burnt trans fluid - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

351w · 09-17-2003, 18:55

hey guys,
i got one of the company 99 explorer sports coming back this friday from down in west jefferson north carolina with a vehicle report that simply states the tranny fluid needs replaced every 1,000 miles because it keeps burning.
(i love when they describe a problem with such detail)

anybody ever come across this before ?
i am hoping that it is simply a blocked trans cooler line and it doesnt need rebuilt but someone took it to a ford dealer down there and they said oh thats gotta be really bad and probably cost around $3000 to replace the tranny.
well to make a long story short the last time it came back from that ford dealer our local shop had it for 3 days trying to get it started again,
it turned out that they made a key for it while they had it and didnt code the key right so back here the key that we had wouldnt work because it was in theft mode when it was parked.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE MECHANICS NOW A DAYS !!!!

anybody got any useful input i'm all ears till 9am mon when i start rippin and tearin.

351w · 09-22-2003, 19:06

well i was too busy to work on the explorer today but i did run it down the road a couple miles to heat it up and then i crawled under it and i held onto the tranny cooler lines where they enter the radiator.
maybe its just me but i thought one of those would be really hot and the other atleast warm.
i hope i am not turning into one of those type mechanics that we all talk about like a plague.
anywho neither line was even slightly hot.

89F150 · 09-22-2003, 23:55

I dont really no much about trannys so i'm not much help but let us know how she all turns out.

351w · 09-23-2003, 20:48

well it looks like the EZ solution is out.
i took the explorer for a drive today and it shifts fine and didnt slip at all.
then i pulled the tranny cooler line off and had a co worker start the engine hoping to find the cooler blocked but it shot fluid out pretty good so thats not the problem. so now it has to wait a couple days till i can get time to check it out a little better and see if i can come up with a reason.

89F150 · 10-05-2003, 05:10

Have you worked the problem out yet?

351w · 10-05-2003, 10:36

nope yet another mystery 89,
i couldnt find anything wrong so i took it to a ford dealer and had them look at it and they couldnt find anything wrong either but the engine code said the trans was overheated so that explains the light.
the other thing i have determined is this. i have only worked on these for the last 2 yrs and they have around 100,000 miles on them so being that the tranny filter and fluid has never been changed i see that as a potential problem as well.
so the fluid has now been changed and i returned it to service and we will see what happens now.
in the mean time i have 4 others that are starting with problems now.
i put new plugs and wires on one and 3 IAC valves replaced in the last 2 months.

10-29-2003, 12:18

I had the same problem with my 94 ( i know that they are alittle different in years but...maybe this will work) i would drive it and about every week it would burn the fluid so much that it wouldnt even go (because its a auto) and it was still underwarraty so i took it back. I found out that there is a sensor that when the comp sences to much fluid it dumps some out into the engine to burn, causeing it loose tranny fluid. im not sure which sensor it was but you might want to check these out, it worked on mine

tell me if it does

351w · 10-29-2003, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by BugBoy

I had the same problem with my 94 ( i know that they are alittle different in years but...maybe this will work) i would drive it and about every week it would burn the fluid so much that it wouldnt even go (because its a auto) and it was still underwarraty so i took it back. I found out that there is a sensor that when the comp sences to much fluid it dumps some out into the engine to burn, causeing it loose tranny fluid. im not sure which sensor it was but you might want to check these out, it worked on mine.

never heard of such a thing but i do know a few other ford mechanics so i will ask them when i get the chance if they ever have come across this.

i put the right amount of fluid in the trans when i looked at it and returned it to service.
it has been on the road since and i have not seen hide nor hair of it other than it came back because it wasnt ideling right and i had to replace the IAC valve.
if i find anything i will post it.

laminge · 10-30-2003, 02:33

Interesting thread

I was suprised to read the manual and find that the oil has a life of 100,000ks too, pretty silly really for amount of stress the box goes through

351w · 10-30-2003, 17:24

i have a good friend who is a trans tech at the local ford dealer and he says that really the fluid should be changed with the filter at aound 60,000 and this would prevent alot of extra wear on the trans.