Help please....88 E150 van....

OK heres the deal...

I got this van....GIVIN to me, with a awesome body, damn near perfect interior, its a conversion, everything even the A/C works flawlessly.

Anyways, the damn thing wont move. You drop it in gear and it stalls the motor dead in its tracks. Its got a 300 I6, im going to go pick it up tomorrow but i would like to have some idea what im getting myself into....

My guess is its in the trans, it has O/D so its a AOD right?

later,
Dustin

I know GM had some FWD transmission problems with the lockup solenoid getting stuck which would engage lockup, killing the engine by acting like a manual and not pushing the clutch when stopping. I don't know Ford transmissions, but maybe they had a similar kind of problem?

yeah, my first guess would be a locked torque converter.

Maybe im dumb but ive never dealt with a locked tq converter before...should the wheels still roll while the thing is in neutrual correct? So i can get the frickin thing on a trailer?

Also what does an E150 conversion roughly weigh? Wondering if i can get away with pulling it with the F150 seeing as how i gotta drive 50 miles to get it and if i take the F250 or the dually its going to cost me 300 bucks in gas.

later,
Dustin

The f150 will pull it fine for 50 miles, just do it smartly. And i dont think a locked toqrue converter is the prob otherwise it would be locked at the rear wheels. IMO Ive heard of this with ford before, but I cant remember what caused it.

rusty ol ranger said:

OK heres the deal...

I got this van....GIVIN to me, with a awesome body, damn near perfect interior, its a conversion, everything even the A/C works flawlessly.

Anyways, the damn thing wont move. You drop it in gear and it stalls the motor dead in its tracks. Its got a 300 I6, im going to go pick it up tomorrow but i would like to have some idea what im getting myself into....

My guess is its in the trans, it has O/D so its a AOD right?

later,
Dustin

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Two of my friends in high school had an E150 van. It felt kind of heavy but it could certainly get out of its own way. Might have been a V8. When driving it people would get out of my way. Another friend had a newer diesel one and we took it on a ski trip and the damn thing took 8 people to push up an incline whenever it got stuck. It should be fine to tow it with a F150 for 50 miles seeing as it should weigh about 5000 lbs and its been said that Rangers can tow that much. On a separate note, when I took auto shop we had one of those vans and to get the engine out it was necessary to take apart part of the cab (engine sat directly beneath and in front of the front seats). So it may be a hassle to work on. But vans are fun .

my taurus did that and it was the lock up clutch on the torque converter. given that this is a 300 it might be an E4OD....... although in 1988 it could be either, but all 90+ Broncos with a 300 and auto had E4OD.

darkspork said:

Two of my friends in high school had an E150 van. It felt kind of heavy but it could certainly get out of its own way. Might have been a V8. When driving it people would get out of my way. Another friend had a newer diesel one and we took it on a ski trip and the damn thing took 8 people to push up an incline whenever it got stuck. It should be fine to tow it with a F150 for 50 miles seeing as it should weigh about 5000 lbs and its been said that Rangers can tow that much. On a separate note, when I took auto shop we had one of those vans and to get the engine out it was necessary to take apart part of the cab (engine sat directly beneath and in front of the front seats). So it may be a hassle to work on. But vans are fun .

Click to expand...

easiest tune up I ever did (there were 2 of them this easy) was a 95 Ford motorhome built on an E350 chasis with a 460 and an 85 chevy G20 conversion with a 305. when you take the dog house off you have access to the whole back of the engine and can reach all 8 plugs with out being a contortionist....... this is really important on a chevy given the idiotic idea of putting the distributor in the back. and you can always take the engine out through the bottom easier than you could disassemble the front clip.

darkspork said:

Two of my friends in high school had an E150 van. It felt kind of heavy but it could certainly get out of its own way. Might have been a V8. When driving it people would get out of my way. Another friend had a newer diesel one and we took it on a ski trip and the damn thing took 8 people to push up an incline whenever it got stuck. It should be fine to tow it with a F150 for 50 miles seeing as it should weigh about 5000 lbs and its been said that Rangers can tow that much. On a separate note, when I took auto shop we had one of those vans and to get the engine out it was necessary to take apart part of the cab (engine sat directly beneath and in front of the front seats). So it may be a hassle to work on. But vans are fun .

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Diesels used to lose power alot going uphill. The newer diesels shouldnt have that prob, it was a big disadvantage back then.

Well i went to go and get it....started it up, dropped it in gear, and it stalled. However, out of curosity i pulled it into 1st and it was fine. I actually drove it home shifting it manually.

WTF?

later,
Dustin

its not the lock up clutch then. Modulator maybe? maybe a vacuum line in missing? I would start with a filter/fluid change.

Maybe take it in and get the tq converter and everything flushed out?

later,
Dustin

rusty ol ranger said:

Maybe take it in and get the tq converter and everything flushed out?

later,
Dustin

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yeah except I wouldn't do a power flush. I would just get everything drained then go with another filter, because if that transmission has alot of metal shavings in it then it could be damaged further by spreading the shavings through out the transmission. I would just drain the transmission, drain the torque converter and change the filter, plus then you could see if there are any shavings in the pan.

BDAB said:

yeah except I wouldn't do a power flush. I would just get everything drained then go with another filter, because if that transmission has alot of metal shavings in it then it could be damaged further by spreading the shavings through out the transmission. I would just drain the transmission, drain the torque converter and change the filter, plus then you could see if there are any shavings in the pan.

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Most flush machines just use the transmissions pump to circulate the fluid. They disconnect a cooler line and the tranny pumps out the old and the machine pumps in the new at the same rate, when the clean stuff starts coming out it is done. It circulates no differently that it would going down the road.

At least that is how the one works at the dealership my brother works at, I would follow that up with a filter change. (keep the new fluid clean so you can reuse it)

When I dropped the pan on my 4R70W (glorified AODE), there was also a magnet in there to catch shavings, a few will be normal. Dunno if it applies to trannys that old but if you find a little plastic stopper with a o-ring on it you are the first one to have the pan off unless for some unknown reason they put it back in. (I was the first in mine at 60k) They were used to plug the dipstick hole before installation, and are pushed into the tranny when it is put into the truck. So if you find one in there nothing bad happened aside from poor maintanance. Kinda freaky to drop the pan and find parts until you find out what it is.

just a note a flush on any automatic with high miles gives you about a 70% chance of destroying your tranny. unless it has had regular flushes through out its life. the reason is that after so manny miles the tranny fluid loses its deturgents (propertys to clean inturnal parts) or more properly put the deturgents turn into varnish and collect on the friction plates. after more miles the friction plates start to deteriorate to the point that the varnish is the only thing holding the friction plates together. when new fluid is added the deturgents in it start to break down the varnish and the friction plates fall apart.
atleast thats how my transmissions teacher described it to me