I hope you guys can help me here...

[Joeberman]

For starters, here's what I have:
2002 Ranger
3.0L V6
Automatic
2wd
About 95,000 miles

I suppose that covers the basics. Here's a two-part question.


Now, I have noticed that after recently having the transmission fluid replaced as just part of regular maintenance that my truck has just been acting...off. It's been having problems downshifting during acceleration, which to be fair it was doing before the fluid was replaced. However, since then it has felt underpowered, there is this awful frequent clicking sound while driving, I've noticed the temperature gauge will fluctuate wildly from just under overheating back to cold, and worst of all the truck gets a terrible vibration around 60mph, and anywhere from 45-60 you can feel a slight infrequent vibration. Those last two started yesterday.


Ok, I'm no gearhead. I've got my Haynes manual and can take care of basic maintenance myself, but that's about as far as I go. Which is why I'm here now. First thing I did, of course, was check my fluid level. There is way too much transmission fluid in there (thank you, Ted Russell Ford). So obviously I need to drain some of it. I know that much.


Another thing I noticed while doing that is that my coolant reservoir tank was completely empty. It's not a pressurized part of the cooling system itself. Going through the Haynes and the owner's manual, both of those mention that the reservoir tank should have a "COLD FULL" and "HOT FULL" level mark in the tank. Either I'm blind or it just plain doesn't have those marks for whatever reason. Part of this question is how much coolant should be in the tank?


The other part, reading through the Haynes manual, something I connected was the possibility of an internal failure in the radiator causing coolant to seep into the transmission fluid. Is this what's causing my problems or do I just need some sleep?


I'm here because I need some knowledgeable help. Anything you guys can come up with as a suggestion(s) to what's causing my problems is greatly appreciated.

 

[James86]

If you're Ranger is like mine, then yes, there are transmission lines running ot the raddiater tank, so it IS possible that the coolant is getting into the transmission; however, I would think you'd know since the fluid would obviously not be bright fresh red. As for the lines on your coolant reservoir, yes, they are kinda hard to read but I see mine and yours should be pretty similar to mine since we both have 3.0's with autos.

The shuddering around 45 and infrequent vibrations around 60 are a little harder to peg.... I know mine acted similar when an injector went out. I could smell and see it out the tail pipe and when I popped the hood the engine shook pretty bad from misfiring. Is it more or less sever depending on how hard to you stomp it? When my injector went, i had to pretty much nail it and leave O/D off to maintain 60 mph. More important, my "Check Engine Light" did NOT come on when my injector died. Luckily I have a competent mechanic who pretty much heard me pull up, drove it down the block and said, "injector" and its been flawless since. Good luck on your search for help, thats what I've got to offer.

 

[Joeberman]

It doesn't matter how hard I'm on the accelerator, the vibration is always there, and it feels like it's coming out of the transmission.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

It doesn't matter how hard I'm on the accelerator, the vibration is always there, and it feels like it's coming out of the transmission.

Well the vibration should hopefully be easy to fix... I would suggest taking it to the local tire shop and having them rebalance the tires just to make sure, My truck would feel fine up until I hit about 65 - 70 then it ould shake pretty violently took it back to the place I work and checked the balance and all my tires were atleast 2 oz. off so I rebalanced them to zero out and there is only a slight vibration now due to the M/T's. If that doesn't fix the vibration then we can look into other things but that is the cheapest and easiest thing to do first. Your driveshaft could also have thrown a weight as well.

As for the Transmission and Coolent... Well you have to check the fluid in the transmission while the vehicle is running and in neutral (I believe? I know it has to be running when you check it...) if it is still too full then take it back to the place you got it flushed and ask them to pull out the excess fluid. Also did they change the filter when they flushed the transmission?

The coolent I would top it off in the radiator and then on the coolent reservoir the marks are hard to see as they are between the coolent and window washing fluid and they are just raised letters the same color as the tank... But if you fill it up with a few inches I think you should be able to see the marks and just fill it to the line. If it still fluxuates they I would look at changing your thermostat as its cheaper and if that doesn't solve it either flush the system or you may need a new water pump.

 

[Joeberman]

Yeah, I was able to find the fill line in the reservoir, did that. The owner's manual offers a way for you to check the transmission fluid while the engine is cold and not running, the level should be in between two small holes on the dipstick that are below the markings you would normally want the coolant to be at. And it still was above the "DO NOT ADD" mark. And yes, the filter was changed as well.


My tire pressure and alignment are fine as well, I suppose I should've mentioned that earlier. Although I wish that's what the problem was...but it's not gonna be that easy.


Anyway, this is blowing my mind. After adding the coolant back in, the truck acted fine today. Didn't make any awful noise. Didn't vibrate, granted I didn't go above 50 either. But acted just fine. There is no way simply adding coolant cured this thing, or maybe I really am starting to lose it. I'm almost convinced it's gonna start back up with this tomorrow. Because again, there's no way just refilling the coolant was all I needed to do.

Thanks for the responses, guys.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

My tire pressure and alignment are fine as well, I suppose I should've mentioned that earlier. Although I wish that's what the problem was...but it's not gonna be that easy.


.

Well I didn't say anything about Alignment or Tire pressure, those would cause pulling to one side or another, or un-even tire wear. But I meant the balancing of the tire where they put it on a balancer and spin it up to 55mph and the machine calculates where you need to add weight that will prevent vibration...

 

[Viper Command]

If your cooler tank is leaking, remove the lines off the tankand install A large trans cooler right behind your grille, also you need to plug your cooler tank.

vibration, out of ballance tires like ranger-84 said, and out of round(tread seperation), and drive shaft bent or missing the weight.

but you could have a blown head gasket blowing your coolant out, and the vibration could be a missfire.