Get the car high enough!
Get a 13 mm GearWrench..made life easier!
Remove the dipstick tube before you drop the tranny.
Careful with the electrical connections, they are fragile.
Use a big ratchet on the balancer pulley to rotate the engine for access
to the torque converter bolts..turn motor forward only or the timing belt may skip a tooth.
Mark the driveshaft to differential location so you can put it back the same way...balance issues.
A big screwdriver through the torque converter access hole will hold the separator plate in place while trying to line up the bolt holes.
Use the starter hole to find alignment for the torque converter bolts.
Getting the upper, passenger side bellhousing bolt (with the dipstick bracket and the modulator vacuum line bracket) is a PAIN to get in. Gearwrench helps alot here.
Set the shifter adjustment in OD...I don't know why this seems to get it correct, but trying in park sometimes makes getting it to stay in park difficult.
Unless using a fresh rebuild, replace the the front seal.
I did this 4 times in one week when I tried to rebuild my own a4ld with the same problem as yours.
Once you put it in OD you had no forward gears...put it in park..then straight to D it worked well for 1,2 and 3 but no OD.
Bruce (TX)
Mine works fine in D, and drives ok in OS, except it never shifts into 4th gear.
It acts like it stays in 3rd, and the tc clutch locks. But no shift to 4 th, and in OD, when you let off the gas, the engine speed drops to idle every time.
I am thinking the band does not apply, or the OD planetary has broken, per the ATSG book that I have.
I have no idea what is wrong with my tranny. Mustangs with bad auto trans are cheap around here so I ended up with 6 of them (total cost under $1500.)
Mine is a 91 vert..beautiful car but bad tranny. I spent about 2 weeks familiarizing myself with the rebuild, bought the parts, even tore down a bad spare to get a looksee. Changed bands, clutches, discs, seals washers, bearings and gaskets. Checked clearances, tested pistons, mapped the valve body for cleaning. Replaced the one-way clutches and the parts these clutches grabbed. Took 3 rebuilds and nearly $600.00 to get there. Spotless rebuild area and followed all the procedures. Still when I put it in OD...nothing.
If I go from there to 1,2 or D it does nothing.
I got an 86 turbo coupe with 5-speed and rusted out body that I am going to put in.
2nd car we did we used a 3rd party supposedly rebuilt ranger tranny that had sat in the back of a truck since Dec. We just swapped the bellhousing and valve body (86 single soleniod vs. 91 dual), bent the shift linkage to fit.
Didn't even buy new gaskets and did it in the driveway using a set if ramps to support the trannys. Works great 4000 miles later. Go figure!!
Bruce (East Texas)
my advice... take the A4ld and DONT put another one back in!!! But as it was stated, get some help, they are heavy. Make sure all the cooler lines, kickdown cable, and shift cable are disconnected first. they are hard to undo when you have to support the tranny. And yup.. its heavy..