A4LD shift flare/slipping

[james t]

Rig is a 94 4x4 w/ A4LD

The tranny slips horribly on the 1-2 upshift. This is the only time it slips. It does the same no matter if the truck is hot or cold. Truck will hold OD all day and never slips once in any gear, only when going from 1st to 2nd gear. It has a massive cooler, temp gauge never gets over 170 degrees, fluid/filter changed regularly, PO installed shift kit brand and type unknown.

If i take off briskly in 1st, say 70% throttle- i can hold this until it starts slipping and ease out of the throttle back to 40-50% and it will go ahead and shift into 2nd. If i drive it "normally" without backing out of the throttle on the 1-2 upshift i doubt it would ever shift at all.

What i want is one of you guys to chime in here and tell me its some $3 part and that because its only slipping on the 1-2 shift and will hold gear fine i DONT need a rebuild. : Its pretty simple really, i just want a miracle answer that will solve my problem.

Any idea whats causing this?

 

[BrooklynBay]

How many miles does it have? When was the last time the filter, and fluid were replaced? Did you check the fluid level? Did you clean the governor or adjust the bands, and kickdown cable? Is your modulator adjustable? Does it leak ATF into the vacuum lines?

 

[james t]

160k total miles, rebuilt before but i have no idea when.

1- Fluid/filter last changed a month ago

2- fluid level is perfect checked hot in park engine running

3- I have not cleaned the governer or adjusted the bands but i have checked kickdown cable and its ok

4- I have no idea if the modulator is adjustable or not

5- no leak into vac. lines

 

[james t]

update

Problem solved!

Band adjustment fixed it. Thanks BB to the massive useful threads list in your sig. I still cant believe it, but a simple band adjustment made this thing act like a brand new transmission.

My family will be able to eat during the holidays now! :

 

[gmanpaint]

Problem solved!

Band adjustment fixed it. Thanks BB to the massive useful threads list in your sig. I still cant believe it, but a simple band adjustment made this thing act like a brand new transmission.

My family will be able to eat during the holidays now! :

Did this last? Did the problem ever come back? I am hoping this is all I need to have done as well. Have to admit, I am extremely happy to find this thread.

I am about to do the band adjustment today, as the 94 has the exact same problems as yours did. It just started to slip shifting to 2nd. When it attempts to shift, the rpms jump real high, but it is still grabbing, but seems like only 1/3 power. I can back off the throttle after it has got up to speed and it will shift to 3rd. 2nd gear is the only issue here.

Dropped the pan, and changed the filter and new fluids added, not a flush, just replaced what came out of the pan about 5k miles ago.

Don't know if this matters or not......
Only thing that seemed strange about this trans is that if it was placed in O/D and took off from a stop, it would start out in 2nd gear, then after it got to about 10 mph, it would drop down to 1st gear on it's own. Same if placed in 2nd gear from a stop.

 

[james t]

No it didnt work. It was also recommended to me to replace the governor, which i did and also had no luck. Governor is cheap, just a bit of a PITA to swap out on a 4x4... could be worth a shot along with the band adjustment.

FWIW, ive been driving the thing messed up like this for a couple of years now lol. :

 

[gmanpaint]

No it didnt work. It was also recommended to me to replace the governor, which i did and also had no luck. Governor is cheap, just a bit of a PITA to swap out on a 4x4... could be worth a shot along with the band adjustment.

FWIW, ive been driving the thing messed up like this for a couple of years now lol. :

Well, better late than never James...lol Thanks for the reply.

I broke the band when adjusting it. The torq wrench never "Clicked" and I kept on tightening it. There was hardly any resistance on it when doing so. Now the trans is coming out and decisions have to be made on what to do with it. Rebuild it, or junk it.

Having a heck of a time trying to find which soft rebuild kit to get for it, if this route is chosen. Replacement trans has been a bear to find cheap enough, and trusting one for a swap, is another issue.

 

[james t]

For what it's worth... im still driving mine as-is. lol

 

[drdoom]

gman, I have only used a couple, but TransTec sells a decent kit, and they now come with their "Lip Wizard" seal tool.
Also, there are lots of kits on eBay, and they sell one that comes with a band.
Check out seller transdeals4u, Kelly will fix you up.

 

[gmanpaint]

Yeah, I have been searching Ebay. I found some master kits with both bands(borg warner), and steels, plus include the transtec gaskets and such for $160.00

What other special tools are needed for a rebuild? I have never done one. I have to decide if I am going to try a rebuild or getting a used one.

 

[drdoom]

gman, I have only rebuilt a couple of autos, so I am by no means an authority. I would also say that my "rebuilds" are more like low-budget patch jobs, as opposed to true re-manufacturing. That being said, what I used was three 6" QwikGrip clamps (like carpenters use), to compress the clutches, a homemade servo cover tool (scrap steel, two longer pan bolts, and a muffler clamp), and what is a bear, and I don't even know if the A4LD has them, but the TEFLON seals are tricky, a sizer is normally used, I just used an old torque converter for that. And also some precision gauges are used also, but all of that is outlined in the manual.

 

[gmanpaint]

"IF" I ever get the A4LD manual torrent to download, I will have a better idea of what I'm up against here.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You could get a C-3 Rotunda tool kit on EBay with all of the tools (seal drivers, pump alignment tool, etc). The kit doesn't come with a clutch pack spring compressor.

 

[gmanpaint]

You could get a C-3 Rotunda tool kit on EBay with all of the tools (seal drivers, pump alignment tool, etc). The kit doesn't come with a clutch pack spring compressor.

As luck would have it, the person who is helping with this has every tool we need.

After the tear down, the only thing found bad was the broken band. Clutches all look brand new still with zero signs of wear. Steels are clean as can be, and zero scorching.

Not so sure about going thru the complete rebuild on it now after seeing how good the internals are. New intermediate band and gaskets maybe all that is done.

 

[mikebolk]

Hey all I have a 96 same trans. Same problem... from the reseach I've been doing it looks like my solenoid... od light flashing and code reads solenoid be stuck or off... I've found these solenoids at autozone for $44 I went to the dealer and they only sell the whole unit with valve body for 1400 yikes! That's more then a reman trans from autozone! My transmission only had 15k on the rebuild.. but from what I hear they test the solenoids and if they pass they get put back in reguardless of howmany miles are on the them... I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here because I didn't see a mention of the solenoids... if I'm wrong on my reseach. Somone let me know! I've put about 2k on the truck while having this problem and it doesn't seam to have gotten any worse... so it seams like youguys might be looking in the worng place... but again I've only done some reasearch I haven't actualy dug in yet... but when I do there will be a rite up..

 

[BrooklynBay]

The 1996 has a 4R55E with a 6 solenoid valve body compared to the 1994 A4LD which has a 2 solenoid valve body.