No Reverse after broken return line

[leblancr]

First off, I'm a newbie here and thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me.

I'm trying to help out my father in law figure out whether to fix his transmission or not. He's in his 80's and used to be a mechanic so he knows his way around, but can't actually work on things anymore.

Details:
1995 Ford Ranger XL. 3.0L 4X4 with 130K miles on it. Automatic. I looked at the "getting answers" sticky and I found the 2.5 and 4.0 trannys identified, but not the 3.0 (unless I missed it). So I'm not sure if its the 4R44 or 4R55. Sorry about that.

They were taking the truck to pick up some stuff and stopped for gas. He noticed the transmission acted like it was slipping when he pulled in. He checked the fluid level and it took a quart and a half to fill it up.

They turned around and went straight home which was about 2 miles. But the last 1/4 mile is up a pretty steep hill. Going up the hill it started slipping a lot, but he was able to get it into the driveway.

He noticed that there was a line of oil coming up the hill to the truck.

He found that the return line from the radiator had broken at the radiator. He replaced the line and it took almost 5 quarts to fill it.

After he got it back together and filled with fluid, he tried to take it for a test drive, but it had no reverse. Forward gears appear to work, but it's driven into his driveway so he can't completely test that. He also said it acts like 1st might not be working right.

He has called several local garages and no one wants to touch it for less than several hundred dollars just to diagnose it. I'm not sure if that's because of his age or because of the age of the truck, or what. The closest transmission specialist is 50 miles away.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to proceed? He's only been able to locate a used one out of state, and his local garage has told him it will be $1,800 to get it and install it. He can't justify that much money.

I am comfortable on any mechanical work but have never rebuilt an automatic, so it may be a little more than I should tackle. But even then the used one he found is over $1,200 plus shipping to Maine.

Enough ranting, Based on the background, is there something that he should have done when he refilled it? Does it need to be bled, etc? Or is it likely he burned something up? Is it best to just replace the transmission? Is there anything I can replace myself without a major teardown/rebuild?

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone has.

Joe LeBlanc
Rumford Maine

 

[sheltonfilms]

Did he put it in manual 1st when going up the hill?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

Ranger 4cyl engine and the 3.0l V6 had the 44E, 4.0l V6 had the 55E

1995 was the first year of the 4R44E, but its the same transmission as the A4LD used since 1985 in Rangers, it just had full shift control solenoids added.

You can use any 4R44E from 1995 to 2000, but bellhousing for 3.0l is unique, so used trans needs to be from a 3.0l and a 4x4 to be plug and play, changing 2wd automatic to 4wd requires complete rebuild and new shaft

A rebuild would be better, used automatics are basically "buying someone else's problem", lol, since you have no way to know internal condition, and if you tear it down to check you might as well rebuild yours.

All automatics run on pressure, fluid pressure provided by the ATF and the front pump, main pump, this pump is driven by the engine directly, torque converter is bolted to flexplate/crank and the outer case of torque converter that slides into transmission connects to drive the Main pump.
So if engine RPMs are 700, the pump RPMs are 700, engine at 3,000rpms then pump is at 3,000rpms

There are clutches and brakes inside an automatic, the "bands" that need adjusting are the brakes, clutches are....well clutches, lol
Pressure is needed to engage and disengage clutches and brakes

Forward gears need about 100-125psi pressure to work
Reverse needs 150-175psi pressure

If there are internal leaks at seals, valves or gaskets then you loose pressure, when that happens Reverse is the first to go.
May start off as a slow to engage Reverse, have to REV engine to get it to "grab", i.e. increase RPMs at the pump

When Reverse is gone then pressure is getting pretty low, so forward gears will start to be effected, and thats the slipping, not enough pressure to hold clutches or brakes

You can do this rebuild with some online video help, all the info is out there
Always replace Forward one-way clutch, Overdrive drum(if out of round), Main Pump, use FORD pump only, and always replace torque converter

Go here: http://jalopnik.com/this-is-how-an-automatic-transmission-works-517581894

And watch the video at the bottom of the page, fairly quick look at how it all works
The designers have done all the hard work, lol, all you are doing is assembling it in the correct order


Running the trans low on fluid heats things up, and automatics are ruined by heat, always use a second trans cooler, best $60 you will ever spend.
Running 5 quarts low didn't help, even for a little while
I would assume there was already some internal leaking and the extra heat just made it worse

 

[leblancr]

Thank you

Thank you for the detailed info. Evidently a friend of his made an offer for it that he couldn't refuse, so he sold it. I'm off the hook, but apologize for not being able to move forward with your advice.

Joe

 

[RonD]

"Mechanics specials" usually sell pretty quick if price is right

Automatic transmission problems and head gasket problems are the usual