Any A4LD better than another

[wingnutkev]

My front seal went out again. This is the second A4LD that this has happened on. I have not dropped the pan yet to see if there is any other damage but in calling around for the worst case scenario I have found a few in the area, between $350-$450. My question is did the A4LD go through any transitions that make getting one out a more recent year explorer an advantage.

I did search but anyone who puts A4LD in the search field gets so many matches that I could be busy for weeks researching.

 

[MrShorty]

An A4LD put behind a 4.0 is better than an A4LD from a 2.8, 2.9, or 3.0.
Newer A4LD's were stronger from the factory than older A4LD's.
That said, you want to try to get an A4LD built to '94 4.0 specs. From what I can gather (maybe Glacier can comment more authoritatively), any A4LD, except maybe the '86 and '87 A4LD's which only use one solenoid in the valve body, can be built to '94 4.0 specs. From the prices you're being quoted, I'm guessing you're buying used. In that case, I don't think I'd buy a used A4LD unless it came out of a '94 4.0 vehicle. Come to think of it, I don't know if I'd buy a used A4LD at all unless I were planning to rebuild it.

 

[wingnutkev]

OK front pump seal sealed back up and is drivable but for how long. This happened before my last rebuild. My question was geared toward getting one out of an explorer. Right now I'm not sure if my plan is to get a A4LD out of a junk explorer and rebuild it or swap it and rebuild mine for a back up since these things only seem to last 2-3 years for me, or just start acquiring all my needs for the V8 swap I've always wanted to do. I love my truck, it's really only good for a work vehicle, the body is in rough shape with rust and some body damage from being hit on the side last year. I just am not sure which way I want to go, the truck isn't worth much to anybody else so how much money and time do I want to put into it for me. Since I only use it for work ( I drive at least 100 miles a day for work but up to 300 miles on some days ) I am torn between fixing this or just dumping it.

 

[jimbo74]

there were a couple of internal differences and the 94 model year seems to have all of those running upgrades

 

[AspenX]

Mine lasted about 15 months after the first time it spit out fluid.

 

[Brian_B]

No comment on the A4LD.....zipped lip smilie

 

[Glacier991]

Front pump seal failures can be due to eccentric bushings. My thought is that if I had a front pump seal failure, I'd have a new bushing turned in place and Modify the bellhousing (both issues discussed, with pics, in the Diary).

As usual, Mr. Shorty is dead on. (correct)

 

[wingnutkev]

Well it started spitting the fluid out again. A week to the day is what it lasted. So I'm looking into what I'm gona do. Either get a junkyard A4LD and just swap it and hang onto mine for a rebuild or follow glacier's advice and have the bushing turned in and modify the bellhousing.

 

[cutter]

Any time you have FPS failure always install new bushing in pump that is all i have ever done and never had one blow out.