93 explorer A4LD transmission still slipping, replaced solenoids in V.b

[dylanm]

I have an automatic 1993 ford explorer 4x4 just bought it through craigslist. and when we picked it up and had about an hour and a half drive home everything seemed to be in perfect working order. very happy with purchase untill next morning when it would not shift into gear or it would seem to be slipping untill it warmed up then it was fine. Long story short it very quickly got progressively worse untill one night it just stopped in the middle of highway.

after about a month of it slipping for the first 2 or 3 miles in morning, to not only in the morning but at night also especially when cold, to all through out the day until eventually blowing the ecc fuze I found out through this site that I had a burnt solenoid in the valve body.
So I dropped pad oil was black didn't not resemble tranny fluid at all smelled burnt and there was quite a bit of debri in pan some metal shavings etc. are to be expected but there were a few chunks maybe equivalent to the size of a 1/4 ball bearing, give or take. not a great sign I know but, working with verry limited funds so had to try everything possible to save as much $ as I could. I have since dropped the pan replaced 2 solenoids there was a lot of crap in the valve body so I decided to pull almost all of the valves and clean/deburr & repair as much as possible over all I felt good about the results. FYI I have never personally even dropped the pan on a tranny but I am mechanically inclined. And have machinist / fabricator history being a welder off and on since i was a kid.

AnyWay the reinstall of the valve body. Tranny was sticking in gear not going into park and grinding so badly i didn't want to leave running long enough to evaluate the problem. I also couldn't manage to get the fluid to register after putting what I believed to be way to much in as is. Remember how its my 1st time inside tranny, well I didn't realize the complete system holds some where around 11 Qts. I was only at about 7 or so. I only expected 4 or 5. Between the two issues combined i figured i screwed up on VB. and almost gave up on it deciding that i failed and never should have been F****** with the inner workings of a transmission in the first place, What the hell was I thinking... But, After going over it in my head multiple times I decided that I was as thorough as I have been on anything in my life and decided that only possible thing I could have done was not replacing the 2 VB gaskets which appeared fine.
So I dropped the pan again, this time I welded in a the new drain plug that I should have done last time.drilled the pan before removing from vehicle in order to keep fluids clean as possible no $$ for new fluids luckily only had to re-use about 1 Qt. of old which did come back red in color but still much darker than expected seeing as how I just put it in and haven't drove car yet. Luckily before taking the VB back out I found that the shift shaft was loose and had noticed some wetness in that area when dropping pan. I couldn't find the part anywhere the shift shaft seal or whatever the correct name is (still don't know) I managed to do without part after doing what I do to repair things when I have $0.00 to work with, and began to repair things with sheer stubborness and determination and a little bit of TLC loosening lightly banging around sanding, cleaning lubing and re-tightening everything trying not to damage seal any further, I re-assembled what I had taken apart filled it with fluid and no more grinding. and it is finding each gear as well as before it was out of commision so I do feel I won the battle but still losing the war.

Ok So the point of this all is does anyone have any advice like I said no cash but I am resourceful and have a few friends who are aswell. between trading my labor using the skills I have acquired over time as well as my good name and a little bit of a credit line with a few different people I can usually come up with what I need. Problem is I don't have the resource's to be wrong a guy only gets so many favors so....

My plan is to go to the junk yard and try to find a diamond in the rough and hopefully come home with a working tranny for under $300. which I don't even have is there anything else I might be able to try first that might help to stop the slipping it's a long story but right now is very bad timing and even a temporary fix would be a life saver for all involved. good advise bad advise inadvisable suggestions AnyThing will be appreciated
Thanks...........

P.S.
is there any chance it is not the tranny could it be torque converter, or differential etc. or out of adjustment after the valve body, could the check balls be misplaced

p.s.s. Thanks to all the owners, contributing forum members and moderators of this site for sharing your knowledge and for all the help in the past and present

 

[arco777]

So it is working now? Or not?

If you rebuilt everything without replacing the valve body gaskets (paper gasket above and below the metal separator plate) you risk a lot of problems. This gasket is crucial to proper operation and is not re-usable. Additionally the torque specs on all the bolts are critical, and the valve body bolts need to return to their original positions as they are several different lengths. I ordered my separator gaskets and other parts from Transmission Parts USA.

Check balls could indeed be in the wrong places. I have seen it firsthand. Reference the A4LD Valve Body Rebuild diary on this forum for help determining where they go.

Now all that said, if you had metal chunks in the pan, I hate to say it but you're probably fighting a losing battle. If there is already damage to the rotating assembly such as the front clutch, your trans is not going to be fixed for good by fixing up the valve body.

Functional junkyard transmissions do exist. Look for a low mileage X that was taken out of commission by a wreck or cracked heads (seen one with 80K before). Or, look for one with over 160k miles (failure point of most A4LDs) with a trans that looks clean like it's been rebuilt. Try for a 93 or 94 model A4LD as those had the most internal updates. Also look at 93/94 Ranger and Mazda Navajo.

You might note that it took a while to get a reply here. For some reason this section of the forum doesn't get a lot of views. Try the Stock 91-94 Explorers section instead next time.

Finally, where are you located? Perhaps another forum member lives in the area and can help you out.

Welcome to the forum and I hope it all works out!