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A4LD Slow into drive. (real slow)




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Oh, sorry. Jeeze, that should be there, I would think that you might end up between gears or have the transmission fight against itself so to speak without it... burning out clutches etc...
 






Sadly, I've been inspecting everything I see closely, and the fluid that was inside this vb was nasty. It did not smell good either. I think at the very least I'm going to have to drop the tranny and inspect the clutch assembly, so you're probably right. There were also pieces of rubber seal clogged in the pressure boost valve, and I have no idea where they came from. It was only two tiny slivers, but there's a seal somewhere that is falling apart.

This is turning into the biggest fiasco since I dropped a wrench on my daughter's iPod. I think I have to prioritize a bit before I start ordering a vb rebuild. I may need to go much deeper than I was hoping for, inspite of the fact it's getting this vb rebuild one way or the other. Not my best day.
 






Well, I had a fair bit of crud in my transmission pan, as well there was silver "sparkles" in the pan. That was quite disturbing too. My trans wouldn't shift into OD and the TQ wouldn't lock. I installed the VB upgrades & the two kits as per Glacier's thread (again, many thanks to Glacier) and I installed a remote filter system. Works like a top now. Ah, that is, after I replaced the governor.

There's no doubt that the poor beast got hot if your brakes were dragging that bad. I still think I'd do the VB rebuild, flush the cooler and transmission, remote filter and then see how it works. If you are ready to do a rebuild, these are things that you will most likely do anyway.

If you do the VB rebuild and are going to install the governor spring improvement that comes with one of the kits, I highly recommend that you replace the governor body (stem as it's sometimes called) as it will cause you trouble eventually anyway.

It's not a transmission, it's an adventure!!:D
 






wood1 said:
Well, I had a fair bit of crud in my transmission pan, as well there was silver "sparkles" in the pan. That was quite disturbing too. My trans wouldn't shift into OD and the TQ wouldn't lock. I installed the VB upgrades & the two kits as per Glacier's thread (again, many thanks to Glacier) and I installed a remote filter system. Works like a top now. Ah, that is, after I replaced the governor.

There's no doubt that the poor beast got hot if your brakes were dragging that bad. I still think I'd do the VB rebuild, flush the cooler and transmission, remote filter and then see how it works. If you are ready to do a rebuild, these are things that you will most likely do anyway.

If you do the VB rebuild and are going to install the governor spring improvement that comes with one of the kits, I highly recommend that you replace the governor body (stem as it's sometimes called) as it will cause you trouble eventually anyway.

It's not a transmission, it's an adventure!!:D
Click to expand...

An adventure it is. I'd enjoy it much more were my truck not sitting uselessly there like a bad pickle. I'm not too intimidated though. When I'm interested, I'm a good study.
 






And also, I'll take your advice under consideration. I don't really want to go any further than is necessary. But I don't want to turn around and face this again in the near future. I'll sleep on this overnight. One thing is for sure though. Those valves were sticky. Some of them took quite a bit of nudging to remove, but I got most of the ones that seemed to stick on the springs out, cleaned them and the bores and lubed them lightly with vaseline before reinstalling and it made a noticeable difference.
 






Alright, I just thought I'd update what I'm up against with the last feller who worked on this vb. To date, I've noted 1 vb bolt not tight, towards center, 1 vb bolt missing altogether, no low reverse servo spring, one L retaining pin missing, (I'm sure it wasn't there, I was extremely careful during disassembly, and even searched the pan I drained the fluid in) the exact same pin on the 1-2 accumulator spool that Glacier recommended I not remove, and finally, another missing spring, this time on the kickdown valve. (which took almost every bit of my patience to remove.)

My ftp server won't allow me to log on to post the (much smaller) photo I took, but the deeper spool in the bore had it's spring thankfully, but the outer spool was reversed with a small marker ball crammed up to the square retainer, another small marker ball inside the spool where the spring should rest, and a larger ball resting against the smaller ball, more or less "snowconing" the end as a shim of sorts to take up the slack. The ball resting against the square retainer had been flattened to a degree from the forcer required to compress the spool far enough to insert the pin.

The good news is, I already have my 5th marker ball. The bad news, where the hell do I buy that spring?

p.s. I decided to follow the advice of those with deeper knowledge of what I'm dealing with than I. All I'll be wasting should the vb rebuild not suffice is tranny fluid, and time. Also, Brown, did you get your governor body locally? Or did you buy it online?

p.s.s. I'm finding your useful threads extremely valuable, BrooklynBay.
If this works, you guys got my $20 for the elite membership without question. If not, you've more than likely got it anyway. Provided I don't push it into Lake Ozark.
 






The later valve bodies such as on the 5R55E don't have that large spring on the servo. It sounds like your valve body was previously rebuilt, but unfortunately not done correctly. The boost valve sounds like it might have been the Sonnax version with the O ring seals. I would look into that. Compare the one you have with the Sonnax version for the 4.0L O ring design. WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com sells "L" pins as well as other parts for the valve body. WWW.WitTrans.Com sells VB bolts, the governor, and other hard to get parts.
 






BrooklynBay said:
The later valve bodies such as on the 5R55E don't have that large spring on the servo. It sounds like your valve body was previously rebuilt, but unfortunately not done correctly. The boost valve sounds like it might have been the Sonnax version with the O ring seals. I would look into that. Compare the one you have with the Sonnax version for the 4.0L O ring design. WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com sells "L" pins as well as other parts for the valve body. WWW.WitTrans.Com sells VB bolts, the governor, and other hard to get parts.
Click to expand...

It was, by all appearances, a stock valve. I don't know where the rubber came from, but it appeared to be a larger diameter than anything in the valve body, other than maybe the low reverse servo seal. It could have been left over from the prior rebuild, I suppose. But the valve itself looked exactly like the one glacier pulled out of his VB in his diary. I had the same thought that it might be aftermarket, but I'm thinking not. It definately wasn't a Sonnax.
Still can't upload to my ftp server, or I'da posted some pics.
 






Did you try Photobucket or Putfile?
 












Slow to engage also

My '91 X has been having a hard time engaging drive and reverse also, but only after it is warmed up. Works great when it's cold. I think it's the A4LD but the guy I bought the truck from said it was a C3 with C4 guts, and claimed it needed the C4 VB and TC to work right. Is this even plausible? I guess I should verify for sure which trans is in it.
 






Welcome to this forum! The 91 has the A4LD. It sounds like a valve body issue. Check the pressure in all of the gear ranges with a 0 -300 PSI test gauge.
 






OK, I checked the trans pan config and it looks like the C4. It is almost square, no bulges, no electronics. The guy told me he swapped in a C3 in place of the A4LD.
 






If you don't see anything electronic, then it's probably the C3. I don't understand why anybody would do something like this?
 






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