Ford in for a Tranny.

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
The van has the 3.8 in it... It has 300K KM's (180K miles) but you can't kill these engines. It has used 5w20 its whole life and doesn't use a drop of oil. We switched it to 5w30 anyways because it's what we use in other stuff and the 5w30 is generally cheaper up here.

The van should last forever given the maintenance habits we have and the fact that my dad drives them until they die and aren't worth even for scrap metal.

I saw a Windstar come in once that had a CEL with 256K miles. After a few questions, the owner answered that he had never changed the spark plugs. They were wide, but other than that, looked okay. We put in a new set of spark plugs, fixed a loose vacuum line (the real reason the CEL came on) and set him on his way.
I still wouldn't trust a Winstar transmission for more than 75K miles though.

 

[artificialist]

You are lucky.

I have dealt with far too many Windstars that got less than 100,000 miles from their transmissions.

I'm glad Ford no longer builds a minivan.

 

[bdcardinal]

i was gonna say the Freestar, but i guess they stopped making it. maybe its just more fashionable to call a minivan a Crossover.

 

[wiswind]

My '96 3.8L got a FORD remanufactured transmission in about 2001....at about 100K miles.
I bought it in 1999 with just under 38K miles.....had been on lease...and had been used for towing by previous owner.
It now has about 216K miles (116K on transmission) and it still runs/shifts great.

If the repair of your transmission is done correctly....as it sounds like from what you mention.....you can expect many reliable miles/years of service from this unit......particularly with the extra cooling and filtration you mention.

FORD specifys transmission fluid change at 30K miles (21K miles for severe service).
I do the cooler line exchange.
Your ATF fluid capacity should be pretty much the same as mine, 12.25 quarts.

I have a magnefine filter on the cooler return line and a auxillary cooler installed in front of the radiator....fluid flows through in-radiator cooler, then through auxillary cooler...and back to the transmission.

I don't know if they still have the thermal switch on your '03, mine has one in the metal cooler lines....right by the transmission.....
The thermal switch causes the fluid to bypass the coolers when the fluid temperature is below 32 degrees F (0 degrees C).
The switch is NOT any issue with cooler line exchanges.....unless you are trying to do it on a cold transmission when it is quite cold outside.

Since having the transmission replaced, I used Mobil 1 ATF and then the past 3 or so years have been using Redline D4.

I would expect that the Amsoil, though I have not used it, will be excellent....as long as it is listed for Mercon V application.

I put just over 9 ounces of AutoRX in about 1500 miles before doing the fluid exchange......keeping the Magnefine filter in place.

One thing you might check.......low speed radiator fan operation.
Turn the A/C on when you have the vehicle stopped at idle.
The radiator fans should come on and stay on......when the compressor is being used.....not just a short high speed spurt.
If they do not stay on with A/C operation, check into the low speed dropping resistor for the radiator fans.
This resistor in mounted in a ceramic block.....that on older windstars is known to open up.....causing no low speed radiator fan operation.
On my '96, this part is mounted on the metal inner bumper.....about even with the passenger side headlight.....you can see it when looking down behind the headlight....very roughly even with....but slightly toward the center from the headlight electrical connector.
They may have changed this around between 1996 and 2003.....

All the chat about the low speed radiator fan operation brings me to what I do in stop and go traffic....particularly in warm weather.....I select a climate control setting that activates the A/C (defrost will also do this)......which keeps the radiator fans on when not moving above something like 35 or 40mph....which will keep your transmission much cooler in the tough stop and go conditions.

 

[StevieC]

The Transmission is done and we drove it home. It shifts like butter and no longer makes the "click, click, click" slipping sound when you take off.

It's got 100% Amsoil in there with a Magnefine filter and external cooler. Should last forever.

The friend of my dads with the shop showed him the planetary gears and they were chewed up really nasty.

I would have taken pictures but my Blackberry is currently out of commission. (broke recently)

 

[StevieC]

Anyone know what the common problem with the Overdrive switches in the gear shifter are?

We need to replace it on the Windstar because it's not working but I thought we might be able to take it apart and fix it if someone knows the common problem with these. (Apparently it's common)

 

[Colt45ws]

If its like the trucks, you can pop it apart and replace the switch.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: StevieC

The van has the 3.8 in it... It has 300K KM's (180K miles) but you can't kill these engines.
Yes you can, the head gaskets seem to be problematic on them.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
...the head gaskets seem to be problematic on them.


Not so much on the 1999+ Windstar 3.8's. You very rarely hear of HG issues. Intake manifold leakage yes. With respect to transaxle issues. Ford transitioned to the AX4N (from the AX4S) in 2001. You didn't see near the number of trans issues on 2001+ Winnys. 180Kmi from any trans in MV service is outstanding!

Joel

 

[wiswind]

Actually, the year for the head gasket and transmission issues was 1995.
They improved things for the '96, and then improved them more in later years.
My '96 is still on the original head gaskets, however, the lower intake manifold gaskets have been replaced...
The lower intake manifold gasket failure is easy to mis-diagnose as head gaskets because they leak into the intake....and the coolant is then drawn into the cylinders.
Of course the customer will not know about the mis-diagnosis because new lower intake manifold gaskets are part of the head gasket job.

SteveC's dad's windstar transmission should be A-OK for a long time, as it is the much improved version, and he has auxillary cooling....and a good maintenance program for it.

I suspect that there are a lot (at least older windstars like mine) out there that have the radiator fan low speed dropping resistor that is broken....which certainly does not help transmission life in stop and go traffic.

 

[tig1]

Actually it was Jan 1998 on the gasket thing.

 

[Virtuoso]

Our '98 3.8L Windstar has 141k on it with (as far as we know..) the original transmission and headgaskets.

It does, however, have leaky LIM gaskets...or the dreaded front timing cover leak (major labor dollars there.) Blackstone said at 2,600 miles on the oil the coolant concentration was just low enough not to affect the bearings... so I've decided to change the oil early (continuously) until the van is dead.

Rust will probably take this thing down before anything else, anyway. The transmission still (surpzingly!) shifts quite well. It will be my luck it will fail without any warning in the middle of nowhere (like our family vacation to Wyoming next year).

 

[StevieC]

We are going to do a couple of short OCI's on the truck using a quality synthetic to flush any junk out of it that might be there and then do a used oil analysis on the oil to check the engine for any contamination. (SI, Coolant etc.)

The van had 10K KM (6K mile) OCI's using 5w20 MotorCraft its whole life as the neighbour who had the van before us used to work for Ford where he bought it and all service was done there.