A4LD Wiring help

[01PONY]

I put an A4LD from a 1989 LX into a 1991 LX, both 4 cyls. The problem is that the '01 had a 3 wire plug and the '89 trans has a 2 wire plug. The plug can't be changed easily. I believe the plug is for the overdrive and/or lockup being the car now only has 3 gears and no overdrive. I want to know if I can splice the 2 wires from the trans into the 3 wires on the car and which would go to which to get the overdrive working. Thanks.

 

[Delray Dude]

not sure - all i have is manual cars. but i remember reading somewhere that if you have the old transmission you can get the wiring harness from it and it wires up into the older case - i'll see if i can fine the thread on it.

 

[Ironrider09]

I have the same sort of problem but I swapped in a manual transmission and the computer spits out codes for the automatic and I would like to prevent those codes from setting the check engine light on

 

[KhanTyranitar]

If you swap in a manual, I hear you can wire some resisters in to simulate the load of the solenoids. Just measure the resistance of the solenoids, then go for a high wattage rated resistor of the same amount.

As far are using an A4Ld, I would swap the wiring, myself, I don't like doing swaps, would much rather rebuild the old one. The biggest problem with swaps is that each year, Ford did have minor design changes to improve the durability and reliability. If you put a trans from and older year into a newer year, you are downgrading to a less reliable unit. If it were mine, I would go for a 1994 A4LD with the 4.0L planetary gears, that is if I did a swap. I'm still personally in favor of rebuilding the old one with upgrade parts.