How do we fix the A4LD gearbox of a 93 Aerostar?

[Benniee]

Hi,
We've got an Aerostar 93 XLT with an explorer 93 V6 4.0 engine build in. The gearbox-stuff is an A4LD with an E-4WD.
The car drives backwards without a problem, but when we go forwards, it drives for maybe 10-15 metres and than stops. If we wait about 20 seconds and then drive forwards again, the same thing happens. We think there could be something with the electronics, since it's on the same thing as the airbag, wich the previous owner has disabled, and maybe somehow messed up the electronics in the gearbox, since the E-4WD is completely electric, and has some sort of microprocessor. Strange though cause we drove about 1,5 - 2 years before it started driving like i described. We also think the oil pressure might be to low in the gearbox, mostly beacuse we found a lot of oil last time we pulled it out of the garage to drive it on the car lift. Strange though, we first noticed the oil just after we got it on the lift, but there was no track of oil from the one garage to the one with the car lift.

Please, does anybody know how to fix this?

We just got the engine fixed, the guy we bought it from ( a car mechanichs teacher) did things wrong with the engine and when we contacted him about it he didn't know how to fix it, so we had to go to an expensive Ford-guy and do a lot ourselfs too, so we would really like to fix the car without having to pay thousands and thousands of Dollars ( SEK cause we live in Sweden).

Greetzz./ Bennie

 

[MrShorty]

I shouldn't be an electrical issue. The electronics for the transmission only affect 3-4 shift and torque converter clutch lockup. 1st through 3rd gears are operated hydraulically/mechanically. No drive in 1st gear like that points to a hydraulic/mechanical problem in the transmission.

Checked the transmission fluid level?

 

[Benniee]

Ok so what you're saying is it can't be an electric problem, and not a mechanical problem, like the diaphragm or Torque converter? We tried to check the fluid, but couldn't get the plug out, cause the size of hex-key we needed was the only one we didn't have. There are three boxes under the car, A4LD , E-4WD (and another one wich i don't really know what it's function is.) Is it in the A4LD or the E-4WD we should check the fluid?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread to the Aerostar section. The dipstick for the transmission is under the hood. You have to check the fluid level when it's warm, and on level ground with the engine running.

 

[Benniee]

I have been searching like mad on the internet, and found something interesting. It said that with automatic transmissions, the fluid goes threw something in the radiator from the engine cooler system, and if that starts leaking, the transmission fluid and cooler fluid get mixed up, and gives the mixed fluid a red color. I suddenly remembered that a few years ago, not long before the car started acting strange, we checked the cooler fluid, and it was red. So i went out to check it, and it was red. I also checked the dipstick(cold, car wont start cause battery is very bad) and it was about 2 cm above the crosshatch area. So i started thinking. The oil level was too high. That thing in the radiator can be leaking, so the cooler fluid comes in the transmission box and raises the level. I remembered we had to add a lot of cooler fluid cause the level was to low. And if the cooler fluid is in the transmission box, it is not a big question why the car behaves like it does, cause on cooler fluid you cant set a high pressure, so when we drive backwards there is not such a big pressure needed, and when we drive forward, it starts building up pressure, the cooler fluid is being compressed(pushed together) and then the pressure in the radiator also gets higher, creating a massive power loss in the transmission box / Torque converter. If we wait for maybe 20 seconds, the pressure gets normal again, the cooler fluid is decompressing, but when we drive again, the pressure starts compressing the cooler fluid again etc. etc. That also explains why backwards, the car is not going as fast as it did before, and a few weeks ago there was about 20 cm of snow and we tryed to move the car. Usually it easily comes away, but now even backwards there was not enough power to drive up 20 cm ( cause where there car stood there was no snow, so it had to drive up 20 cm onto the snow). We managed to move the car at last but it took very long. This i just wrote, + what someone wrote before on this forum + a lot of stuff i read on internet gets me to the conclusion that it could be cooler fluid in the transmission box causing this.

Now i of course don't know if that is right, what i just wrote, maybe if the cooler fluid is in the transmission box the car won't drive at all, i don't know. But if it is how i wrote, then how do we fix it?
Open the plug in the transmission box and fill water into the radiator so it will flush out most of the stuff? And then what, how do we fix that leak in the radiator, we could cut it open at a little bit and fix the thing inside, then weld te radiator? And at wich place of the radiator is that stuff for the transmission fluid placed, the lower part, the higher part, the middle? Can't just cut it open until we find it.

Please tell how we can fix the car without having to bring it to some dealer that bills hundreds, thousands of dollars.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The radiator has a separate section for antifreeze, so flushing the radiator with water isn't going to clean your transmission. There is a special chemical called cooler cleaner which is used to flush the front cooler.

 

[Benniee]

Yes what i mean is that the section is leaking and coolerfluid gets mixed with transmission fluid.
My dad and i just checked it and it was a little red but it looked like there was just normal green cooler fluid and the red stuff was just a little bit rust. I could have sworen the last time i checked (4 days ago or something) it was only red. Gettin a little confused now, i mean, how many things can possibly cause the car do behave like it does? I have been reading so many sites i can't even remember how many.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The radiator is bad if you are mixing antifreeze with transmission fluid. Change the radiator immediately, and don't continue to drive it this way. The antifreeze could cause rust & corrosion to accumulate in the transmission. I've purchased 2 radiators from WWW.AutoCoolRadiators.Com, and they are very good to deal with. Another place to check is WWW.RadiatorBarn.Com. I've personally never purchased a radiator from them, but other people on this site have. I would recommend flushing the cooler lines, and the transmission to remove any left over antifreeze.