A4LD No TCC Lock?

[Nomad767]

I have been having a few issues with my A4LD on my 92 Explorer. It had been having some weird issues with shifting when it is cold outside...i.e. taking forever to shift into the next gear until the tranny warms up. But now that the weather is warmer, it seems to shift about normal, but about a month or so ago, I noticed it seems to run about 2100 rpms at 55mph. Normally it would run about 1800 rpms. My question is whether or not the vacuum modulator could be causing this issue. Or whether or not the TCC is not locking as it should.

I was going over the wiring to the solenoids and found no issues. My meter is a piece of junk, so reading the solenoid winding was out of the question. I did read that having tranny fluid in the vacuum line for the modulator was a sign of the diaphragm failing in the modulator, so, lo and behold, when I pulled the vacuum line, I got a nice dousing of tranny fluid all over my arm.

I know the modulator is not really expensive, but it is a pain in the arse to change while the tranny is in from what I see. So I guess my second question is, what is the best way to change it while the tranny is installed?

Just looking for some experienced input to verify possible issues.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You could remove the heat shield to get to it from the bottom or remove the front carpet, and get to it from the access hole in the floor.