tranny trouble after radiator flush&fill

[mwhit67]

Wife took our 97 windstar and had the radiator flushed& filled. After picking up the van she experienced tranny trouble. got home and did a tranny service on it. The fluid was brown and had a burnt smell to it. We've only had it a couple of months and it's obvious the last owner didn't keep up on anything. Test drove it and still not shifting correctly. the next day the wife drove it back to the shop and it was fine! . Could the flush have anything to do with the trouble now? According to the mechanic, our engine light is on and it's possible that something else besides a bad tranny is causing the trans to go into a limp mode. Does anyone have any ideas. I am considering adding a tranny cooler because now if it sits and idles for more than a couple of minutes, the tranny problem comes back.

[CoachKarl]

It doesn't seem possible that coolant flush could cause your transaxle to stumble. Oh, you said "radiator" flushed. Do you mean that it was removed from the van and boiled out? That would mean that they removed the trans lines that attach to it, and could be related. Tell us the mileage on the van.

Karl

[garync1]

Fluid change for the tranny was a good idea along with the radiator. If the engine light is on, have the codes pulled, auto zone will do it for free. Could be a sensor bad which is kinda common on the windstars.
Now could have the radiator flush caused this. No.. But they could have knocked the sensor wire or the sensor, but that would be unlikely aswell but anything can happen. Also I would think about draining the tranny fluid out one more time to get better results. If the fluid was real bad there was still some in there left over because most of the fluid was in the torque converter. Make sure you use the correct tranny fluid mercon or mercon V Check to make sure which one you use 95 -98 call for mercon and 99-on use Mercon V. Hope this helps. Gary

[mwhit67]

The radiator was not boiled out, just a flush and fill. The van has 117,000 on it and I am not sure if the tranny has ever been replaced. The codes that the van was throwing were related to plugs, wires, egr valve, egr sensor. Replaced the wires, plugs, and the sensor. I still have to replace the valve. It's still showing a code that's a misfire cylinder 2. Wife has not had any more problems, but I will be replacing the egr valve since the engines light is still on. We love the van's size and ride but I have to say after having a plymouth voyager's tranny go on us, and now we know what the ford's are doing, next time we may go with a GM product . Thanks for the input.