Transmission leak and multiple codes

[bigallant]

I know some of you will suggest to park the car in a dark alley with the keys in it, but short of that, please reach deep to see if you can help me out. With things going the way they are I cannot afford to abandon it.

1995 Ford Windstar GL
125K miles
V6 3.8L

Problems:
After we drive the car for more than ~40 miles, transmission fluid starts poring, NOT dripping, poring out the bottom of the car. When engine cools down, just a little, leak stops and does not leak, not even a drop, until I drive more than ~30-40 miles again. We can drive the van all around town, short distances, and it will not leak, not a drop.

So, I pulled the code and it shows: P0402, P1400, P1403, P1405, P1406, and P1507. I don’t think any of these codes have to do with the problem described above, figure I’ll just mention the transmission problem. Seems some of these codes contradict each other. Can someone explain what could cause all these codes. If you have any suggestion about the transmission issue also, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Bill

[idol]

Hello Bill,

I am reading, and re-reading your transmission dilemma. It is truly a stumper.
I must ask, "When the transmission loses fluid, how much does it lose?" How much do you have to add back in?

You say it seems to pour out. Have you looked under the vehicle when it does this? Have you noticed where it seems to be leaking from?

I can remember only one other time in my long years of repairing vehicles did I hear of something like this happening. Sort of the same complaint, high speed driving, over a long distance the tranny tended to loose fluid. Short hops, not so much.

I took the vehicle for a couple days, drove it, and then when the symptom occurred I found the fluid was blowing out the filler pipe. This was caused by the fact that the transmission fluid was getting too hot, and it would begin to swell. Eventually it would flow backward up the filler tube and spill out.
In this situation I added an external cooler, and that solved it.

So do me a favor, and look to see where the fluid is leaking from, this will help me better to help you........IDOL

[IDOL]

Thanks for your help "IDOL". Strangely enough, the symptom you just described I happen to have it with my "2001 Ford Sable", transmission fluid would come up through the spout. Took me some time to find it, I was looking for the leak under the car. Come to realize that it was the spout; I fixed it by getting a tighter fitting dipstick, strangest thing. But in the case of the Windstar, that was the first thing I checked (four days later, since it happened at home, and I was out of town). The spout did not look damp. I'll run the car over the coming weekend (I’m traveling again) and double check.