A neighbor friend of mine has a late 80’s Aerostar. He says when he first takes off in the van he has to manually shift the trans to get it to shift. But after the first time of manually shifting he says that it will shift fine.

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? He also said it has been this way for around three years.

He is a good neighbor and is near 70 y/o so I would like to help him, but I am no transmission man.

Thanks Jeff.

1st thing I would do is check the level of the Transmission fluid. Sometimes it shows OK but will need another 1/2 quart to work right.

I would also check for a cracked vacuum line.

It might also need the filter changed.

The modulator might need adjusted or replaced.

It could be a sticking governor if this usually happens when it's cold. Check # 45 in my list of useful threads for more information: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155582

Thanks guy’s I just checked back in, sorry for the delay I had a catastrophic PC crash and had to borrow my son’s till I can build another one for me.

I will check the suggested.

Thanks Jeff.

Do you have any information to update us?