Reman tranny & Rebuilt Engine Replacement.

[road_rascal]

Do you think a dose or two of Auto-RX would help the rings? I keep reading good things about it on the BITOG board.

[12Ounce]

I don't know what could prevent it ... and not do more damage than good in the process. But I am pretty well convinced that once the rings are siezed up ... nothing's going to free them short of disassembly and much work. I have soaked pistons with rings overnight in all sorts of solvents ... nothing ever dented the carbon build-up. No "chemical bullet" is gonna fix it.

[12Ounce]

Can there be anything special about spark plugs?

I have never had a dog in the spark plug fight heretofore. To me, if a plug was made to the proper specs ... any brand was OK. And I bought new ones with that criteria ... whatever was the cheapest double platinum that the parts store had on the shelf was just fine. (Even Bosch.) Well, my feelings have changed.

During the initial rebuilt engine start-up, when there was still unresolved air leaks and resulting performance issues: I replaced the old plugs "just in case". I replaced the old Champion 7013's with new Autolite APP765's. The engine ran even worse!! I put the old Champion's back in and the running improved.

I then found and corrected the air leak. The engine ran super. Then I bought/installed new Champion 7013's ... the engine ran even better!

Here's an additional rub: This plug is not listed on the local parts store's list for my Winnie. In fact, the list shows a single plat plug by Champion ... which we certainly don't want. Not sure how I originally found this plug ... but I can now recommend it.

(BTW, AutoZone does not carry this particular plug in my area ... AdvanceAuto has it.)

[garync1]

I noticed this about Fords as well with some imports. You would think a spark plug is a spark plug as long as the gap is set right. Even using cheaper plugs in other cars ran fine but may not have lasted as long.. I worked on a Honda one time and the guy in the parts place said you may want to run NGK spark plug on that model.. Of course they were higher. So I passed.. went with the cheaper plug. I finally called my uncle because I could not get it tuned right and at the time he was an import mechanic. First question was what type of plugs was I running.. He told me to go and get the NGK's I was tuning up a CRX back in the early 90's For a friend. So little things like that over the years made me think other wise as well. Also you can't run Synthetic oil in a mazda Rotary engine. Not even the new RX 8. If you do I will bet you will lose power if not one of the Apex seals in less than a few days.. The Apex seal works like a piston ring in a regular engine. I have rebuilt 2 rotary engines in the past. To me they are one of the easiest to do. NO one really knows why you cant run synthetic in those motors but they do now regular oil keeps them running longer. I had an RX7 I ran 20w 50. Got over a 150,000 miles before it died.

[12Ounce]

Just a little update ... just finished another 5000 mile vacation! This time up from Atlanta up to Ontario and eastward to PEI and Nova Scotia ... back down thru Maine, etc. The Ford reman tranny and the driveway rebuilt engine seem to be doing fine! The van now has about 240 kmiles.

On the trip I saw 5, or 6, Windstars for sale ... parked on front lawns. And I saw two that had stopped and were abandoned on roadsides. Too bad these owners had not found this helpful website!

[wiswind]

There are a lot of windstars around.....and a lot of them on the road.
Problem with most of us is that we keep driving until something goes wrong......and it snowballs from there.
Preventative maintenance goes a LONG way.
"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".
I just turned over 200K miles last week.
From an investment standpoint.....few things are worse than a vehicle......of course one kind of needs one to get around in most parts of the USA.
However......buying another one every few years is throwing money away.....just to look good.
Getting as much life out of them is like putting money in the bank.......

It is really good to hear that your repairs have worked out.
Here is to looking at 300K miles.

[12Ounce]

Yes, I saw a number of Windstars on the road, one would assume: serving their owners well. A couple of very early ones seemed to be in super shape and condition ... as they passed me by.

[dupe]

I know is been a while since the last post, but I am going through the same process of rebuilding the engine and the tranny.
I have a question. After you lower the transmission,engine mounted on the subframe, what did you use to pull it out from under the vehicle?

I have a 2ton hoist with a 1.5 ton balancer which I will use to lower the above parts but I am trying to figure out what to use to pull them out from the bottom of the van after they have been lowered. I was thinking about buying two wheeel dollies rated at 1 ton each so I can wheel the subframe out of the van but I am not sure the wheels will hold. How much you would say the assembly (subframe,tranny and engine) would weight?

[12Ounce]

oops!

I read/responded to your private message before seeing that you had posted also.

Pulling/skidding the subframe with all its stuff out from under the vehicle isn't that difficult. But you will make good use of that hoist when raising stuff up to the work bench, etc.

