Last year my '89 BII w/ 2.9L blew all of the tranny fluid out while driving through deep snow. I made it home and it looked over the whole tranmision. It looked like fluid came out of everything (front seal, rear seal, dipstick tube). Long story short, I cleaned everything dry and drove it only limited distances and to this date I have not had the same problem. I am afraid to go any further that 20 miles with it. I thought it may have been a plugged vent tube but someone told me this happens with these transmissions and it needs either rebuilt or replaced (front pump seal). Yes, it still leaks but not from the tranny...still trying to figure that one out. But at any rate has anyone seen this before? Is this guy right in saying that it is a common thing for the A4LD's and I should get a new tranny or have it rebuilt? I should note that it shifts fine and the fluid is not burnt. I am going to need this thing for winter but not if I am going to be left stranded... TIA

 

I would say that yes you did have a plugged vent line and it built pressure and boiled out I would also say that if your front pump seal is leaking your are in for a rebuild. The A4LD leaks around the front pump quite regularly before it dies, mine did and one day it just blew the seal and poof no more tranny.

 

Thank you for the info. This had me scratching my head big time. When a tranny starts to leak, it usually continues to leak (at least it did when I went to school). By any standards the truck is not worth much, but right now it is my primary means of transportation.

Thanks,

Sean

 

Pee wee,
Why do you say the transmission is on it's way out if the front seal leaks? This does not make sense. Seals fail all the time for a number of reasons. If you changed your seal the transmission may have continued to function correctly. I guess if the pump fails catastrophically it could send bits of metal to damage the seal. Is this a common problem? I have my 2.9L out for a rebuild and I am changing the front seal for insurance. Any thoughts?
Mark

 

The reason I said that is that when mine started leking it was a matter of a few days and it blew out. I thought well just replace the seal be back in business right well every tranny shop I talked to said the same thing basically the A4LD is junk and that when it blows the front seal it is done time fora rebuild. One of the people that told me this has been an automatic transmission shop owner for thirty two years and I trust him to know his stuff. The little BII's are great except the A4LD in some of them is not so good.

 

My '90 Bronco II experienced a similar episode while I was towing an eight foot U-Haul trailer up I-95 last August. After a few hours it suddenly and without warning blew a bunch of trans fluid out the bottom and when it hit the exhaust pipes, the smoke totally enveloped the trailer. Heck, I thought I was on fire! After stopping I had that sick feeling that the engine had blown - until I figured out the oil was red. Curiously, the trans dipstick didn't check a whole quart low. So after it cooled off I drove it the final 200 miles home at a slightly reduced pace...and I didn't use the O/D at all.

Seems to me you might have overheated your tranny oil in the snow with similar results.

Since that time (almost 4 months have passed) the tranny hasn't burped even once. I had the fluid changed, but other than that I have done nothing to it. Have since driven it on several trips over 250 miles w/o incident.

So if your tranny isn't causing you a problem, just make sure it has the right fluid in it and drive it with care. But I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Pee wee,
Do you know what failed in your transmission to cause the seal to fail? My B2 has about 80,000 miles on it's 2nd A4LD and I wonder if it has much life left in it. I am wondering if I should replace the pump while the motor is out for "insurance."
Mark

 

Not exactly sure of the particulars but it has to do with the front pump building to much pressure and pushing the seal out, when mine did it I burned the Overdrive clutch pack up before I realized what had happened, it only took a few minutes. By the time I stopped it was too late.

 

I have a similiar problem in my 86...mine blows fluid out of the dipstick tube until it runs through the gears a couple of times...any1 have this happen?

 

My 94 4.0 4x4 Ranger did the same thing when plowing snow. I wasn't able to put it in 4low 'cause the #@^! Tcase shift motor was not working.

Everything was fine till I noticed that it felt like the tranny was slipping a bit. I stopped and shut it off, opened the hood, and then heard something leaking under the truck. It was coming from between the engine and tranny. I thought "oh geez, just blew the rear main seal" then noticed it was tranny fluid and thought "oh geez, just blew the tranny". I let it sit a few minutes (while I cussed and contemplated beating the truck with a snow shovel) then started it again..... no leak. I checked the fluid level, it was down about a quart. I added fluid, and it seemed fine. I had a feeling that it may not last long, but three months later, it was still fine and never leaked a drop.
I have never even heard of a tranny "boiling over" and leaking all over the ground, then being fine afterwards.

Now, three months later.... my son was driving it and it started slipping, he kept driving since he thought (no brains) it would make it home. Well, it did make it home (only about a mile). After letting it cool, it seemed almost fine. I changed the fluid and filter and was back in business. Next day, it happened again. Left a trail of fluid till it just died. This time my luck ran out, even after letting it cool, it still leaks.

Just bought a rebuilt (with converter) and will be swapping it out in the next few days.
Definitely going to flush the cooler and lines.
More than likely going to add a shift kit to reduce shift overlap.
Thinking about even larger after-market cooler (has after-market already).
May install electric fan on cooler (since there isn't much airflow when stopped or moving slow (and pushing snow), and that is when it heats up the most.
May install larger pan (if I can find one) for more fluid volume.
And finally, going to take the plow off and never use it for plowing again. Probably buy a jeep and mount the plow on it.

