tidmarshsmiths5
Active Member
- Joined
- April 20, 2015
- Messages
- 74
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Greenville, South Carolina
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1991 Explorer XLT
No towing, runs fine - no overheating - other than that screwy temp fluctuation that I've never seen in any other vehicle I've ever owned.
Tomorrow, I'll pull the thermostat (AND LEAVE IT OUT) and replace fan with either regular of heavy duty clutch.
Here is the issue - almost made it home, see temp gauge arising but it does this and usually mickey mouses up and down...not today because it's hotter than hades in South Carolina. Leave the stop and go red light (pulling a box trailer with just a lawn mower in it - less than 1000 lbs) and I see smoke, lots of smoke.
Oh, I know what it is...tranny fluid pouring on the muffler...praying it doesn't catch fire, I limp home the next 1.5 miles.
Cut it off, I hear the radiator boiling over (it never got past the L on the stupid gauge - yes, I know y'all say it's a dummy gauge but that's greek to me)...so, I grab the hose pipe and wash off tranny fluid out from under it - it's all over the box trailer and under the truck as well and then I cut the heat on high and start spraying the radiator until it gets back between the R and the M.
Cut it back off and no more boiling over. And yes, it has a tranny cooler - that's where I think all the heat comes from...
I know the tranny fluid is black and I had to add a quart the last time this happened - towed the pop up camper to the mountains - and the darn thing runs like a champ if I'm not towing.
So, until I can get the tranny rebuilt - read, money - I'll just not tow anymore. Yes, I do not tow in Overdrive and I never got over 55 - most of the time, I stayed at 45 to 50 mph. Trying to prevent this from happening - but it was HOT today (so was I after 4 hours on a tractor bush hogging - on a 1952 Ford 8N I might add - I'm partial to the Blue Ovals).
Any other ideas? Besides a lot of swearing - I've got that part down!
Tomorrow, I'll pull the thermostat (AND LEAVE IT OUT) and replace fan with either regular of heavy duty clutch.
Here is the issue - almost made it home, see temp gauge arising but it does this and usually mickey mouses up and down...not today because it's hotter than hades in South Carolina. Leave the stop and go red light (pulling a box trailer with just a lawn mower in it - less than 1000 lbs) and I see smoke, lots of smoke.
Oh, I know what it is...tranny fluid pouring on the muffler...praying it doesn't catch fire, I limp home the next 1.5 miles.
Cut it off, I hear the radiator boiling over (it never got past the L on the stupid gauge - yes, I know y'all say it's a dummy gauge but that's greek to me)...so, I grab the hose pipe and wash off tranny fluid out from under it - it's all over the box trailer and under the truck as well and then I cut the heat on high and start spraying the radiator until it gets back between the R and the M.
Cut it back off and no more boiling over. And yes, it has a tranny cooler - that's where I think all the heat comes from...
I know the tranny fluid is black and I had to add a quart the last time this happened - towed the pop up camper to the mountains - and the darn thing runs like a champ if I'm not towing.
So, until I can get the tranny rebuilt - read, money - I'll just not tow anymore. Yes, I do not tow in Overdrive and I never got over 55 - most of the time, I stayed at 45 to 50 mph. Trying to prevent this from happening - but it was HOT today (so was I after 4 hours on a tractor bush hogging - on a 1952 Ford 8N I might add - I'm partial to the Blue Ovals).
Any other ideas? Besides a lot of swearing - I've got that part down!