'91 XLT Auto Finally Dumped Tranny

[ramoan]

Greetings All,

My '91 XLT auto finally surrendered the ghost. We were travelling a steep freeway uphill with a full load of cattle (I mean large relatives). On the way, the tranny-juice started to flow out and we noticed this because of the cloud of smoke behind us as the fluid flowed onto the exhaust components. The tranny was already in lock-up so we managed to stop just at the top of the hill when we noticed the action. At that time, the remaining fluid came out. The "P" and "N" works but no other gears work until we add more tranny juice - about 2 qts. When we add the juice, it leaks (pours) from somewhere between the bell housing and engine...beats the devil's home out of me but the truck drives until the juice is gone and then it is in free gears again. Any ideas??? This '91 has 460,000 miles and the engine is in excellent shape - very smooth running and quiet. Tranny rebuilt somewhere around 90K. For shame because we usually don't allow a vehicle to escape us with under 500k. Any ideas, wife wants to keep the rig as backup until we get another. It has more than proven itself.

How about this one? We managed to get home with the '91 so we purchased an immediate replacement truck - '00 Explorer with 23K but the engine sounds louder than the '91 - sounds more like a sport-truck; dealer says it's normal - any ideas on this one? BTW, the '02 Excursion bus runs well but doesn't work out in tight city driving...for farm use only! Need 40 acres and a mule just to turn about.

Many Thanks,
R.


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[jimbo74]

it sounds like your tranny just gets low on fluid b/c the leak or your torque convertor is bad...

 

[sunbum]

Tranny R.I.P.

My tranny awaits the doctor's prognosis, but I feel I lost my tranny on a hill recently as well.
It's supposed to be covered under warranty, but they are going to have to look to be sure. I'm praying... 72K miles (but within extended coverage), hopefully I'll find out good news on Tuesday.
It's still being paid off, and not worth an upgrade yet... from what I hear, this is one of the better year models to have.
So, I'll drive til it drops, and after reading up on the superchip, may go with that as the next upgrade. Seems to be a somewhat cheaper way to get more bang for the buck?

 

[RoyW.]

Same thing happened to me a while back. Whenever the tranny heated up it started dumping fluid. Rebuilt it myself and found a worn sleeve bearing (that the rear of the torque converter slips into), and a worn front seal. The trans had about 50K on it, and I was told by a local shop that it's quite a common problem. If you're lucky, all it needs is a new seal and bearing. My torque converter was also damaged by the problem, though, so it upped the price quite a bit. No problems since replacing those parts. If your trans went 370K after a rebuild, I envy your experience.