My son's 89 a4ld won't work

[mmmtacos]

Hello, my son has an 89 a4ld that we rebuilt. We just got it done today. It doesn't work. It won't even pull. I didn't think that it was that hard. No problems. We even had a NSTS manual or what ever it's called.

2 servos replaced
All clutches replaced
1 new band. (had the other 2 inspected by a tech.)OK
Every O ring and seal that there was a replacement for in our kit.
We did not replace the torque converter tho. The thing is, it would turn the rear wheels before we started. Now - nothing

Could our torque converter be bad or is there a certain procedure in doing a first startup?

Please help

Thanks, Bob

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! The torque converter, and front cooler catch a lot of debris from the old transmission. The cooler has to be flushed out before you could install the rebuilt transmission. The torque converter isn't an easy task to clean out, so it's best to replace it whenever you rebuild a transmission. You might have a clogged valve body as a result.

 

[mmmtacos]

Thanks, Is the cooler the part in front of the radiator or part of the radiator?

The more I think about it all - the old fluid was pretty clean and the only wear part that was worn was the int band but it wasn't worn out. I'm thinking that it's the pump or the converter or both need replaced.

A local tech told my son that it could be the center support O ring/s. Any chance of that? I'm thinkin we replaced it tho. If it was in the kit we had.

At any rate I've still gotta drop it again-------aaaaaaggghhh!!!!! This will be the forth time (third tranny).

Thanks for your reply, bob

 

[BrooklynBay]

The radiator has a cooler built into it. There is also a separate cooler in front of the condenser.

 

[Glacier991]

Before you do that... how much fluid did you put into it? There is a pressure port and I'd recommend you see what your pressures are... if there is any pressure.

 

[mmmtacos]

Thanks, where is the port and how do I check it?
We only got 7.5 qts into it when It showed overfull. I would mention that there is about a 1 quart difference showing on the stick between when it's running and not running.

Thanks again, bob

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check # 10 in my list of useful threads for information on using a pressure gauge.

 

[mikeh44]

did you pull the converter when you pulled the tranny

 

[mmmtacos]

we pulled the converter but didn't do anything with it. We've replaced this trans 3 times. The first 2 times was a used one out of a salvage yard. The last one we did lasted for 3 years. We didn't forsee the converter being bad as it's held up this long (because we're amateurs )

i'm thinking the pressure check is the first thing to do. I'll try to locate one soon. There's a bunch of maintenence guys at work. one of them will have one I'm sure.

Do you guys think the fact that the fluid level changes when running versus when it's not mean that the pump is working?

thanks. bob

 

[Glacier991]

That's a good indicator you have an operating pump.

 

[mmmtacos]

But the converter and/or cooler could still be a likely culplit I would think. I won't get to work until monday. But I'm gonna check the pressure and then go from there.

Thanks, bob