CD4E Transmission Master Rebuild Kit with Pistons

This is the master-level overhaul set for the CD4E, the four-speed front-wheel-drive automatic Ford and Mazda built together and Mazda catalogs as the LA4A-EL. Master means it goes past a plain gasket-and-seal kit: friction plates and steels for the clutch packs, the bonded pistons, the pump bushing, and the full seal, O-ring and gasket set. It cross-references to OE kit numbers KP7000V, KP7000A, 112901 and 112903.

Fitment covers Ford Escape 2001-2004 2.0L, 2005-2008 2.3L and 2001-2008 3.0L, Escape Hybrid 2005-2008 2.3L, Mercury Mariner Hybrid 2006-2008, and Mazda Tribute 2001-2008 in 2.0L, 2.3L and 3.0L. It also covers the earlier cars the same case went into: Ford Probe 1994-1997 2.0L and 2.5L, Mazda 626 1994-2002 2.0L and 2.5L, and Mazda MX-6 1994-1997. Overhaul numbers you will see quoted against the same unit are F3RZ-7A098A on the Ford side and FW50-21-500 on the Mazda side.

A CD4E usually lands on the bench for one of two reasons. The first is burnt clutches: the unit slips going into third or fourth, flares between shifts, and when the drums come apart the frictions are black and the steels are blued and glazed. That is what the friction and steel plates in this kit replace, along with the bonded pistons that harden and split at the lip. The second is the pump. The bushing wears oval, the converter hub starts beating on it, line pressure drops off and the transmission hunts and runs hot. Doing that bushing at the same time as the clutch packs is the difference between a rebuild that stays fixed and one that comes back.

While the unit is apart, pull the valve body and check the shift solenoids and the separator plate, and replace the torque converter instead of reusing it. A CD4E that cooked its clutches has already packed the converter with friction material, and a reused converter will put that debris straight back through the new frictions. Air-check every clutch circuit before the pump goes back on.