Brain said:
It sounds like either a bad vacuum modulator (about $20), bad vacuum hose to the vacuum modulator (couple of bucks), or a sticky govenor (PITA to clean, but very cheap to DIY). If the modulator or vacuum lines to it are bad, the tranny will think you are at wide-open throttle, making it think that you need the extra oomph of first gear. The other thing that is somewhat common on some higher-milage A4LD transmission (Explorer '91-'94 automatics) is a sticky govenor valve which basically keeps the 1st gear to 2nd gear upshift from happening too soon.
Brain,
I am glad you posted this. As you can see, I have a 91 XLT. Tranny was replaced (along with seal) with used one about 5 years ago. It has been sitting in the driveway for about 1.5 years now due to a bad tranny leak. Wife was spraying weed killer on fence (we live on a farm), and was using Exploder to move pump/tank along fence. She had stopped to spray and everything was fine. A few minutes later when she started it up, it would not move. She went back and forth from P to D and nothing. Turned engine off, restarted, and tried again but still nothing. She turned engine off and looked under it. She saw transmission fluid pouring out of tranny. To make a long story short, she towed it to driveway with tractor. When I got home, I had to put 2 quarts in it before it would move. As soon as it did, fluid was pouring from bellhousing/engine area. I knew I had problems and didn't have the time or money to fix it so it has been sitting.
Saturday of last week, I decided it was time. Son (16 and willing to learn) and myself proceeded to pull tranny in 35 degree temps while parked in gravel driveway. After several hours (and many warm-up breaks), we had it out of there. Since the leak was so severe, I expected to see either a blown pump seal, or leaking converter. I was surprised to see neither. Since it has sat for so long, there were no signs of where the leak specifically came from. Took tranny and t/c (torque converter) to tranny shop owned by co-worker's son. Explained situation and he simply changed the pump seal and charged me $10. Said he saw no sign of any damage of t/c so he said I could either attempt to reuse it or buy another. With money being tight, I decided to reuse it.
Since I was off work yesterday, it was time to reinstall t/c and tranny. Son and I borrowed heated garage from neighbor and proceeded to finish the job. Before reinstalling it, I changed filter and also blew out the cooling lines going to the atf cooler in front of radiator. After about 10 hours of work (with no tranny jack), we finished job and fired it up. I ended up putting a total of 8 qts of atf in it before dipstick read right and tranny shifted consistantly. We took it out today and drove it more to check it out. Last night, check engine light came on while briefly driving, and I didn't worry much because I was tickled that leak was gone. Did I also mention it was 15 degrees outside when we finished?
Today, I found coolant was low so I added nearly 2 quarts before driving and never got another CEL. Engine ran good, but shifting was late and hard. No matter whether I would pull out slowly or fast, shift from 1-2 was about 4000 rpm's, 2-3 was about 3000 rpm's, and 3-4 was about 2800 rpm's. I thought this may have been because when we checked atf today, I think it is about .5-1 quart over full. From what I recall before leak, there was no problem with shifting and everything was fine. After reading your earlier post, you made me think about the modulator valve. I remember that when we put tranny back in, there were 2 vacuum lines. One of them is not really a vacuum line, but an overflow that comes from top center of tranny and connects to a long metal tubing that loops back around and comes out at bottom of driver's side of tranny. The second line I remembered is
supposed to connect to the modulator valve, on the passenger's side right above pan. This was son's side of tranny. Got to thinking about this after reading your post, and remembered that he said he couldn't find a hose that connects to it. Going to have to look for that tomorrow and see if I can find it and connect it. He said he didn't see one over there, and I don't remember noticing it when we pulled tranny.
Just wondering if you or anyone else could refresh my memory on where this hose is routed from that goes to modulator? Does it run down center of body and over to modulator, or does it run down frame and then jump over to modulator? Also, just in case it is now missing, could you tell me where it originates from so I can either find what is left of it, or run a new one? Thanks. BTW, sorry for the lengthy post, but I believe in being thorough.
