i bought a beautiful gloss black 88 ranger perfect looking little pickup lil 2.9l v6 and an o/d auto tranny.... the dam thing stranded us today in the walmart parking lot... this is the third time i have had an issue with this truck first time i replaced front seal did absolutely fine til i drove it to the next town headed to work about 25 miles away and it blew it out again tranny fluid going all over the place... took it to a tranny mechanic and the bearing or bushing on the pump was destroyed had it replaced and a new torque converter and flywheel (it was starting to get stress cracks!!!) we have drove the truck for over a month with no issues and then today on the way to our honeymoon it crapped out all the tranny fluid and seal again had to call off the honeymoon and call for help instead now if any body has any ideas i would like to hear them please and thank you

 

Post in the Ranger section for more help, this section really only deals with the 2.9 engine specifically, not really the truck it self - or your A4LD automatic.

 

Moved to Ranger section

 

I would have moved it to the transmission section.

The A4LD will puke from the front seal when the fluid gets too hot, and the fluid pours past the hub of the converter, which drives the pump gears, into a small drain hole. The drain hole gets overwhelmed with fluid, and fluid then goes out past the seal. The holes are not an exact match when drilled, and can be improved with a bit of grinding so they flow better and align better. There's a write up on the web that has pictures and so on.
In most cases, just putting in a new bushing will lower the flow enough that it doesn't blow out past the seal any more when it gets hot. I expect that if you took the converter and inserted the hub into the bushing and then engaged the pump gears, the converter would be wobbly. It should have 'some' play, as in not stiff, but if the bushing was not the correct size, it could allow the hub to pass too much fluid. When you do those repairs, it would be a good idea to fit check the bushing onto the hub before installing the bushing. Can't say if the correct bushing was installed, but I would check the fit, and replace the bushing again if it is too loose. I'd also check on the web for the modifications to the pump housing drain hole. It may involve some work on the bell housing holes which do not align exactly also. I don't have it memorized...
tom

p.s. I would also check the cooler lines to make sure that fluid can flow, as plugged or low flow can cause overheating. Most times, the transmission will work fine until you do a long climb or tow something, adding extra heat. If your cooler is marginal, or somewhat plugged that can cause problems. If the radiator itself is on the way out, and has flow problems, that can cause the coolant to be too hot for the fluid to reject heat, so it just gets hotter and thinner. Take a look at the tips of the tubes in the radiator. If they have 'stuff' growing on them, it's time for a new one. Solder 'bloom' can plug the tubes and restrict flow severely.

 

my brother in law has offered to give me a 3 speed auto out of a v6 mustang if it will work for my application... so i ask you fellas is the bolt pattern the same? is it a worthy candidate? i assume i will need a new torque converter since the one on it now is for an o/d am i correct on this assumption? and i would like to thank the moderator monsterbaby for switching me to this section thanks for all the info and help it is always appreciated knowledge is power

 

Unless that Mustang is a 2.8/2.9 or a 4.0, it will not work.

 

The overall length of the c3/c4 vs A4LD would have to show the A4 as being longer as it is mostly a c3/4 that has had an OD pasted onto the front end. I would think the driveshaft length would also be affected.
A simpler fix would be to add a large external transmission cooler in front of the radiator, and perhaps bypass the radiator cooler altogether. Your transmission has to get hot to leak the fluid, and if you have obstructions or a plugged cooler or a radiator on the edge, you will overheat any other transmission you put in place.
Did you check the radiator, cooler and lines?
tom

 

as i read your post it didnt make sense for a moment then it clicked i went out and looked at the radiator which seems fine but i took off tranny cooler lines and there is a build up inside from what i could see with limited visibility due to odd angle of line of sight so it would be wise for me to assume the cooler is junk so i should put an external cooler ahead of radiator and do another once over on the tranny just to be safe...i love the little truck but the wife is so pissed at it she wants me to sell it i hope that this being the 4th time ive had to mess with the tranny i get it right i have never had this much bad luck on any vehicle i have ever owned and its almost half the age of my daily driver and i hope that you are right tom

 

Flush and/or replace the transmission lines along with the cooler replacement.

I'd either recommend replacing the radiator (to get a new internal transmission cooler) AND adding an external cooler up front. If you just bypass the internal cooler, you will need a very large cooler up front to keep things cool.

 

i got the tranny pulled out gave it a thorough check thru with my mechanic put a new seal in it just to be safe and i smashed some of the aluminum over the seal so its gonna have to earn it if its gonna blow it out this time...then i took the front grill out to add an external cooler and there was one already there just like the one i bought it just wasnt hooked up so i flushed it and hooked it back up and everything seems to be fine from what i can tell when i flushed the internal cooler it had some nasty junk come out of it so between the two i hope she has a long life ahead of her and quits breaking down otherwise the wife will try to sell her... if it comes to that i might just put one of my 4bbl 5.0's and c6 in it and use it for my personal wheels....

 

Becha that nasty junk was causing your issues. Did you flush out the lines going to the cooler as well?

 

it has been almost a month and a couple hot 100 mile trips on it and i think my repairs have held this time since i flushed the entire system new trans filter new front seal which i siliconed in and beat the edges of the aluminum ring over the edge of the seal...it will have to earn it to come out again.... thanks to all for the advice

 

well the dam truck started acting up again the tranny started slipping almost completely stopped after a 30 mile trip the other day and i had to let her sit for about 10 minutes before she would work right and just to be safe i stopped every 20 miles for a 10 minute break after that just pisses me off i have the tranny cooler in the radiator and one of the best ones you can buy (its rated for 15,000 lb loads but it can't keep an 88 ranger's tranny cool) any one got any idea's????????

 

It is time to change out that junk trans. I had to deal with it many years ago and after 3 disapointments the changing of the trans was the fix to make. Along with it comes the change out of the torque convertor. They both are joined at the hip causing the problem. Blowing the seal completely out of the trans means Hyd pressure is building up, tearing the seal means the movement/clearance is too great. A combination of the three, heat, pressure, and clearances mostly.

 

yea it has never really damaged the seal it just blows it out and it didn't blow out this time the trans was just slipping really bad same 2500 rpm from doing 65 to 2500 rpm doing 30.... if i could find a good one i would definitely get it that is for sure