[searcherrr]

Originally Posted by wiswind

The coolant does NOT go into the transmission.
ALL windstars have a transmission cooler mounted inside the radiator.
It is actually a "heat exchanger" that uses the coolant to cool the transmission fluid, which is flowing through its own line....with fins.
The transmission cooler is on the passenger side of the radiator, inside the plastic side "tank" and goes from the top to the bottom.
If you remove your radiator cap, it is directly below the opening.

The fluid travels from the transmission to the base of the radiator on the driver's side, and metal tubes carry the fluid across the bottom of the radiator to the passenger side.
Then the metal tubes connect to 'quick connect' fittings, one at the top of the back side of the side tank, and the other to the bottom of the plastic side tank.
The ATF flows IN at the top of the side tank, through the finned cooler inside the radiator, and OUT the bottom of the side tank.

The FORD flushing process should be done anytime the transmission is replaced or "rebuilt" aka major transmission service.
If the in-radiator transmission fails, in that it is restricting the flow of ATF, or leaking into the coolant (or coolant leaking into the ATF), then the repair process is to replace the whole radiator.
The replacement radiator comes with the transmission cooler included, just connect the lines to it and you are done.

If the windstar has the factory towing package, it will still have the standard in-radiator transmission cooler, AND a auxillary transmission cooler that is mounted in front of the radiator, below the bumper.
The ATF will flow through the radiator cooler as I mention above, THEN it will flow through the auxillary cooler, and back to the transmission.

Thanks Wiswind. I took a break from all this for a while when I sent the van to the shop about 3 weeks ago. I didn't have the factory tow package. EVerything TOW was added after. I had a 14,500lb rated aux cooler installed in front of the radiator towards the top of it I believe a while back. I had bought a larger one for them to put on with the new engine in the past month, but they didn't put it on claiming they didn't think it would fit though they never even opened the box to see and claim the old one is fine.... whereas if something goes wrong it could void my new engine warranty according to warranty terms. Though I'm going to post more about all this in my other thread.