I have a 94 Aerostar van that I ust to tow a tent trailer. The trans has, what I'm told, has overheated due to the white smoke comming out from under the veh. This has occured only after long duration of driving and pulling grade. My question is Should I consider installing an additional trans cooler or could my trans have mech problems? The van only has about 38k of easy around town driving.

 

I am always leary of towing with a mini van, I suppose they are rated for it but I am not personally convinced that they will stand up to regular towing.

But, that is no answer... I recommend that you pull your atf dipstick and use a white kleenex or something white. Wipe the fluid off. Is the fluid red(good), pink(questionable), brownish pink(not too good), brown(really bad)?

Smell the fluid. Does it have a nice chemically/oily kind of smell(good), or does it smell burnt(really bad)?

If you are lucky, all that happened is that the fluid got a little hot and overflowed from the dip stick and got on a hot exhaust. Worse would be a failed seal and worst case condition would be a failed tranny.

Based upon your observations you may already have a conclusion. next, if you know what you are doing, or have someone who does, take a test drive. Most experienced tranny mechanics can tell you what is going on from this.

Last is drop the tranny pan. What color is the fluid, smell etc. More important take a look at what is in the bottom of the pan. Any chunks(rice sized or bigger) are usually not good. A normal tranny will have pepper sized and colored flakes in the pan and notmany at that, this is normal. Look at the magnet in the pan. It should at worst have a kind of silvery fuzz on it. Any chunks or large amounts of metal is not good.

Assuming you have a good tranny(after rebuild or just lucky), I would recommend a good sized aux cooler. Also it is important that you find out what your trailer weighs. You can check the rating on a sticker, but you should also take into consideration the load. Most trailer weights are assumed "dry" ie no water, accessories, toys etc. Water, batteries, toys clothes food etc add up really fast and can easily make you exceed your trailer weight and more importantly your van tow weight.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 19-Jul-01 AT 09:53 AM (EST)[/font][p]Jim

Thanks for the quick response and helpful information. I have a couple other questions that I hope you will help me with. I have followed the lines from the trany to the raditor. There are (2) points of entry into the trany they are located one on top of the other but which one is out to the stock cooler and back into the trany? and Which one should I tap into to install the new cooler? And with the limited space around the raditor do you have a suitable location to mount the cooler where it would be somewhat protected from debris and still get good air flow?

Thanks again.

bbkbob