A4ld problems!!!!!!

[sofa king shifty]

ok, i will start with the problem......when truck is cold i have no problems, everything works fine. once i drive it a short distance, shift out of drive (park,neutral etc.) and try to go back into drive the trans wont engage. it will go right into reverse,but no forward gears. i must rev the truck up several times until trans slams into drive, once in it works great. shifts fine, no slipping etc. ive searched everywhere and cant seem to find an answer to this problem. been to trans shops they all say rebuild. i have a hard time accepting this because when its in drive it works fine. they say the clutches are out but why isnt it slipping? i cant afford to just throw parts at this thing.im hoping its just a valve body issue wich i can fix myself. or a band adjustment. ive changed the fluid and filter, checked v. mod for fluid and everything looks fine. no leaks. please tell me that somebody can clue me in as to whats wrong!!!

 

[sofa king shifty]

bump

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you adjust the bands, check the torque of the valve body bolts, and check the valve body gasket for damage? The edges start to fall apart along with the rest of the gasket. How many miles does it have?

 

[sofa king shifty]

did none of the above. im extremely ignorant when it comes to trans. i geuss what i want to hear is that it isnt the clutches before i throw parts at it. ive read a few posts about the a4 on this site and it sounds to me like it could very well be a vb problem. i also read that adjusting the bands could cause more harm than good so i chose to wait until i did more research and talked to somebody who knows. the truck has over 200k from what i can tell. i was told by the girl i bought it from that the trans had been rebuilt before i got it. how long? i dont know.ive had the truck about 6 yrs. i never tow with it or beat on it. never drive in (d) in town. my thought is that when its cold the fluid is much more viscous therefore not leaking through gasket? i only have this problem after its warm. what is my best course of action at this point? the truck has a bodylift so its real easy to get to everything. also, is there anything else i should check when i get the valve body off? i was gonna get the superior vb kit and try that. any other tricks to the a4 while vb is off? i plan on building a frankentranny when i can afford it,just gotta get this thing runnin now.thanks for your help!!!

 

[BrooklynBay]

The sticky threads on the A4LD at the top of this section have a lot of information that you will need in order to repair it.

 

[sofa king shifty]

i feel confident that i can repair it, but my question still remains- is this a clutch issue or a vb issue? im hard pressed to tear into this and throw away money if it is in fact a clutch issue. like i said before, im ignorant as far as trans. if i were in a situation where i could pull it out, use the forum to rebuild i would happily do so. do you feel that a vb rebuild would solve my issue? or is it still possible that it is a clutch issue? i geuss im just looking for that glimmer of hope that it is a cheap and easy fix. perhaps its not,i can deal with that. i know every issue is different and its hard for anyone to diagnose this via internet. i just wanna be pointed in the right direction by someone who knows transmissions. not to say that you havent done so, im thankfull for the help. what is my next step brook?

 

[BrooklynBay]

An A4LD air test plate is capable of testing individual sections without the valve body installed. Since you don't have access to a special tool like this, the next step would be a band adjustment. A valve body rebuild would be recommended. Even if the internal clutch packs need to be replaced, the valve body still needs to be rebuilt.

 

[sofa king shifty]

great, thank you for the help. i will follow the band adjust sticky in this forum. im gonna use the superior kit, as ive read it is better than the transgo. i will do the repair tommorow and post the results. thanks again for your help brooklyn.

 

[sofa king shifty]

adjusted bands-still have problem. however feels like the shifting is much more firm. gonna do the vb rebuild now, hope it solves issue.

 

[sofa king shifty]

winner winner chicken dinner!!! took the vb off and found problem, just hope its fixable. went and got transgo kit. found broken pieces of spring, small diameter between vb and steelplate. any way you could identify by sight brooklyn? hoping it isnt the clutch spring that broke. heres my number if you can call bb. 702-308-5876 name is brad. or anyone thats a trans guy.

 

[Jack Flash]

was there any debris in the tranny pan ?

the pieces of springs sounds like trouble in a drum. my A4LD had spring pieces in the pan and a few on the seperator plate. turned out the OD drum assembly was toast. the cause (on mine) was improper repairs done before I bought the vehicle.

,
,

J...trusts no one locally to work on my vehicle...

 

[sofa king shifty]

some......looks like a heavy black grease.prob. clutch material im geussing. no metal pieces though.

 

[BrooklynBay]

There is a spring in the case that is a filter. Maybe this spring fell out? There is a sticky thread with a picture of this.

 

[sofa king shifty]

looking now

 

[sofa king shifty]

thats what it is !!! next question.....do i need it? can i run without? what happens if not there? is it possible it went farther into trans (i.e. clutches etc.) and caused more damage?

 

[BrooklynBay]

It was added as part of a Ford TSB. The later models came with them, and the older models didn't have them.

 

[sofa king shifty]

if it was a tsb then i think i should prob. try to get another. by the way brooklyn i cant thank you enough for all your help. i couldnt or wouldnt have done this without ur guidance.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Ford doesn't sell this part anymore, but here's the part #: 7F263. This is the TSB:

 

[sofa king shifty]

well, maybe its not the filter spring in my case. it says not to use prior to 91, im a 89. i hope its not the drum springs. found some of it on top of sep plate,most inside vb. i dont know? wonder what it is. we will see if vb rebuild fixes my prob. let you know this afternoon.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I've found these springs in older models that were rebuilt. Sometimes they were added during the rebuild. There was a production change on the solenoids. This is the only difference that I could think of at the moment. Take a look at the comparison of the two solenoid designs in this link: http://www.teckpak.com/teckfitz/products/pdf/solenoids/k56836a-b.pdf