1994 4x4 manual TDI swap

[chickenman]

I pulled the code from the dash RABS light this morning. I came back with code 12.

found this chart on another thread. Code 12 makes sense because the prev owner said that the fluid was low, and as of now the reservoir is only about half full.

 

[Josh B]

Yes sir I took one look at the shift motor plug and was like um...yeah...no. I'm gonna pull on that thing and either break it or put a pick through my finger.

In all seriousness I can do it i just wanted to properly diagnose beforehand because some of the wires in the same plug go into sensors in tge transfer case. I will have to remove those wires from the plug and then eiggle them back in when i replace the motor. Or refurbish the old.

I believe I broke part of the little latch on mine but it never comes loose on it's own. That plug has enough connectors in it that it don't need extra clips, and as I said before, that thing is simple to open up and do some visual diagnostics

 

[chickenman]

I believe I broke part of the little latch on mine but it never comes loose on it's own. That plug has enough connectors in it that it don't need extra clips, and as I said before, that thing is simple to open up and do some visual diagnostics

Yeah i got the connector apart, both tabs were broken so it wasn't really that bad. i did a resistance test between the yellow and orange leads on the motor which supply power and the circuit wasn't closed. I figured this was the problem so ill be ordering a new one.

 

[Josh B]

I recommend saving the old one, you might eventually fix it up for a spare.
My starter went out here once when I was driving through the woods to the back pasture. Sometimes I'd stop there to check the water in the ditch before crossing there.
I called an order in to some place and expected it in 2 days, which came and went, as did 3 days 5 days 6 days 8 days. about 12 days in I chased them down and got it (they still marked it as "Delivered"
I fixed up a spare and put it in a box in my tool box and it's been in there for 12 years now

 

[chickenman]

I got the new ignition and door lock set in today, i went ahead and got the set cause i just wanted to have one key. The first door lock went in seamlessly but i shoulda know it was too good to be true. Unfortunately the ignition was not in fact the right one it was about 2 or 3 millimeters oversized and did not go into the column easily. I tried to grind the housing and only succeeded in getting it stuck halfway. I gave up, cause i was very annoyed.

 

[RonD]

See if it was in inches instead of millimeters it would have fit

 

[chickenman]

See if it was in inches instead of millimeters it would have fit

Yeah lol no crap

 

[chickenman]

The transmission

So today i crawled under the truck a managed to get the fill and drain plugs out of the transmission. The black ooze that came out was quite nasty. I let it drain for a while, and came back and reinstalled the cleaned drain plug. I pumped in some mercon atf and filled it up.

Does anyone know the torque spec for the fill and drain plugs?

I have a haynes manual, and all it gives are the trans to engine and trans to mount torque specs.

 

[chickenman]

Also,

Somewhere down the road, I have done a moderate amount of research on the towing capacities of the 4.0s. There is a couple thousand pound differece between the towing capacity of the automatic transmission and the manual. Some theories on why this is are as follows:

The Automatic transmission's gears and internals are stronger

Automatic transmissions use planetary gears which just by type are stronger than the gears manuals use.

Ford figured that people don't know how to drive manual with a trailer, so they lowered the capacity so they wouldn't have to replace transmission people screwed up under warranty

Manual transmissions, when they tow get too hot, and since they never have coolers can not regulate their temperature.

 

[chickenman]

These are all some interesting ideas, but I would like to point out one thing concerning the temperature.

Average manual transmissions use gear oil which is too thick to pump through tubes to a cooler if it gets too hot, which just by type manual transmissions don't really ever get hot. that's why they tend to last longer than their automatic counterparts.

However,
Ford ranger manual transmissions take ATF fluid, just like automatic transmissions that have coolers.

Has anyone who regularly tows with a manual transmission ranger ever added a transmission cooler with an external pump, that can be turned on when towing?

I have found on some of the performance sites where you can buy transmission cooler pumps, and of course its not hard to run some lines from the fill and drain ports to a cooler.

Obviously under normal circumstances you wouldn't need one. this is more of a theory question.

 

[RonD]

Yes, automatics are simply stronger that manuals, more surface area when drive gears are making contact in any given gear/ratio to spread out the torque/load

Manual just has the 2 or 3 teeth on the two gears with ALL the torque on them, in any gear

30-35ft/lb for drain fill plugs

 

[RonD]

Manual transmissions don't need coolers in most applications because they don't have torque converters
The Torque converter is the automatic clutch, and what happens if you "ride the clutch" in a manual setup?

It gets very very HOT, smoking hot, lol, if you go that far

So anytime you stop with any automatic the torque converter is "slipping" to allow engine to stay running while trans is "in gear", its the same as "riding the clutch" but it has circulating ATF to cool it(also no friction materials), but hot it gets
And when hauling/pulling a load the torque converter also has to slip more to get up to speed, so even more heat is generated
A 2nd trans cooler is always a good idea if you drive in lots of stop and go traffic or haul/pull loads with any automatic

Manual transmissions just have the bearing heat to dissipate, and no pump to circulate fluid to add a trans cooler
You could build something, and connect it to drain and fill plugs with external 12v pump, but current setup seems to work just fine IF................the ATF is changed now and then, lol
The Black ATF was probably 20+ years old

 

[chickenman]

Manual transmissions don't need coolers in most applications because they don't have torque converters
The Torque converter is the automatic clutch, and what happens if you "ride the clutch" in a manual setup?

It gets very very HOT, smoking hot, lol, if you go that far

So anytime you stop with any automatic the torque converter is "slipping" to allow engine to stay running while trans is "in gear", its the same as "riding the clutch" but it has circulating ATF to cool it(also no friction materials), but hot it gets
And when hauling/pulling a load the torque converter also has to slip more to get up to speed, so even more heat is generated
A 2nd trans cooler is always a good idea if you drive in lots of stop and go traffic or haul/pull loads with any automatic

Manual transmissions just have the bearing heat to dissipate, and no pump to circulate fluid to add a trans cooler
You could build something, and connect it to drain and fill plugs with external 12v pump, but current setup seems to work just fine IF................the ATF is changed now and then, lol
The Black ATF was probably 20+ years old

Yeah that old gunk was probably only changed once in the trucks 30 year life.

 

[Bear in the woods]

Most of the time. If the 4wd hasn’t been used it only needs the shaft coming out of the 4wd shift motor cleaned. I have found that simply working the button from 4 low to high and back off and repeating multiple times most always starts working.

 

[chickenman]

So stick something in the motor and wiggle it back and forth?

Most of the time. If the 4wd hasn’t been used it only needs the shaft coming out of the 4wd shift motor cleaned. I have found that simply working the button from 4 low to high and back off and repeating multiple times most always starts working.