I have a 1998 Ford Taurus wagon - 117K+ miles on it. Has had a slow drips for some time (my bad). Car loses pick up going up hill, gears don’t seem to engage well - like it takes two seconds to get it to engage into first from a dead stop. Took it to the mechanic who says it needs to have its ‘cooler line and fittings’ replaced. What’s he talking about?
Well, automatic transmissions for the most part use a cooler inside the radiator to cool the transmission fluid. The cooler lines that are referred to are the 2 lines that connect the transmission to the radiator.
That being said, I would not replace the lines just yet. The trans is shifting funny, it’s leaking, etc. so have you checked the fluid level?
If this has been going on for a while you have been damaging the transmission due to lack of fluid.
Make sure the fluid level is full and if the trans shifts fine then have the cooler lines repaired.
I second what OK said… Dont pay this dude to change your cooler lines unless you are sure that low fluid is the reason the trans is neutraling. If you top off the fluid and the trans shifts right then and only then I would change the lines. If the trans still has problems with the fluid level full then I would leave the cooler line repair alone unless you plan on repairing the trans too.
Let us know what you find out.
transman
That vintage Taurus had many transmission issues.
My mechanic advised me when i bought mine to faithfully change the tranny fluid. If you haven’t changed your fluid recently,i’d do that first.
Sounds to me like your tranny is shot.
If your leak is coming from the transmision line it needs to be replace. This will cause a drop in pressure and level and it may behave wierd. It is easy enough to verify and not expensive to fix. If you do it yourself make sure you use transmission hose and not gas line hose. There is a difference. If the leak is from a rusted through metal tube you can cut out the weak section and splice it with tranny hose and hose clamps. Make sure it is well supported and not rubbing against anything that may damage it.
This may not be your only problem as the trannies in these Fords are fragile and need to be maintained or your asking for trouble.
Fix the leaks, maintain the correct fluid level and take it from there.