We own a 1998 windstar. when it gets hot the transmission stops shifting. Took the radiator to get cleaned thoroughly, put new antifreeze/Coolant. Took it for a test run and after it got hot the transmission started to stay in nuetral and we had to ride downhill to make it back. Didnt shift at all the whole tme and we were hitting the accelerator. what could be the problem?

Hi
The car will definitely not over heat because you haven't put any antifreeze in ,yes some antifreeze's also work as a summer coolant but you can rule the antifreeze out its definitely something else causing your overheating problem is your cooling fan working correctly ?
Hope this helps Nick

• One is the radiator and the other is an overflow tank. Sometimes anti freeze will back pressure a bit and need somewhere to go and other times the antifreeze gets low in the radiator. That is the purpose of the radiator.
• Put the antifreeze in the radiator fist and then add to the reservoir. Pay attention to the cold/hot level fill on the overfill tank.
• You need to find out where all that antifreeze went to if the radiator was empth. Pull the dipstick and look for a chocolate milk look on the oil. This would be a head gasket or a cracked head.
• Otherwise keep an eye out for a leak and repair it soon.
• Hope this helps and thank you for using FixYa.

Regards, Tony

Do you ever smell a sweat kind of gross smell when your turn your car on? If not, and there are no drips in the driveway and no movement of the antifreeze levels, then they must be trying to extort some money from you. The Ethylene Glycol (Antifreeze) would have to be going somewhere (evaporating or leaking) in order for there to be a crack in the line.

I've seen cars run hot and the heater not work for the following reasons:

1. The radiator is frozen solid and the coolant can't circulate.
*** The fix, get the car into a warm garage and let the ice in the radiator melt. Once done, add the correct mix of antifreeze so it doesn't happen again.

2. The water pump is not working and the coolant isn't circulating.
*** The fix, replace the water pump and adjust antifreeze mix.

Maybe you didn't bleed all of the air out of your coolant systtem.
I had a very similar problem, last month, my heat would not go above 50 degrees F.

I had air in my heater core.

I put wheel blocks behind the back tires and engaged the emergancy brake.
I jacked the front of my van up so both tires were off the ground (about 3")
I removed the radiator cap, started the engine, and turned the heat on high.
I added antifreeze, until it was full.
I let the engine continue to run, as I watched the antifreeze level go back down, then I added more antifreeze.
After doing this 2 times, I squeezed and held the upper radiator hose. I did not release it.
I started pouring more antifreeze in and when it started to over-flow, I still kept pouring as slowly released the hose.
With the raditator level full, I replaced the cap and put some antifreeze in the coolant reservoir.
Lowered the front back to the ground and removed the tire blocks.
I stuck a guage in the inside vent and I now get a 125 degree reading.

Note...after I got the van jacked up, it only took me 15 minutes to get the air out of the system (mainly, because I squeezed and held the hose).

