Newbie, Pattern of tranny problems?

[Iron Mike]

I'm new to this site. I previously had a 91 Explorer. It finally gave up the ghost at 217,000mi. I just bought a 95 4X4. While looking I noticed a lot of 2nd gen's with rebuilt or bad trans. Is this a very common problem to be watching out for or do these all have a serious problem with the tranny's. Thanks for the input.

 

[Glacier991]

The 1st Gens had the A4LD transmission. It was not a real robust transmission, and slowly bugs were getting worked out of it. In the 2nd Generation, they "updated" the A4LD and made the shifting all eletronic. The mechanical problems that often plagued the A4LD were largely absent (or better than they were in the A4LD) but the all electronic shifting creates a whole new host of problems. Often, rather than address the control body (valve body) and the solenoids, many shops opted to tell the customer they needed a "rebuild". And of course some did have mechanical problems (often from oversize tires and heavy duty off-road activity).

The V-8's had the 4R70W which is an exellent transmission and pretty heavy duty as is, and can be beefed up!

 

[Iron Mike]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know if I was being overly cautious about it. The heavy duty use was something that I figured might be a factor. Thanks again.