Hey everyone new to the forum. I am lost on my Ranger. It is a 1990 2.3l 4 speed automatic that shifts very very hard and takes forever to shift. It gets up into the 5thousands and eventually shifts to 2nd after 20 minutes of warming up and just running through the gears with my foot on the brake. Every gear after shifts hard or moderately. Also when going 55mph or any relative area it's running in the 3.5k to 4k rpms like it wont go ahead and shift into the next gear. Any help would be appreciated. I have been debating on dropping the pan and just checking things out. Also a note of intrigue in park while warm and idling you check the dipstick it says way overfilled. You check it cold it says way overfilled. Rewind to when I first got it it read low while warm and idling and while cold so a little was added but not enough to read twice as much as what is supposed to be in there. Is something holding fluid in that area? Sorry for being long winded! Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum

You have an A4LD automatic in your 1990 Ranger, used from 1985 to 1994 in Rangers

Reads like you are losing pressure but could be from a number of places, because trans fluid is so high could be a pressure regulator is bad, so its sending fluid back into the pan instead of to the valve body
ALL automatics run on Fluid Pressure
Valve body uses the pressure to shift gears
The pump provides the pressure, it is turned by the torque converter, directly, so spins and pumps at engine RPMs
There is a pressure regulator on the pump so pressure doesn't get too high like at 4,000rpms, but still stays high at 700rpms(idle)

You need 120psi to engage Drive, any forward gears
160psi to engage Reverse, this is why Reverse is often slow to engage, or doesn't work at all, if there is a pressure problem

How does Reverse work?

The A4LD just uses the regular ball/spring valve setups to shift 1st, 2nd, 3rd, then has a solenoid to activate 4th(overdrive)

How many Miles on this transmission since last rebuild?

That will determine if you try just rebuilding the Valve body, new gaskets and seals, and modulator, with trans in vehicle
Or pull the transmission and do a full rebuild
You can generally get over 250k miles on a good rebuild, cheap rebuild, 15-20k(12 to 18 months)

 

When shifted into reverse it goes right into reverse and you can back up. according to the records on it at 121,000ish miles the transmission was rebuilt. It is nearing 155k. I received this truck when my great grandfather passed. He willed it to my grandmother who I bought it off of she can't drive. He bought it from the original owner if I'm not mistaken. Anyway that's useless info lol

 

I would replace the modulator first, not a hard thing to do, its on passenger side of transmission, has a vacuum hose attached, check hose for ATF, shouldn't be any, no ATF doesn't mean its OK, make sure other end of the vacuum hose is hooked up to the engine and has no cranks, i.e. holds a vacuum
But with poor shifting gears that would be first stop