94 Transmission Slipping

130,000 miles on an A4LD is pretty good.... you can spend a lot more than 2G on piecemeal repairs and still have an unsatifactory transimission.... this is borne from experience. Sorry that this has to happen to you this close to Xmas but you may as well bite the bullet and get the job done (providing the rest of the car warrants the expense....

I'd be interested in knowing more about this vacuum pump....

I'll go along with that. Mine went out last Christmas eve while on my way home to Nebraska from DC...left me stranded at midnight in the Appalachians in a snow storm.....cost me $2400 to replace ( bloody pirates )....not nice...not very nice at all.. I wish there was an alternative to the A4LD tranny.

| > I took it in to a local mechanic and he said I needed a $2000 | > transmission | > job. After it sat at his shop a few days, he called and said he had | > replcaed | > the filter and fluid and it seemed ok. It ran perfect for a few weeks and | > now it is getting progressively worse. | >

| > Even though I don't see any leaks, it seems if I put a 1/2 quart of fluid | > in | > occassionally, it gets better then worse again. | >

| > Besides the obvious "what's wrong?" I would like to know if a vacuum leak | > or | > a missing vacuum hose could casue this problem? I ask because there is a | > hosing missing from the (I think) 3 port tap at the left rear of the | > engine | > (the vacuum pump is one of the hoses). | >

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It is very common for the vacuum modulator on the transmission to start leaking internally and then the tranny fluid gets sucked up into the engine thru that 3 port tap. In the process it swells and softens all the hoses on that tap which often leads to one or more of them popping off and creating a vacuum leak. The problems you describe and the way it was cured by adding fluid suggest that might be your problem. Before investing in a new tranny see if those vacuum noses at the tap look like they have ATF inside them. You could literally pour ATF out of one of the vacuum hoses on my 92. Replacing the modulator is around a $100 to $200 job.

-- Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House of Representatives, August 17, 1789

transmission

Yes, it's available retail. Probably for around $50 as a guess. It's something a do it yourselfer *could* do himself as far as replacing but it's really hard to get to because the cat converter is so close to the tranny. If you do try and do it yourself be advised that there is reportedly a "metal pin" thats inside the modulator that transfers the movement of the modulator to the parts inside the transmission. When the old modulator is removed this pin sometimes falls out unnoticed and gets lost. If you don't put the pin into the new modulator when you install the new one then the modulator will not be able to do anything. There was a recent post from someone who had replaced there's by working from inside the truck and taking the seats, carpet and an access cover out. I had mine done under warranty and avoided all that :-) If mine goes out again I'd probably just have a tranny shop replace it and do a fluid and filter change at the same time.

-- Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House of Representatives, August 17, 1789

Thanks for some great advice!