A4LD Won't Shift Out of First

[ExploringNC]

I picked up a rebuilt VB and I'm going to try that before I give up on the tranny. Taking a close look at the new one I don't see that it has had any mods to it. Should I drill the holes in the VB and seperator plate as decribed in the rebuild post?

 

[ExploringNC]

I installed new VB and still same problem. There was a good pit of fine tranny material and some small pieces of debri and I thought for sure that a clogged VB was the problem. I've been learning and reading as much as I can and I just can't figure out what is wrong. It's not even attempting to shift or go into reverse, nothing grinding or slipping, when I manually shift from 1-2 I can hear a slite change in tone but stays in 1st. Could the vacuum modulator be bad even tho there is no tranny fliud in vacuum line? I didn't think about checking vacuum at modulator last night but could lack of vacuum cause it to not go into reverse? I wouldn't think so but I will check and also check tranny pressure this weekend. Anymore thoughts? I'm running out of time to troubleshoot much more so I might be just giving up the ghost and replace tranny but I was hoping to save money and all that work.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you inspect the governor? It might be stuck. Was the bore from the modulator cleaned with a wire brush prior to installing a new modulator? Check the pressure with a 0 - 300 PSI test gauge. It's possible that you might have a damaged rear one way sprag since there were metal shavings all over the servo.

 

[ExploringNC]

I did not inspect the governor and I did not replace the modulator just inspected for fluid.
I was having problem with it not shifting when cold so governor could be clogged, would that cause it not to go into reverse? The reverse/low servo bore is pitted some, I tried sanding it to get any bures or ruff edges off but it feels ruff when I run my finger over it, could this be stopping the servo? How would I check to see if it could be the rear sprag?

 

[BrooklynBay]

A sticky governor could cause a delayed 1-2 shift when it's cold. It doesn't affect the reverse gear. The rough edges in the servo's bore might be causing the problem. You might need a repair kit for the bore if it's really bad. You can't see the rear sprag unless you take the transmission apart.

 

[ExploringNC]

Is there anyway that the TC would cause the problem? After checking the governor and replacing the vacuum modulator I reinstalled the TC but didn't hook any connections or driveshafts. I went threw the gears and had to stop the spinning output shaft on the TC with my foot so I could put it in R, put it in R and checked output shaft and it was spinning hard enough I could'nt put enough pressure on to stop it so I got all excited thinking I got it fixed. Assembled everything and no reverse, tires where actually wanting to spin forward with it in R but I could stop them with my had easy. When I thought I fixed it I jump up from underneath and hit the mear with my glasses and they broke, with the dissapointment of it not fixed and broken glasses I just pulled the drain plug on the tranny and left for the day, I never went back and rechecked TC with everything unhooked again. Is it worth putting fluid back in to check? Could it be stuck in low somehow not allowing the tranny to come out of first. I'm just going over possibilities and thought I would ask the experts.

 

[BrooklynBay]

A broken shift fork or shift rail could prevent the reverse gear from working. They are known to crack.

 

[ExploringNC]

If something else broke in TC could it keep the tranny from shifting out of first, like if it thought that it was in 4L. I have a good TC on my '98 will that swap to my '91?

 

[BrooklynBay]

You don't have a place for the VSS to connect on the later model transfer case. The transfer case won't affect the shifts of the transmission.