Depending on the age of the car, the auto trans may have a cooler line running through the bottom tank of the radiator to get rid of the heat from the trans, poor mans heat exchanger. If the thermostat is U/S and the coolant level is low the trans may have trouble cooling and overheat causing slippage. Engine needs to run faster to over come the slippage, causing it to get hotter, trans gets hotter because it has no cooling and so on and so forth until it turns into a Saudi sprinkler.
So what is the van and how old is it? |