A4LD is grinding in reverse, and won't engage.

[silver92]

helllo guys i haven't posted here in a long time but i just put junkyard A4LD in my 92 explorer SASed, 6" lift, on 33's. and its been in for about 2 months now. and out of nowhere the truck wouldn't go into reverse it just grinds and i have to manually put it into 1st and it goes fine but makes a slight whining noise when driving when i shift it into second it bangs but goes in and drives okay so everything else seems to work fine. i have zero tranny experience. i know the A4LD is complete trash considering im on my 4th one i believe. but this time instead of assuming the worst and just getting another junkyard tranny i figure i would try a fix this one. any ideas as to what it could be would be awesome. and oh yeah i don't know if this may have anything to do with it but when the truck is cold it doesn't want to shift out of first until it is warm. once warm it shifts fine. I don't know if this is a separate issue or if they are related. thanks in advance - Ian

 

[Riceburner247]

Same thing happened to me, but I remedied the situation by swapping in a new one. Never bothered to find out what happened. It would act like it was in Neutral until it was fully warmed up. Had to install a remote start system so I could leave in the morning, haha.

 

[silver92]

yeah I've been thinking about a remote start too. anyone else have any ideas as to whats going on?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Your thread was moved into the transmissions section. The problem with shifting out of 1st when it's cold could be a sticking governor. As for the original issue, it could be a problem with the rear one way sprag, band, servo or even the transfer case (assuming that you have a 4WD vehicle).

 

[silver92]

BrooklynBay- ahh i see. umm i don't really know anything about transmissions but from what im reading up on the A4LD, the servo for reverse also is for 1st gear and that its located next to the valve body and is very easy to change. the band and the sprag on the other hand are inside the tranny and require a tear down to get to. the transfer case you also mentioned as well and if need be is an easy change. is there anyway to narrow the problem down to one thing other than trial and error or do i just have to start throwing parts at it? thanks.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Examine the parts first, and only replace them if necessary.