A4LD broke..? help:)

[dukky]

i'm new to owning a vehicle, first one ever, and have had NO experience working on one before i bought my ranger. so naturally when the guy i bought it from told me "it might need transmission fluid", didnt register with me as serious. so, i didnt mess with it. when my transmission started slipping, i got worried and drove it around a while trying to watch what was wrong with it. i took it up to work to ask my boss what might be wrong. he checked my fluid and it was well below the "do not drive" mark. :/. that wont ever happen again believe me, but now the damage is done and its too late. i add some lucas transmission stop slip stuff and it made it run a lot smoother for a while. but after a trip to waco, and my first, second, third, and fourth time passing a vehicle, and having to push the truck to 75 to do so, it wasn't running so well. it started slipping everytime i pulled out of a stop. i made it home without anything serious. went to work (on the way it slipped while pulling out of the driveway) and after work on my way home, it pretty much, went crazy. the truck wouldnt move forward an inch without revving up and jumping forward (no gas pedal required). made it home, parked it, havent driven it in over a month now. been trying to work up the funds for a rebuild. a friend suggested that i change the fluid before i get it rebuilt, as the low cost makes it worth the try. soo. i looked at it and..... dont know what to do. i have done A LOT of research online and certainly learned a lot about transmissions and everything else. but when i get down under the truck and look at the transmission, i'm stumped. so there's the pan. but it looks like i can't get it down without taking down the transmission mount crossmember (or whatever that big rail lookin thing is in the middle) or the other crossmember on the other side of the pan. also i wouldnt even be able to just let some pour out without removing those. so i looked into draining it through the cooler lines into the radiator. well i get a wrench on there, and its just plain so stuck that i'm afraid to break it if i put more force onto the line. i need advice on what i should do, and also what could be wrong with my transmission.

things i saw : fluid ALL over the bottom of the pan and concentrated on the end facing the front of the truck. the bolts were covered in fluid. one of the cooler lines looked like it had a possible leak ( a big spot of fluid kind of in a drop on the line ). also a kind of cylindrical thing on the front of (what i think is the) bellhousing, not sure what it is, looked like it was leaking between it and the bellhousing, there was a lot of fluid buildup.

 

[Explorin94]

I wouldn't waste the money on doing a filter and fluid change. From what you have described the transmission is cooked and needs a rebuild. You can pull it out, take it to a rebuilder and have it rebuilt or take it somewhere and have it done. Your post was hard to read.....

 

[dukky]

hmm alright.. thanks for the advice i'll probably ask questions about how to pull it later but that'll do for now. and, sorry bout that, just wanted to get closer to a correct diagnosis with accurate details... and a storyline i guess sorry but thanks

 

[Ozwynn]

while the transmission is out I would use some compressed air and blow all the old fluid out of the cooler lines. And I would add an oversized, monsterly oversized, .............. talking like a radiator sized auxiliary transmission cooler ........... or swap to an M5odR1 5spd and not even mess with the A4ld ...... which was prolly the worst automatic ford ever had built.

 

[sblake01]

........... or swap to an M5odR1 5spd and not even mess with the A4ld ...... which was prolly the worst automatic ford ever had built.

That may be so and I've always heard and read that but I bought my truck nearly two years ago and the previous owner, who is a mechanic, said he had rebuilt the A4LD in it about 3½ years prior to selling it to me. It still works fine and hasn't given me a bit of trouble. I just recently changed the fluid and filter and added a drain plug. Remember, he begins by saying that his was low on fluid. That will eventually kill any trans, regardless of type. As far as the worst auto trans Ford ever built? That two speed slush box that was in my 63 Falcon comes to mind.........

 

[Ozwynn]

yeah....... I thought of that one too but........... it stands up to the drag strip ..... A4LD get the worst automatic built award ........

anyways ... for the cost of a rebuild on the A4LD you can swap in the 5spd.

 

[sblake01]

True but as long as mine works, I'll leave it alone.

 

[Ozwynn]

if you have a good automatic on a daily driver there is no reason to swap...... or if the manual swap is cost prohibitive......... like in the case of going E4od to ZF 6pd....... I can buy 2 raptor rebuilt E4od for what it would cost me to swap to a 6spd in the dually, but I already have a raptor rebuilt transmission.

 

[1986fordranger]

for the cost of a rebuild on the A4LD you can swap in the 5spd.

yes that is true , but the OP may or may not beable to drive a manual shift

 

[Ozwynn]

like its hard to learn to drive a stick ......

 

[locovaca]

which was prolly the worst automatic ford ever had built.

It's neck and neck with an A4XS in a 3.8 Taurus.

 

[Ozwynn]

It's neck and neck with an A4XS in a 3.8 Taurus.

I have an AX4N in my Continental, didn't that evolve from the A4XS.....

 

[locovaca]

I have an AX4N in my Continental, didn't that evolve from the A4XS.....

Yup, it was the next revision and fixed a lot of issues, just like the 4R/5R evolved from the A4LD. Didn't make the A4LD suck any less.

 

[35Remmy]

The a4ld in my '88 lasted 200K miles until it needed a rebuild...and that truck was BEAT on BAD...that's when I lived at home and it didn't matter what a repair cost, heh. I'm more of a conservative driver now. AND I had a buddy with an '89 Bronco II with around 200K on the original A4ld!!!