FL.Cracker
Active Member
- Joined
- November 19, 2010
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Orlando, Florida
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94 Sport 4x4
Hi all, I bought my second explorer a couple months ago. When I bought it, the tranny hoses were in pretty bad shape(cracked and seeping in some areas). The hoses connect the hard lines to the cooler in front of the radiator and two short pieces that were connecting/splicing a length of hard line coming from the tranny to a length of hard line going to the cooler hoses. I replaced the hoses right away and topped off the fluid level (all old fluid looked very clean). Everything seemed fine with tranny for about a week until I lost O.D.. However, O.D. was not completely gone, if I shift to drive then back to O.D. its fine, meaning it would shift fine from then on until I go back to neutral, then I'd loose O.D. again until I go down to drive and then back up to O.D.. So i figured maybe just poor tolerance in the linkage causing it to not register O.D. unless I shift past it and then back up, IDK. Everything else was ok until I drove the truck around in traffic for about 2hrs (all previous trips had been less than an hour) then I noticed a leak. It was ATF drpping from the bell housing and the tranny seemed very hot. The fluid didn't smell burnt but I could tell it shouldn't have been that hot. First thing I did was check the fluid level and it was registering overfull (one quarter into the cross hatched section). I didn't understand because I had topped it off when I replaced the hoses and I know it was right and I was on level ground, running @ idle in park and warmed up. All I could come up with was that because it was too hot the fluid expanded to a larger volume, IDK. Anyway, I let it cool down for several hours, then went for a short drive, checked the fluid and the level was fine, no more drips either. Worried about overheating though, I started reading up on the common problems and found that the someone had fixed their leaking front seal by cleaning out the radiator. So I removed the passengers side tank from the radiator and flushed her out well. It didn't seem too bad just a few small chunks and some light rusty deposits but just in case I made sure it was flowing well. I also blew some compressed air through the tranny lines in the radiator and they were clear (got a nice cloud of trans fluid in my face). After that the next time it got to be over 85 degrees outside and I drove around for an hour or so it started to drip from the bell housing again. Once it cooled it would seal back up but it was kind of funny, sometimes it only leaked after i would shut the engine off (in park) and other times it would drip while running and then stop when I shut the engine off, IDK why. So then I read about checking the clutch fan, and it seemed to be working fine but didn't seem to draw much air over the external cooler that sits in front of the A/C condenser. Next I decided I would mount a fan directly on the external cooler just behind the grill. I put a 12in. 1000cfm fan on it and it worked great, the cooler itself never even got above 105 degrees until I realized that when I shut the truck off the cooler temp would sky rocket to well above 200 degrees. So I figured the tranny was still getting very hot some how and the cooler was doing very little. It helped just enough though to get me back and fourth around town on short trips (under 1hr) without any leaks. Then the day before Thanksgiving I had no choice but drive around for several hours (its my only vehicle). I stopped after about an hour and a half and it was dripping again, so I topped it off (about 1/2 quart) and kept going. I stopped again a 30min later and it was dripping about twice as fast (1 drop per second) and weather or not it was running or off. So I let it sit for a little over an hour to cool. About 10min down the road I could smell tranny fluid leaking while sitting at a light so I pulled over and now it was pouring out about a cup every 30 seconds. So I shut off and waited another 2 hours. At this point I only had 1 1/2 quarts of new fluid left on me so I put it all in and it barely registered on the dip. So I figured I'd limp to the closest auto parts store and get more. Well when I went to leave it almost didn't engage drive, it slipped bad but finally caught first gear, this was the first time it slipped at all. So I crept down the road at 15mph and pulled into the parts store still dripping fast but not quite pouring like earlier. Then when I went to fill it up (with engine running in park) it poured out just as fast as I was pouring in I mean like an easy quart a minute and I could smell burnt fluid now. So I shut her down right away and proceeded to wait for someone to pick me up a couple hours later. I had it towed and it's sitting now. Obviously it their are some issues with the tranny besides the front seal. I've read some things on the forum but not to sure what the issue might be so I'll start by listing the things I checked that might contribute to the tranny overheating.
Things I have checked:
1. Radiator plugged? Cleaned and checked for bent fins.......Ok
2. Thermostat? Opened at 180 degrees...............................Ok
3. Water pump? Not sure how to check other than; with the radiator cap off I let the truck warm up until the thermostat opens then I revved the engine to see if the fluid level is sucked down by the pump and it is so i figured its Ok although I don't see much flow at all while idling. I'm not positive on the pump.
4. Bent hard lines or kinked hoses? No all check out..............Ok
5. Clutch Fan? Blows very hard upon start up and then settles down to normal after a couple minutes. I'm not sure what else to check for really, but it does move air pretty well.
Things I have not checked:
1. Clogged external cooler? I figured its probibly not common but I'm not sure what do you think? (I should have checked when I replaced the cooler hoses)
2. Actual water temperature after warm up.
3. Not sure what else to check
Since the tranny is most likely fried now I'm planning on taking it to a shop that my family had recommended (Bronco Johns). If anyone knows of a better trans shop in Orlando please let me know but from what I've been told the guys at Bronco Johns know Fords well so I'm hoping they can probably rebuild an A4LD the right way so I can get more than 50 or 60 thousand miles out of it before it needs another rebuild.
What do you guys recommend I do next to ensure this doesn't happen again in the near future? Do you think the cause of such tranny overheating could be due to internal tranny issues alone or something else as well? My water temp gauge is broken (wire @ sensor is torn up bad) but I'm nearly positive the engine isn't overheating.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and I'm sorry for being so long winded in my typing. Thanks, James
Things I have checked:
1. Radiator plugged? Cleaned and checked for bent fins.......Ok
2. Thermostat? Opened at 180 degrees...............................Ok
3. Water pump? Not sure how to check other than; with the radiator cap off I let the truck warm up until the thermostat opens then I revved the engine to see if the fluid level is sucked down by the pump and it is so i figured its Ok although I don't see much flow at all while idling. I'm not positive on the pump.
4. Bent hard lines or kinked hoses? No all check out..............Ok
5. Clutch Fan? Blows very hard upon start up and then settles down to normal after a couple minutes. I'm not sure what else to check for really, but it does move air pretty well.
Things I have not checked:
1. Clogged external cooler? I figured its probibly not common but I'm not sure what do you think? (I should have checked when I replaced the cooler hoses)
2. Actual water temperature after warm up.
3. Not sure what else to check
Since the tranny is most likely fried now I'm planning on taking it to a shop that my family had recommended (Bronco Johns). If anyone knows of a better trans shop in Orlando please let me know but from what I've been told the guys at Bronco Johns know Fords well so I'm hoping they can probably rebuild an A4LD the right way so I can get more than 50 or 60 thousand miles out of it before it needs another rebuild.
What do you guys recommend I do next to ensure this doesn't happen again in the near future? Do you think the cause of such tranny overheating could be due to internal tranny issues alone or something else as well? My water temp gauge is broken (wire @ sensor is torn up bad) but I'm nearly positive the engine isn't overheating.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and I'm sorry for being so long winded in my typing. Thanks, James
