1990 Bii A4LD Valve Body Rebuild ZERO Engagement

[A4LD_Nghtmre]

I've searched Ranger station, FTE, and this sight but can't find d a straight answer as to a possible problem. Here is what I changed:
Transtec valve body gaskets.
Transgo and Superior Shift kit combined.
Sonnax Manual Valve Index.
Power Torque 106 TCC.
Power Torque 107 3-4.
Standard Ignition Modulator Valve.

That and I redid the the engine with MSD wires and a coil, autolite irridium sparks, fel pro blue valve cover gaskets, blue streak cap, and motocraft rotor. The engine is much better now that I have zero leaks(trans pan gasket and driver side valve cover gaskets were toast) but I have ZERO engagement after reinstalling the valve body and attaching the s link to the manual valve with the Sonnax index sleeve.

What could be my possible issues?

The TCC solenoid I got from oreillys has no mount like the original? Could pressure have blown the new one out and created a loss of pressure since it's just held in with the single clip that is similar to the one the 3-4 uses as well but that one gets another clip while installing the body to make it snug. Maybe my s link isn't lining the manual valve up correctly? ATF fluid needs a small drain of a few Oz rn so it's not low fluid level. Please help and much love to all the forums! At least she sounds beautiful. Just can't get her moving and that's a bummer. Prior to this she only had selectable 1 and 2, drive rode 1st until slamming into 2nd when it finally decided it was time after high rpms, and slammed into reverse. Now I have park and neutral with all other gears acting as neutral too. Thank you for any information. I hope you all are rocking your vehicles and having a great day!!!

 

[JK080]

Not sure what is actually going on but if it moved before the valve body work then obviously I would suspect the valve body and what was done to it.

Check line pressure or at least check for cooler flow through the cooler lines. Check to see if the fluid level drops on the stick with the engine running verses engine off. All of this will tell you the pump is at least working.

I never think its a good idea to install two different shift kits into the valve body. I haven't studied these kits and what they are doing but both kits are probably addressing the trouble areas these transmissions have. The problem lies with that they are trying to do the same thing but in different ways so this can create a number of problems.

The Ford C3 transmission uses a modulator that is very similar to the A4LD modulator and can be hard to identify. If a modulator for a C3 transmission is installed on a A4LD transmission it will prevent converter charge resulting in a no movement condition. So put your old modulator back on and see if that does anything. Maybe the parts guys sold you the wrong one and install your old TCC solenoid too just to rule that out, if it doesn't look like what came off I wouldn't use it.

Double check everything you did and If you dont find the issue I would get another valve body, maybe the one from Sonnax.

 

[A4LD_Nghtmre]

Not sure what is actually going on but if it moved before the valve body work then obviously I would suspect the valve body and what was done to it.

Check line pressure or at least check for cooler flow through the cooler lines. Check to see if the fluid level drops on the stick with the engine running verses engine off. All of this will tell you the pump is at least working.

I never think its a good idea to install two different shift kits into the valve body. I haven't studied these kits and what they are doing but both kits are probably addressing the trouble areas these transmissions have. The problem lies with that they are trying to do the same thing but in different ways so this can create a number of problems.

The Ford C3 transmission uses a modulator that is very similar to the A4LD modulator and can be hard to identify. If a modulator for a C3 transmission is installed on a A4LD transmission it will prevent converter charge resulting in a no movement condition. So put your old modulator back on and see if that does anything. Maybe the parts guys sold you the wrong one and install your old TCC solenoid too just to rule that out, if it doesn't look like what came off I wouldn't use it.

Double check everything you did and If you dont find the issue I would get another valve body, maybe the one from Sonnax.

Hey there! Thank you so much for the reply!!! I got her going! Turns out when I dropped the VB it let loose an extra 4 qts so when I was testing the level it was too cold in Tahoe so it looked full after adding 6.5(I assumed since it's 3 qt with pan and filter drop I'd add extra till it looked full, boy was I dumb). I guess dropping the vb, reverse servo, and intermediate servo dropped way more fluid than anticipated. On top of that the shift linkage needed a better adjustment since it was out. Now she shifts all around. Not much get up and go but it's a 2.9 haha.

Just a note on the two shift kits, I used the superior with the additional boost valve and the trans go "junior" kit; not the full on transgo kit. The trans go kit has many Springs that are not included in the superior kit minus outer boost valve spring, and govenor spring. These springs all pertain to different valves and do not interfere with eachother whatsoever. These two kits fixed the Bii. Sure I could have done one but I specifically had to replace a spring only transgo included and had already installed the superior. I'm so glad it works again! So much fixed and changed. Just sucks it was such an idiotic slip up on my part haha.
Any ideas on getting better acceleration at lights? I feel like I'm holding people up lol till I get speed that is. Just a 2.9 thing? Thank you so much again for replying! You are amazing and so is the Bii!

 

[Josh P]

Headers and swapping out the air filter box for a cone filter made a difference on my 87 2.9 ranger. What ratio is your rear axle? If it is 3.45, swapping to a 3.73 or 4.10 will made a world of difference