Ford F-4EAT

Transmission general data

The 4-speed automatic transmission F4A-EL (KIA - 4EAT-F, F4E-AT) was designed by Mazda specialists together with Jatco in 1989 for FWD vehicles with the engine capacity of approx. 1.6 liters. This transmission had to replace the 3-speed F3A and was used for Mazda 323 and Ford Escort. In terms of design, this transmission is similar to the 4EAT-G.

Technical issues and repair guidelines

This reliable and simple automatic transmission in most cases comes in repair services with the torque converter issues and replacement of spare parts: repair kit of gaskets and seals. Friction elements of Forward, Overdrive 3-4 and Reverse packs are the first to get burnt because of wear-out of rings and bushings. Later, repair specialists packages Coast and L\R. With transmission aging it is required to replace the kit of bushings. Significant oil pressure losses and burning of friction elements in packages occur, when the wear-out of bushings exceeds 100 microns. The bushing of the torque converter hub is the first to wear out.

The clutch drum (Reverse & Forward Clutch Drum (only for Ford/Mazda)) gets replaced together with burnt friction elements, steel and bearing discs on old cars.Operation with contaminated ATF and vibrations related to wear-out of bushes has a bad impact on the oil pump. The rear cover is also replaced quite often (poor Y-alloy in Mazda). The valve body of this transmission has a specific distinction: for Kia- there is a valve 3-2, for Ford and Mazda- no valve. A new design of the valve body is very robust and has no problems of the first series. Timely detection of the burnt flavor and cleaning of the valve body with replacement of the EPC solenoid (or SHIFT - Ford/Mazda), 2-3 и 3-4.), which reaches the end of its service life, ensure reliability and a long-time service life of this transmission without any serious problems.