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A4LD won't upshift at full throttle

Have book ATSG,

Wood1,
Have a book and am going to torque up valve body per the spec in the book this morning. Did not think that it was that critical but just to get them all tight. Was thinking that it was the shift kit that I put in and something wrong there.
I am fairly capable of most mechanical and electrical tasks.
Keep you posted
Thanks
Joe
 



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There could be any one of a number of other problems internally in the transmission, starting with a weak pump, cut or worn seals, etc., that are not evident by looking with the eyes. It takes measuring tools to figure this out.

You will HAVE to get your hands on the ASTG manual.

Here is a link where you may be able to download one:
http://html-pdf-convert.com/cari/atsg---A4LD.html

I make no claims about the veracity of the site. You are on your own there. Just found the link.
 






is there a link anywhere that shows how to properly adjust the kickdown cable?
 






Seems to shift now

Ok, new valve body out of a doner vehicle cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner and blown out with air gun. Lube all the valves with spray oil and torqued all fasteners per the atsg manual and refilled with fluid. Shifts great now, no long test drive yet maybe tomorrow but it seems to shift good and slight reverse hesitation still but I can live with that. Hopefully it shifts at highway speeds.
Overdrive still slipped so I changed the band adjustment from 3 1/2 turns out after 10 ft pounds to 2 turns out, it is a split band and found conflicting info between two and three and half turns out. Thee and half turns out did not go forward but two does, any objections about 2 turns on a split overdrive band?
 






Sounds like you are on the right track, unequal torque on the VB can result in all kinds of issues. As far as the OD band, I am pretty sure that a double wrap is 3.5 turns and a single is 2. It's been a few years since I was in my transmission so memory is fading. I can tell you that the shift kits I installed with the new governor and weight made an amazing difference and was worth doing properly. I have had zero issues since I changed the vacuum modulator, which I expected... sure is nice to not have to add trans fluid all the time.
 






I've been deployed since I started this thread, and I'm checking back to see if anyone has found a solution. Looks like it could be anything. I'll have to continue tinkering with it when I get back. I think I'll see if there is anything stuck in the valve body.
 












Thats a different trans.i still have this problem and found out last night i cant go over 75. It will cruise at 75 but if i give it any more gas it down shifts and hits rev limiter when there was no reason it should down shift.
 






Cable adjusted

One of the things that I overlooked was the kickdown cable adjustment. The shift kit instructions point out that the cable needs to be adjusted differently after installing the shift kit.
I am again rebuilding the valve body and ordered up some new parts to include the indexer, end plugs with o-rings and the new boost valve with o-rings.
Will take me a week or two of after work hours to get this all taken apart, cleaned and rebuilt
 






Lockdown cable??
 












So how do you adjust it properly?
 






I have all the VB goodies installed and I just used the normal method for adjusting the kick down cable. BB has a link to the thread in his useful threats link in his sig line. Basically you push the release on the adjuster on the firewall where the cable connects, pull the cable out a bit so it is loose and mash the go pedal to the floor. Good to go.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2192755&postcount=11
 






Shift kit instructions made it sound more mystical. Something about making 1/8" adjustments until it down shifts between 2 and 1 and 3 and 1 at 20 mph?
Did not really understand it, maybe when I get there it will be more apparent. So did your valvebody rebuild go good? I am still suffering from erratic shift points and no tcc lockup. Oh yah new torque convertor installed and I also ordered up the new valve body solenoids
 






Yeah, I remember reading that. You should be able to get the trans to shift down to 1st at 20 mph by shoving the gas pedal to the floor. If not you have to make 1/8 adjustments until you get it to. I never bothered, my old X has over 300 on the clock and I do not treat it like that.