TO CHANGE RADIATOR FIRST YOU TURN OFF RADIO FIRST TO KEEP FROM LOSING RADIO CODE.DISCONNECT NEGATIVE BATTERY CABLE.RAISE FRONT OF VECHICLE SUPPORT ON JACK STANDS.REMOVE THE LOWER SPLASH SHIELDS.NOW YOU NEED TO DRAIN THE COOLING SYSTEM.CATCH COOLANT IN A LARGE DRAIN PAN.REUSE COOLANT IF ITS FAIRLY NEW.IF COOLANT VERY OLD CHANGE IT.PUT OLD COOLANT IN SOME EMPTY CONTAINER TAKE TO A GARAGE OR WHOEVER DISPOSE IT.DONT POUR ON GROUND.HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT.MOVE THE AIR INTAKE DUCT PASSES OVER THE TOP RADIATOR HOSE.NOW WHEN ALL COOLANT DRAIN OUT.LOOSEN UPPER AND LOWER RADIATOR HOSE CLAMPS.THEN DETACH THE RADIATOR HOSES FROM THE FITTINGS.IF THEY ARE STUCK GRASP EACH HOSE NEAR THE END WITH A PAIR OF ADJUSTABLE PLIERS AND TWIST IT TO BREAK THE SEAL THEN PULL IT OFF REMOVE SMALL COOLANT SURGE LINES FROM TOP OF RADIATOR THAT GOES TO THE OVER FLOW RESERVOIR..DISCONNECT COOLING FAN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR.THEN REMOVE THE COOLING FAN.REMOVE DISCONNECT AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION COOLER LINES GET READY TO CATCH TRANSMISSION FLUID THEN PLUG LINES. NOW UNSCREW THE FOUR BOLTS TWO ON EACH SIDE OF THE RADIATOR THAT ATTACH RADIATOR TO THE AIR CONDITIONER CONDENSOR CAREFULLY TIP TOP OF THE RADIATOR SLIGHTLY TOWARDS THE ENGINE.REMOVE THE UPPER RADIATOR SEAL AND LIFT RADIATOR FROM THE ENGINE.NOW IS THE TIME TO REPLACE THE UPPER AND LOWER RADIATOR HOSES WITH NEW ONES SINCE ALL COOLANT REMOVE I WOULD REPLACE THERMOSTAT AND RADIATOR PRESSURE CAP.NOW WHEN YOU GET READY TO INSTALL NEW RADIATOR USE SHEETS OF CARD BOARD PROTECT RADIATOR FINS AND CORES FROM DAMAGE WHILE SITTING RADIATOR BACK IN PLACE.ONCE YOU GET UPPER AND LOWER HOSES IN PLACE ALSO PLACE SMALL SURGE HOSES FROM THE OVER FLOW RESERVOIR TO RADIATOR NEW THERMOSTAT AND TRANSMISSION COOLER LINES ALL HOOK UP. START POURING ANTIFREEZE IN THE RADIATOR OR OVERFLOW RESERVOIR IF RADIATOR DONT HAVE RADIATOR CAP ON IT.POUR A FULL GALLON ANTIFREEZE AND A HALF MORE IF LONG AS THE COOLANT STAYS ON THE COLD LEVEL MARK ON OVERFLOW RESERVOIR DONT OVER FILL.IF YOU POUR ANTIFREEZE IN RADIATOR KEEP POURING ANTIFREEZE UNTIL LEVEL STOP DROPPING AND LEVEL OFF AT RADIATOR TOP.START ENGINE CHECK FOR LEAKS. LET ENGINE RUN UNTIL IT WARM UP TOP RADIATOR HOSE GET HOT.WATCH COOLANT LEVEL IN RADIATOR OR COOLANT OVERFLOW RESERVOIR WHEN THERMOSTAT OPENS COOLANT LEVEL WILL DROP.ONCE YOU HAVE ENOUGH COOLANT IN THE SYSTEM COOLANT LEVEL WILL STOP DROPPING.THEN YOU READY TO GO.LET ENGINE SIT A LITTLE WHILE CHECK COOLANT LEVEL AGAIN.COOLANT LEVEL IN THE OVER FLOW RESERVOIR SHOULD BE AT HOT MARK FOR HOT ENGINE AND WHEN ENGINE COLD COOLANT LEVEL SHOULD BE AT THE COLD MARK.IF POUR ANTIFREEZE IN THE RADIATOR COOLANT LEVEL SHOULD BE AT TOP OF RADIATOR BELOW PRESSURE CAP.

More likely the head gasket--there is no coolant in the intake manifold. This is a big job. I did one recently and it took almost 2 days to replace both head gaskets.

Could be water pump, radiator, freeze plugs, hoses, ect. try and isolate the area by putting a piece of card board down on the ground and line up what is above it. Garages use a pressure tester on the cooling system to see where the leak is. I would guess water pump,or small bypass hose

Is your cooling fan kicking on when temp rises?Are you running antifreeze or just water?Possible calcium buildup in radiator or water pump not working at full potential.. I could be more helpful if more detail info was given....

You could possibly have a internal crack in the radiator, this is not un herd of because the transmission cooler is the side tank of the radiator, they are separated by a internal metal divider and its possible for the radiator to crack forcing antifreeze into the transmission cooler section of the radiator, because of the timing of this incident i would not stray from human error as a major possibility, but its not impossible for this to happen on its own and i have seen it before, its also possible they did not change the fluid in the flush machine from a previous job (that had water in the fluid) i would recheck the tranny fluid now and make sure its not watered down and overfilled, also be sure your coolant is not low, if these check out, then your shop owes you a brand new transmission and thats great because they aren't the best ones on the market and have a high failure rate anyway, best of luck to you and please rate this solution -Jeff