[12Ounce]

Another update ... 40k miles since engine rebuild and tranny swapout ... 255k miles total on vehicle ... it ain't good news unfortunately!

I'm beginning to see heavy traces of engine oil in the coolant. For the past few thousand miles there has been some coolant loss. When I did the rebuild, all those engineered coolant lines across the top of the engine were not replaced... so I first thought it might be a leak in one of those. As a test, I have been running the last few thousand miles with the reservoir top loose ... this causes a lowering of coolant pressure, especially "outside" the hot zone (between the water pump and the thermostat). So somewhere, I have a cross-path between the oil and coolant ... that seems to be aggravated when I loosened the pressure cap ... at least, there now seems to be more flow of oil into the coolant. I have not noticed any evidence of coolant in oil ... but unfortunately did not pull an oil sample during today's oil change ... will have to wait a few thousand miles and pull an oil sample to send to Blackstone's.

The engine and the tranny continue to perform super. But that is now at risk.

If there is no trace of coolant found in the oil, I am faced with redoing the lower intake gaskets and the front cover gaskets. If there is coolant found in the oil .... well, those Volvo's look awfully nice! I don't think my better half will let me redo the engine again!

[wiswind]

I am really sorry to hear of this.
I don't know what to suggest......I have never become so involved in motor repair.
I do know that there are a lot of places that one can come across a problem in this level of repair.
Oil into the coolant does not seem to be high up in the normal failure modes on the Windstar.......so past history will not be of much help.
Would oil into the coolant (with no detected coolant loss) point you more toward the lower part of the motor?
I am trying to remember if there are actual oil passages through the lower intake manifold.....there is chance for some splash otherwise...but how would that happen to the extent that you are seeing when the coolant system is (before your test) normally under pressure.

With all the work......it is possible that maybe the front cover is not seated just right (maybe a luckey break with re-checking the bolt torque?).....or even a crack in the front cover.

After all this work.....I was hoping for AT LEAST another 100K miles for you without major engine/tranny repair.

[12Ounce]

You're giving me cause to focus more clearly. Yep, you're right ... there is NO high pressure oil in the lower intake gasket that I remember. In the head gaskets, yes, there is high pressure oil (Oh, I hope the head gaskets aren't failing! ... and I think not). The (Mickey Mouse) front cover gasket is my best hope ... and very likely. Unless there is coolant detected by Blackstone in the crankcase oil .... then one could believe that the crossover takes place in a low-pressure area such as the lower intake. ?? Stay tuned.

[12Ounce]

UPDATE about oil-in-coolant concern... 45k miles since eng rebuild/tranny swapout ...260k miles total

Well, I opted to redo the intake manifold gaskets and seals ... all the way down thru the lower manifold to the block. Sure enough, the Ford gasket set (installed at rebuild) had failed me ... there was a coolant passageway leak on the LH side. The leak seemed to be "to the outside" ... I guess oil spilled around the filler port was making its way into the coolant.

At any rate, the latest aftermarket Felpro gasket set seems to be doing well after several hundred miles. I installed a new clear reservoir so the coolant can be better monitored. Knock on wood ... so far, so good!

[type0]

Originally Posted by 12Ounce

UPDATE about oil-in-coolant concern... 45k miles since eng rebuild/tranny swapout ...260k miles total

Well, I opted to redo the intake manifold gaskets and seals ... all the way down thru the lower manifold to the block. Sure enough, the Ford gasket set (installed at rebuild) had failed me ... there was a coolant passageway leak on the LH side. The leak seemed to be "to the outside" ... I guess oil spilled around the filler port was making its way into the coolant.

At any rate, the latest aftermarket Felpro gasket set seems to be doing well after several hundred miles. I installed a new clear reservoir so the coolant can be better monitored. Knock on wood ... so far, so good!

Any update????????????????????????????

[12Ounce]

Kinda glad you asked: 280+ mile update:

It's still rolling along ...runs just fine! Need to repolish the headlamp covers. Passenger door lock is getting "iffy". Windshield has a crack. Tune-up is overdue. So the Winny needs some attention ... but it has been dependable.

The coolant reservoir has remained clear and new looking ... so the last gasket job must have worked. Never knew "precisely" what the original leak was. I used the same amount of care in this last gasket procedure ... I have no idea why the other gasket set failed .. there was nothing obvious. I continue to leave the reservoir cap a half turn loose.

And we have another around the country trip planned ... meeting the same German friends in Vancouver and doing more or less the same road trip ... but this time in Summer instead of Winter. This should add about 10k miles .... if it holds together! ??