The VB rebuild went great, I decided to follow Glacier's suggestion and didn't drill the holes in the separator plate to the larger size but went half-way. I installed every upgrade and improvement I could find, changed the governor, added the small return spring and heavier 35 mm weight, o-ring end plugs, boost valve, external filter, additional cooler (much larger) etc etc. Ran like a top until I let it get down on antifreeze last week, young feller had it out and it puked about 5 quarts of trans fluid on the ground. Topped it back up and removed the cardboard in front of the rad I forgot was there from last winter (ahem...) seems fine (fingers crossed). There can be a few weird issues with the TCC lockup, are you sure it isn't locking? If you are at highway speed and kick the brake pedal with your left foot while keeping your right on the gas pedal you should get a rpm flare.

******EDIT******* there is a reason I try to not rely on my memory, TransGo suggests "You must not have a 2-1 or 3-1 KD (kickdown) at 20 MPH". If you do (KD is too hard), pull the kickdown cable out of the adjuster a click or two
 






First valve body did lock up, tested as you said. Shifted really bad though, found a knick in the boost valve piston thought maybe that caused it to hang.
Installed a second valvebody off a doner that looked in bad shape(lots of gunk) in the pan. Cleaned it up a little and installed and torqued to specs. Shifts better but erratic and does Not lock up now. Went through whole transmission and replaced all the clutch plates and seals that come with the rebuild kit along with the torque convertor. That was before changing (rebuilding) the valve body the first time. So transmission rebuilt and valve body rebuilt and same exact symptoms. That's what made me think VB, symptoms changed with second valvebody, think I am getting it cornered with this last run of parts oh and a new gov weight also maybe I can put a close to this project?
 






I re-read your first post and I would have changed the governor at that point. The nick in the boost valve, was it caused by a chunk of crap in the bore do you think? I am wondering if you flushed out your cooler and lines when you rebuilt your trans. If you did not all the garbage from your pooched first trans would make it's way into your new one. Did you rebuild the second VB with all the new goodies and improvements?

Where in the north are you?
 






I found my books, not in storage after all. I had to edit post 35, found the directions for adjusting the kickdown cable by TransGo.
 






Well what caused this whole thing to start was a blown out front seal. While I had it apart I put in the shift kit, it never recovered fully. Sent it back 400 miles away to my brother, he drove it around for about a week then lost all forward except low. I get it back and assume the forward clutch pack is toast due to running it on low fluid. I tear into it and find no visiAble bad parts, no buildup in pan all frictions look good nothing warped or broke. I put in all new discs frictions and steels and seals along with the same VB. Exact same results, very little forward movement, reverse works with a hesitation. Put on the VB from the parts car that was full o gunk (burnt clutch)? Car shifts ok at times then not good others ( erratic). And no tcc lockup now, bad lockup solenoid with donor VB I am thinking. So here I am now with all the VB parts on the table laid out and clean waiting for my new parts to arrive in the mail.
I live just outside a small town named North Pole, yup that's right I drive right by Santa's house every time I go into town.
The boost valve actually required pliers to get the piston out of the boost valve body. I cleaned up the dent with a dremmel tool but it was still kind of rough, new one on order with the rest of the parts.
Hope this all works out, I think part of the original problem when I put it back together was I did not see the value of using a torque wrench when replacing the VB. The second time around I did use a torque wrench and followed the book per torque, so was it that and the donor VB just has sticky valves and a dead tcc solenoid?
 



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Gunky VB's from fried transmissions are certainly not ideal and makes me think that could be your problem. I would make absolutely sure that your VB is pristine when you put it together. Glacier actually put his in his dishwasher once he got it apart. When I rebuilt my VB I took my time and made absolutely sure there wasn't any dirt and that everything went together without any problems. Lube the valves properly when reassembling and take your time. You can test your solenoids, a 9 volt should work nicely. Make sure the screens aren't clogged up with crap. I would make sure that my VB was perfect when I put it back in, then if you are still having problems with how it shifts, it may point to the governor and or the vacuum modulator. When you rebuilt it did you replace your modulator? If so did you make sure you got the A4LD version and not the C3? They look pretty much identical but are different.

Keep in mind the issue with the governor is usually the "stalk" which is aluminum. The valve that looks similar to a dumbell and the weight are steel. One of the shift kits will have a light return spring (aftermarket improvement) you install in there to assist the weight in returning to it's original position.
 






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