Expected life of A4LD?

[CTroxtell]

I have a 94 X Eddie Bauer with 240k miles on it, lately the transmission has been flaky...I'll be driving down the highway every now and again and it will drop down a gear causing it to rev up then sometimes you can hear it clunk I guess you'd call it. I have no idea whats been done to it as I've only had it for a little over a year but I can't see paying for a rebuilt tranny with as much as they cost not to mention the amount of rust on the vehicle. Any idea how long I can expect this tranny to hold up doing this? Thanks in advance.

 

[ricco750]

I have a 94 X Eddie Bauer with 240k miles on it, lately the transmission has been flaky...I'll be driving down the highway every now and again and it will drop down a gear causing it to rev up then sometimes you can hear it clunk I guess you'd call it. I have no idea whats been done to it as I've only had it for a little over a year but I can't see paying for a rebuilt tranny with as much as they cost not to mention the amount of rust on the vehicle. Any idea how long I can expect this tranny to hold up doing this? Thanks in advance.

Mine's got 240,000 miles on it, still works like new. Consider replacing the modulator valve.

 

[CTroxtell]

Well I can try that...I sure hope that's all that is wrong with it. I just don't want it to go out on me as its my work vehicle. I seem to only notice it at times on the highway, also I will be driving and sometimes running at 55mph its rpm is about 1500 other times its over 2200. Tranny fluid is a copper looking color.

 

[huntman58]

I would check the vac modulator and also do a pan drop and filter change. Then add in tranny oil to replace what you drained with the pan drop (about 3 to 4 qts of Mercon III)
I would do all this as a start as how long will it last there is no telling some get long life and others do not. I have gone threw three trannys now but one was a bad rebuild so no fault of the truck or me.

start by pulling the vac line at the modulator and see it there is any oil in that vac line if there is you have a bad valve and it needs replacing you can also pull it from the vac tree on the intake manifold and then hook up a hand pump vacuum tester and see if it will hold a vacuum if now well the line or the valve is gone and you need to fine what one and fix or replace again only a starting place
So good luck and enjoy it as it’s also a great teaching tool the explorer that is.

 

[CTroxtell]

Okay well I dropped the pan and changed the filter, pan looked fine...just had a little metal shavings which I've read is perfectly normal. I think it was about 6 qts or more that came out with the pan drop. I find it just ridiculous that there is no drain plug on the tranny pan, would make it much easier to drain. Didn't have time to pull the seat out to check the modulator so I'll try to check it next time I'm off.

 

[Jason94sport]

Never had any luck with them. 1st replacement of 2 94's was under 100K miles.

 

[CTroxtell]

Well I looked under my truck today to check on my RA bushings (right side bracket has to be replaced as its ovaled it out from the worn metal on metal) and noticed my tranny pan is slowly leaking now. I must of tightened the bolts down too tightly so how do I get it to stop leaking? Should I worry about it? I mean its not leaking anywhere near as fast as my oil leak from the rear main oil seal (think thats where the oil is leaking from). Wish there was a easy way to fix all these leaks lol.

 

[Tony H]

I have no luck with these tranis.. Never ran it off road, never Trailered with it. It's a go to Work car for my wife. we got about 80K miles on each rebuild. rebuilt 4 times.
3 different shops. I was told by two differnet Trano shops that this trani is a cousin of the Pinto Trani. Was never designed to take the weight of the 'X'.
Some 'cluster' used to stop in the pinto transmission after it shifted out of first. Now with the O.D. added to the 'X' it keeps spinning. It was never designed to spin up that long, that fast.

 

[DV8]

i've never had any trouble out of my X, neither has the previous owner or the original owner. i'm the 3rd owner, and know both previous owners personally. 260k and counting, and i use it as a daily driver, and wheel it a bit, but nothing real serious.