Forward band;valve body; TC etc? Diagnosis needed

[c57asey]

1. son had 94 xlt; auto trans goes; Son buys new truck gives old Explorer to pops. Pops pays well deserveing other son's gearhead buddy to swap trans out of 91 into 94 and paints gearhead's car. Pops Drives Cheap for a couple years.
2. Driving down highway I notices the trans seems to be slipping; [one more exit sweetie you can do it] limp two blocks to the house make it to the top of the hill of the drive and won't go any further. Go into the house and debate with wife the merits of using it for a front yard planter. Later check fluid which shows way low. Top it off; get it level; run it thru the gears; fluid level is good and now the trans seems all good. Knowing never to trust anything with wheels I take a trial spin and after about 3 miles it starts to slip again. Limp home. HMMMM; drop the pan; slightly burnt smell; very dark; fileings a little heavy but no shrapnel or fiber; put on cheapo filter[planning to repeat the procedure] refill with Mercon 3; backs out fine; drops in forward fine, drive a little and starts slipping again. Repeat procedure same results.
I've got full contact in reverse but all forward gears drift away after a little use. It can be idled till hot and it'll still go forward a little while and then forward goes away.
I'm not scared; Glacier has me inspired here; but I'm too old to wallow on the ground wrasslin' trannies anymore. Valve bodies I can still bench press and I snap banded an old van once. I'm going to fix it if it seems to be a trans in the car job. I waded thru most of the trans section; all 65 pages but like a lot of motorheads am a pint low in the autotrans dept. and can't rightly figure my odds on prime causes. What's the likely diagnosis Doctor?

 

[toy720]

With the burnt smell And loss of foward gears Im suspecting your either losing pressure or the foward clutchs are just about burnt out. One thing I would do is Check the z-link it controls the manual valve but i doubt that is it since it will work and then it wont. vaccum mod ???? Somebody with a little knowledge of the a4ld might be of better help but this is my 2 cents worth. I have a 4r55e basically the same tranny almost.

 

[BrooklynBay]

If you are losing fluid, and don't see any trace of it anywhere, then I would say that your modulator is leaking ATF into the engine through the vacuum line. Check the hose going into it. This could definitely affect your shifts.

 

[c57asey]

Thanks to Toy and Brooklyn Bay; Last night I went to put to put it in the garage and now I've "gotno" forward at all. It'll be at least till the weekend for me to get to it. The most probable cause for fluid loss would be the two semi stripped out pan bolts I found when I dropped the pan the first time. Probably wasn't the kids fault; he was only hand tooling the swap; but he IS a big boy; got a 3rd place as a Heavyweight in ohio's high school state [biggest school division.] wrestling tourny. I have not been watching the fluid level much for the past six months or so and with my much used and abused sort of gravel drive; a leak has to be blatent for me to spot it. Anybody else have any "edumacated" advice? ..... If I drop my valve body will I be able to spot band problems? Thanks in advance; you all get first dibs if/when I decide to let it go for parts.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The only way to test for a band problem is by tightening the band to 120 In.-Lbs. If it can't be tightened, and the wrench keeps tightening, then the band either broke, or one of the apply struts fell off. You could see broken parts in the pan if this happened. Check my thread on adjusting bands. It is in my signature, and is also a sticky in the transmission section. Place a piece of cardboard under your vehicle the next time you park to see where the leak is coming from.

 

[c57asey]

Thanks Brooklyn bay; can do, will do..guess I'll drop the VB clean it up and see what's whaT; check the bands per your posts and go from there.

 

[Glacier991]

I'm with Toy on this one. You mentioned filings in the pan on removal... metal - chunks, filings etc is not a good thing.

The lack of gears is likely either low line pressure and or some forward clutch issues. the fact you have reverse problems tends to support the lack of pressure hypothesis, since reverse does not use the forward clutch.

There are a myriad of places the hydraulic pressure can leak.... seaks, check balls stuck, etc.

A pressure gauge might be informative.

There is no harm in rebuilding the VB, but in honesty I think your issues are not likely to be fixed by going that route. But... I've been wrong before.

 

[BrooklynBay]

This thread will show you how to use a pressure gauge: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117998

 

[c57asey]

Thanks guys; VB cleaned up well; plungers unscored; o-rings uncut; check balls might have balked in the sludge; solenoids click checked ok. No obvious parts or pieces were hanging around or hung up so I just put it back in and I'm moving on to the band adjustment and pressure checks. Probably should have started there but I was hung up mentally on a loaded up filter. Been at least 15 yrs since I played transmission games. Today I will go trade tomatoes for in-lb T wrench rental and [hopefully] I'll get to it this week. 8/14/06

 

[c57asey]

Well; I'm more educated now but no joy. I'm going to repeat the procedure with another t wrench to double check my senile self. Then ......to shop or scrap; THAT is the question. Cinti Ohio; anyone interested in it? Pretty prime for a 2 door 94 make me an offer I can't refuse