Xterra, and countless times on my eclipse, and once on an '88 Camero. Point taken about the seal conditioner, its worth a try before taking more major steps. I'm hoping I don't end up becomming an AT expert from this. In case I do end up going that route, anyone know where I can get a good set of seals for this tranny?

 

The bucking was likely a major sensor has failed. The computer kicked the light on an went into limp home mode. In this mode, the TC does not lockup, which can cause excessive heat build up, which in turn will cause an overheated tranny that pukes fluid. The fluid drips down onto the exhaust pipe where it puts out a lot of thick smoke. You will need to pull that code to find out why that light came on.

This happened to me once. Not the CEL part, but I overheated my tranny once. I left it in OD and was pulling up a hill. The TC came unlocked and I left it that way too long. The resulting heat build up caused the fluid to start leaking. I just kept it in third the rest of the trip and was fine. When I got it to the shop to have it serviced, they told me the front seal was leaking. But there was no build up around the leak, so apparently it only does that when the tranny starts to overheat. Perhaps yours is the same. I since take extra precautions to ensure the tranny does not overheat. I still tow in OD, but as soon as the TC unlocks, I shift it out of OD and into Drive. for the seals for your tranny, check out http://www.transmissioncenter.org/a4ld.htm
I know they do not list seals on this sight, you may need to call them. But I'm sure they have some high quality seals. You can always contact your Ford dealer too, the factory seals are really pretty good.

 

By TC I'm guessing you mean Torque Converter? Or is that Transfer Case? Like I said, I know nothing about automatics.... How can you tell if it is locked or not?

 

You only have a transfer case if the van is 4WD or AWD. Since you said you have RWD, I assume it's the Torque Converter. We have got to steer away from these TLA's (Two-letter Acronyms)

 

auto tranny parts for A4LD
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me...gory_Code=A4LD

put in a bottle of the "Red" after the seals are repaired and ATF changed
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me..._Code=lubegard
one of the few ATF adds. that I recommend....used by many auto tranny shops

 

About those seal conditioners, would it be a good idea to pour some in just before a long storage period?

 

I meant torque converter. You can tell if it is locked up, because it feels like an extra shift after the transmission has gone into OD. If you press the gas hard, the TQC will come unlocked and the RPMS will go up by about 300 or so, but the tranmission will remain in 4th gear. If you take it out of drive, you should feel if go into 3rd. However, before any of this works properly, you will need to find out what the code is and fix it.