So flash forward three months...
I bought the Performance A4LD as listed on PATC's webside, ended up being in the neighborhood of $2400. I had it shipped to my local shop, who I've been going to for everything since I was 16. I ordered
a new cooler,
a new filter, and
a new radiator. Those are links to the exact ones I ordered. My shop replaced the radiator, replaced the cooler, installed the filter, and installed the new Performance A4LD.
My mechanic, Jim, took me to test it out the morning I was to pick it up, and it was having a pretty significant shudder when accelerating from a complete stop. If, while moving, we slowed to 5mph or so and gave it gas, it didn't shudder, but when the vehicle came to a complete stop then was given gas to start moving, it made a noticeable noise and a shudder lasting 1-2 seconds.
Jim drove us by a transmission shop where a friend of his worked, in order to get a second opinion. The friend drove, Jim took front seat and I sat in the back. The friend took it on the freeway and noticed that overdrive wasn't engaging, despite the fact that the gearshift had overdrive selected. He got off, then got back on freeway, manually shifting it up through 1-2-D-OD. It failed to engage overdrive, and drove around in 3rd. He commented on this, and said this problem was in addition to the shudder on takeoff, which was still occurring.
We exited the highway and came to a stop. The transmission shop guy gave my explorer gas, but the transmission failed to engage at all. I looked out the window and saw smoke coming from underneath the vehicle. I mentioned this to them, he shut it off, and we got out and saw transmission fluid pouring out of the bottom of my explorer onto the off-ramp. It got towed back to Jim's shop.
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Any thoughts? Any of these things sound obvious? Just thought I'd see if anyone had anything to mention