One thing I did notice long before the first "boil-over" was that sometimes after stopping at a stoplight, after about 5-10 seconds, I would feel a slight surge. Kind of like it didn't drop back to first gear right away, and then after sitting, it would finally drop down. Never really gave it much concern since otherwise it seemed fine and shifted good.

 

A4LD stands for Automatic 4-speed Light Duty. That should be the first clue. This transmission can be very dependable if treated well, but will fail quickly if abused. One should never ever tow or do hard work (like plowing) with the transmission in overdrive. That is almost a sure death sentence.

As far as blowing the oil out, what happens is during hard work like plowing, the tranmsission may overheat even with an auxiliary cooler as there is not enough air moving over it. As a result the oil gets thinner (lower viscosity) and it tends to leak past the front bell housing bushing faster than normal. There is a drain hole in the sump area of the housing between the bushing and the seal which returns this leakage back to the oil pan, but if the leakage rate is too fast it ends up blowing the oil out past the front seal. Unfortunately this increased leakage rate reduces the pressure applied to the clutches and along with the additional heat, often the clutches get burned as they start to slip. This damage to the transmission is often done before the oil is blown out. But under this scenario the leak will often go away after the initial incident and not occur again unless the seal was old and brittle thereby suffering damage. Depending on the condition of the transmission before this event, other transmission problems may show up immediately or they may take a while, but usually they will appear with in 3 months again depending on usage.

Another problem that can occur is that when the transmission overheats, the front bell housing bushing can loosen up and move forward, sealing off to some extent the sump area between the bushing and the seal. If this movement of the bushing is all the way to the seal, then the only path for the oil leakage to take is past the seal. Also, often this damages the seal itself. Usually if the transmission continues to leak oil in this area after the initial time, then this is the problem. You cannot just replace the bushing and the seal and expect for success even if there were no other damage to the transmission. You must buy or get a reconditioned bell housing. The reason for this is that when the bushing moves it often gets damaged, so a new bushing is necessary. Since the hole in these bell housings is not necessarily in the center where it should be, the bushing must be installed and then centerless ground to make sure the hole is at true center, otherwise it will likely move again and cause another seal failure. This procedure requires the services of a good machine shop.

For the above situation it is never the vent that is plugged that caused this. If the vent is plugged the oil may be expelled through the filler pipe but not the front seal. Someone asked this question here too.

I hope this helps you understand this problem.

 

 

I'm having the same problem with my A4LD. The only problem is that I have had it rebuilt recently (3 months). It has a 12 month warranty on it and is going back in the morning for the 5th time in 3 months. I only had it 2 weeks this time. I keeps blowing the tranny fluid. This is what I thought was a very reputable tranny rebuild shop, and now their baffled. They have virtually gone through the intire tranny. The last thing they did to it was replace the torque converter and imput shaft. It is also the different casing from the original. Last night when I pulled into my driveway and tried to put it in park, it felt like the linkage was stuck. After I finally got it to move toward the park position it started a grinding sound, and would not go into park. Tried it a few more time without success, and finally had to set the E-Brake. This morning there was a big puddle of tranny fluid under it. It will not turn over to start either. Probably due to it not being in a nutural gear. Anyone got any Ideas as to what may be causing all of these problems with this tanny?

 

Okay guys and gals, lets face it. The A4LD is a junk tranny and needs to be yanked out and replaced. They are known for loosing tranny fluid. My dad has a 1987 B2 with the 2.9 and A4LD and any time he goes off road with it it burps up a couple of quarts. His, however did not start doing this until AFTER the rebuild, so don't think that a rebuild will solve your problems. He took it to the Ford Dealership and had it done. You may have better luck doing it yourselfs though.
The research I have done says put a C3 or a C5 in it and forget it. The C3 is the same tranny without the OD and lets face it, the OD is a death sentence in itself. The C5 will be the best bet for those of you that wish to do a future upgrade to the 302. Good luck with all your trucks!!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-Nov-02 AT 07:10 PM (EST)]The A4LD is a good trans, like previously mentioned. The Bronco II that I'm selling has over 600,000 miles on the trans. The trans was never rebuilt, I know this since my dad bought the truck new in November of 1987. Some trans guys will say the things are trash after 25,000 miles...yeah right! But I think something that did help our trans live so long was it's factory installed trans cooler. The most the trans had done was a new front seal when the flexplate was replaced. But make sure that whoever is rebuilding your tranny is a knowledgeable person and knows what they are doing.
About the C3 and C5, go with a C5, or the C4. The C3 is a crappy trans that has a very limited market for parts. The C5 is basically the same as the C4, except that it has a lock-up converter and some minor inside differences. The C5 wasn't in production long though, only about 5 years or so, the last showing up in '86 cars, like the 3.8 Mustangs.

Gary
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1947 pickup-waiting for resto.
1957 Ford FL 500 Town Victoria
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