Auto trans blows fluid after about 20 miles
 

My 93 aerostar has a strange problem with the automatic transmission.
When it sits in the driveway there is no leaking anywhere around the tranny. If you drive it around short distances it is fine no leaks shifts fine etc.
Once you go about 20 or so miles it starts to blow fluid out from all around the car and then it starts slipping and acting like it has low fluid.

Put it back in the driveway and check the fluid and its 2-3 quarts low. and there is fluid all over the underside of the car. but you can't tell where it's coming from.

If you clean it off and fill it up and check for leaks the only place that there is a hint of fluid is between the engine and tranny but not a drop on the ground.

You can drive it numerous times for short distances and no leak or loss of fluid.

AS SOON AS YOU TAKE IT MORE THAN ABOUT 20 MILES THE PROBLEM HAPENS JUST LIKED I DESCRIBED ABOVE.

If anyone has any idea as to what is going on please let me know I've looked at many threads and can't find anything close to these symptoms

Thanks in advance for your help
Tom C

Sounds to me like the torque converter seal, I had to replace mine a while ago for the same reason. I think that there is an upgraded seal available to help prevent further problems.
I believe that the cause is actually excessive heat in the fluid, the local tranny shop that installed the new seal in mine recomended an auxillary tranny cooler.

Why don't you jack up all four tires and put it on jack stands? Then just engage the cruise control, set it at 30 mph and wait to see where the fluid comes from. DON'T GET UNDER THE CAR AND KEEP THAT CAR POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION.

Best is to bring it to a shop. They can put it on a hoist and do that.

I would think that fluid is coming from the tranny vent tube, maybe your getting a build of of pressure inside the tranny for some reason, sorry but I don't know why.

my front seal also had to be replaced for the same reason. i think this is a common problem with ford trannies

also check your trans cooler. Could be bent or kinked

Welcome to the forum kolija :)

Could it be the rear seal where the drive shaft enters the transmission? About a year ago I had a transmission problem similar to yours. Seems that the rear seal was bent due to a bad u-joint on drive shaft, but it would only leak at highway speeds. Why, I don't know, but replacing the rear seal solved the problem.

Just my 2cents.

Ron

Cruise control doesn't engage till 35.

Oops! :)

I had a similar problem with my chevy pickup (TH 350 trans)- it would be fine until it heated up, then a flood of fluid would come spraying out the vent tube. I had noticed a fair amount of bubbles on the dipstick when checking the level, so I knew something bad was brewing inside. It finally got too bad to continue using (not to mention downright messy and expensive), so I tore it down. I found one clutch pack completely down to the metal, and the piston seals were hardened and probably leaking. When you get this kind of internal leak, it causes the fluid to foam up until it simply overflows.

Front seal......been there, done that......

Apparently mine hardened cuz the 'Star sat for over a year with minimal activity. Had the pump O rings replaced at the same time.......

The problem with the aerostar trannies is the bright ford engineers put the cataletic converter right next to the trannie which cooks the **** out of it. i think ford blew it on this one.
i have already replace front seal and its starting to do the same thing again after
one year of use.
the best thing you can do is put a bigger cooler on it.

speaking of coolers I just installed a hayden 403 cooler. I was a little disapointed when I got it out of the box because it looked bigger in the picture hehe.

http://www.dockload.net/van/hayden403.jpg

We expect better quality work than that!!!!! The cooler is not centered around the Ford emblem and it's not perfectly horizontal :)

All kidding aside, you won't regret putting a cooler on this one. In my opinion, that's the best and cheapest improvement you can make to the Aerostar tranny.