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Transmission Slipping? A4LD

djur

Member
Joined
September 2, 2005
Messages
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City, State
Grand Junction, CO
Year, Model & Trim Level
1994 Explorer Limited
I have a 1994 with an Automatic 4x4. A week or so ago I began to notice that under stiff acceleration my transmission is acting differently. In first gear it always performs normally, but once it switches to second gear or third gear it seems to lose power, and the tachometer will either slightly spike, or maintain a constant level of RPMs while the speed gains for a while, like it will hover at 2500 RPM while the speed goes from 25-35 MPH before moving up any. I think something is giving somewhere in order for it to maintain the same RPMs but produce more speed. Torque Converter, transmission? I'm not sure. I checked the fluid hot while running in park, and it is fine. If the thing is going out I would like to know so I can arrange a fix, new car, or otherwise. If it is a part that is going out that can be fixed before the whole thing tanks, I would like to know as well.

What do you think?
 



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Usually a slipping of a band or clutch produces the opposite of what you describe. The speed does not change but as slipping starts, the rpms slowly increase. Your situation would almost seem to be the reverse, you have slipping that slowly goes away... odd.

I'm not sure eactly what is going on in your case. How does the fluid look/smell?
 






Maybe the band, and clutch material is a little worn, and slips when cold. When it gets hot, it expands and stops slipping. A band adjustment might help a little. How many miles are on this transmission? Lucas stop leak swells that material, and might help a little if you are eventually going to rebuild it.
 






Did you ever check to see if there is fluid leaking in your hose that is connected to the modulator? It might be possibe that the modulator's diaphragm might have a little seepage, and is causing some slippage. A sticking governor usually has a 1-2 shift delay when cold. VB gaskets sometimes leak when they are dried out, and brittle. This could cause hydraulic pressure seepage.
 






The fluid is red and clean, I didn't smell it. I haven't checked for any leaks. I'm not entirely sure it is slipping, it may just be the torque converter not converting well? I'm not a transmission guru or anything. If the torque converter is not transferring power efficiently to the wheels, I think the speed would increase slowly while the RPMs stayed the same... or they would otherwise not sync up like expected. Am I wrong?
 






You make a good point. l need to go look at lockup points.... if you are prelockup, (which you probably are) your analysis is not inplausible...
 






Okay, so the vehicle is still going.. but for how long I'm not sure.. The problem is only occuring in 2nd gear... Can someone tell me where I can find this modulator that may be losing hydraulic pressure? The transmission was supposed to have been rebuilt about 25,000 miles ago... I no longer think this has anything to do with the torque converter...
 






The modulator is located on the passenger's side of the transmission. It has a vacuum hose going onto it that you could follow for its exact location. It is very close to the servo pistons to the left side of them in the picture below. The picture shows a 2WD A4LD. The 4WD version has a deep pan, and a different extension housing.
a4ld.jpg
 






could that lucas transmission fix help a leak stop i just thought of this i dropped the pan on my 94 xlt and there is no metal shavings at all and plus there is no tranny fluid at the front seal only on the support beam right behind the trans pan its all dark with old fluid but there is no sign of fluid anywhere else on it so do you think it would do the trick
 












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