1996 taurus sedan

Hi my brother-in-law has a 96 taurus with only 90 K on it, and the tranny has been replaced once already, But anyways has been running fine for last 2 years, but last fall out of the blue the tranny spit a ton of tranny fluid out enough that the car would not move !! he thinks fuid came out from torque converter seal as it was wet under inspection cover ! any ways he filled fluid up and car drove home fine ! but in the next week same thing happened, he filled fluid up drove home, then car drove fine for about 8 months without adding one drop of fluid or leaking any fluid, about 10,000 miles worth of driving { He lives way out of town} then boom ,tranny spit all the fluid out again !! now he gave up on car can anyone help with this one ? Thanks for any replys ! Lance

Was he doing anything specific in all three cases when the fluid spewed out such as towing a trailer, driving up a mountain, etc.? I've seen where a small crack/fracture in the torque converter shaft can spew the fluid if the converter gets hot enough but hold fluid just fine under normal conditions.

-Rod

I can second what Rod said from personal experience, but as far as I know, mine didn't involve a structural crack in the trans. On my Windstar, which also uses the AXOD trans, I have never had a significant fluid loss until pulling our camper trailer over a mountain recently. Lost 2 qts. on the mountain and all the way to our final destination at the bottom of the mtn. The only thing I could find wrong was one or two slightly undertorqued bottom pan bolts. The trip back over the mtn produced no leaks. I checked it again at home. Found another slightly loose bolt, but no evidence of any appreciable leakage. Apparently, the heat generated by the trans opened up the trans pan joint. I checked the air vent on top, and nothing had come out there. I also wondered if it was plugged forcing the fluid out the bottom, but a local mechanic told me the vent cap would have been blown off if it was plugged. I asked him about using a trans stop leak, because he thought the gasket dried and cracked, and he said the sealant is only good for helping shaft seals seal when they no longer have a tight enough fit. I really don't know if adding trans sealants is a good idea or not.

Which brings me to your situation. When you drive along, the trans gets hot, and the radiator and trans cooling loop or aux trans cooler (if you have either) will cool the trans fluid while moving or the engine running. But when you shut down the engine with very hot trans fluid, it will continue to heat up, in your case, enough to burp out at a seal, gasket or whatever. So until it gets hot enough, the fluid will not leak. Apparently, while driving it, it would stay cool enough. The Windstar Forum folks don't like how poorly cooled the AXOD trans is, so they recommend at the very least idling the engine for a little bit when just parked before turning it off. They strongly recommend adding an aux trans cooler, especially for lots of heavily loaded traveling, particularly when pulling a trailer.