A friend of ours is in the military and desperately needed a ride to his base in Battle Creek. We were almost there when we stopped at rest area and noticed something sprayed all over the back of my van. We got to base and the stupid thing started to shift funny.

We bought some tranny fluid on the way home and finally got it there. About a week or so later I took it into the local transmission shop and had the guys check it out. They told me that it was leaking from a gasket that sits on top of the transmission.

A friend of ours said he could fix all the little things wrong with it for the $200 the shop wanted so it was a done deal. He fixed the window that didn't work and the gasket...

On the way to bring the van back to us, he noticed that the van was blowing out only hot air, so he decided to turd around and go home so he could fix that, too. When he turned the van....KABOOM!!!!! The transmission blows apart!!!!!! I mean into several pieces. Have you ever heard of that happening on a newer vehicle??? Needless to say, I found a junk transmission $400 in Lansing. Plus the money to pay him to put the freakin' thing back in. We know it wasn't our friend's fault because it busted the opposite axle that he was working on to begin with. Well...this is definitely the last damn Ford I will ever buy....just sayin'.

Was driving to take wife to a doctor office for new job medical work. Was leaving from a stop light and van was shuddering upon acceleration and jumping until we got moving. This happened 2 more times, then I smelled trans fluid and then pulled over. I looked under the car to see it was leaking in a very heavy drip/light stream. I drove up the street to the first gas station and pulled it and it was just pouring out like someone turned on a sink to wash their hands. I let it sit for an hour or so and put in the correct transmission fluid and it was leaking out as fast as I had poured it in. I went thru 5 quarts of fluid. When I checked the level it was good to overfull every time. And every time I started it, it was leaking from between the engine and transmission.

I had a friend tow me home on a dolly. I left the van to sit for 2 weeks while I tried to get the money for a rebuild. I went in the van and started it up and drove it, with no leaks, and the level was fine. Drove it for 30 min straight with no issues. Then one day I drove it 45 minutes on a hot day and it started leaking (as I was getting ready to go on a 3 hr trip away from home). Then it would do it off and on when it wanted to, so I kept a box of trans fluid in the back. Gears never slipped like you would imagine. No external trans cooler either.

I did research and find out about a new vent design from Ford (they never replaced or recalled, another of their problems fixed out of pocket). I replaced it and it still would leak. I was short of putting an external cooler on in hopes of curing it, but at the moment it seems to be fine, and not leaking. I haven't taken it on very many trips due to the cracked rear axle, so I can't test it long term.