Transmission Digest January 2011

VOLUME 30, NO. 5 JANUARY 2011

The Automotive Powertrain Industry Journal

D I G E S T

AW 5- & 6-speeds AX4S CD4E 4L60-E 4/5R55E

"VUPNBUJD%SJWFt10#PYt#FMMPXT'BMMT7564"ttt'tXXXTPOOBYDPN2010 Sonnax Industries, Inc.

10 Sonnax Solutions for AW55-50SN!*

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PROBLEM SOLUTION Tool Required Part NumbertTCC apply & release problems 1. Lockup Relay Control Valve & Sleeve Kit 59947-01K

tInadequate lubrication

tTCC apply & release problems 2. Lockup Control Valve & Sleeve Kit 59947-03K

tConverter codes

t/P5$$BQQMZ 3. Solenoid Relay Valve & Sleeve Kit 59947-05K

tShift concerns

tWear at the main PR valve bore 4. Oversized Pressure Regulator Valve F-59947-TL12 59947-12K tHarsh/Soft shifts & Boost Valve Kit & VB-FIX

tDelayed engagements 5. Main Boost Valve & Sleeve Kit 59947-07K

tHarsh/Soft upshifts

tLoss of 3rd, 4th or 5th gear 6. Solenoid Modulator Valve Capsule Kit 59947-09K

t/P5$$BQQMZ

t%FMBZFEGPSXBSEFOHBHFNFOU 7. O-Ringed End Plug Kit 4 Small & 1 Large 59947-21K

t6QTIJGUGMBSFMPX4-5QSFTTVSF

t4IJGUDPODFSOT 8. B4 Release Valve Kit F-59947-TL26 59947-26K

t/FVUSBM & VB-FIX

t%FMBZFEGPSXBSEFOHBHFNFOU 9. LPC Accumulator Piston Kit 59947-LPC

t-PXMJOFMVCFDPOWFSUFSQSFTTVSF

tOverheating of fluid, bushing & converter 10. Secondary Regulator Valve & Spring Kit F-59947-TL16 59947-16K

t)BSTISFWFSTFFOHBHFNFOU & VB-FIX

/PUF5IFTPMVUJPOTTIPXOIFSFBMTPGJU "84/"'3&'"VOJUT

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Circle No. 15 on Reader Card

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

Transmission Digest (ISSN 0277-8300) is published monthly by M D Publications, Inc., 3057 E. Cairo, P.O. Box 2210, Springfield, MO 65801-2210. Advertising inquiries are welcome, by mail or telephone,(417) 866-3917; Fax (417) 866-2781; [email protected]. Advertising rates furnished upon request. Advertiser and agency agree to indemnify and protect the publisher from unauthorized use of anypersons name, photograph, statement or copyrighted material. Copies available by subscription: One year (12 issues) United States and U.S. possessions $39; Canada $48; all other countries via IPA $81 inU.S. funds only. Single copy price $4.75 plus shipping for current or back issues (as available) except the Annual Buyers Guide which is published as the March issue. Copyright 2011 by M D Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Advertisements and Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Transmission Digest or its management. Editorial contributionswelcome, but return of manuscripts, models or other artwork not guaranteed unless accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Information contained in Transmission Digest has been carefullycompiled from industry sources known for their reliability, but M D Publications does not guarantee its accuracy. Other M D Publications: Undercar Digest, Tech/Talk, and Short Line. M D Show Division: TRANSMISSION/UNDERCAR EXPO 2011, March 17-19, Indianapolis. Periodicals Postage paid at Springfield, Missouri, and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Transmission Digest, P.O. Box 2236, Springfield, MO 65801-2236.

VOLUME 30, NO. 5 JANUARY 2011

D I G E S T

News & Previews

From the Publisher .............2

Catalog/Product Showcase ........................38

Information Source ......48-49

Powertrain Products ....56-57

Industry News Highlights ........................58

Marketplace................59-64

Index to Advertisers..........64

Full CircleHis first job 30 years ago was in a mom & pop shop, and now Ernie Aubuschon and his wife, Kim, operate their own two-person business.

Page 4

Technical

TASC Force Tips . . . . . . . .8Valve-body and solenoidissues in Aisin Warner 5- and6-speed units

Shift Pointers . . . . . . . . .20A blocked lube hole and afaulty ground wreak havoc ontwo AX4S transaxles.

Technically Speaking: . . .22Heres another cross-connec-tion pitfall to avoid.

Tech to Tech . . . . . . . . . .26An overheating PT Cruiserpresents a diagnostic dilem-ma.

Torque Converter Tech Tips . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Beware of different-lengthinput shafts in Fords 4R55E &5R55E.

Up to Standards . . . . . . .34Using the proper lubricant iscritical with todays manualtransmissions and transfercases.

R&R Tech . . . . . . . . . . . .404L60-E EC3 TCC control and adapt

Vacuum Testing for Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

To Ream or Not to Ream,That is the Question . . . .50

Business

Its Your Business . . . . . .32Dealing with customer-serviceproblems

The Whole PackagePrecision International incorporatesnew transmission technologies intofamiliar packages.

Page 14

Features

Valve-Body Tech . . . . . . . .39

Valve-Body Suppliers . . . .52

January 2011 1

CERTIFIED

Tech Tips

Sonnax . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

2 Transmission Digest

As New Years resolutionfor this column there isone important objectivefor which Im aiming in 2011. Idont want to have to apologizefor leaving a company out of theproduct listings we provide withvarious issues.

As a case in point, some elec-tronic-digital-cyber-glitch pre-cluded our receiving theinformation from RocklandStandard Gear for use in theNovember manuals issue.Obviously, as owner MikeWeinberg has been our manual-tech editor for more than 20years, Im particularly red-faced.Please add the following, withmy apology, to the informationpublished in November:

Rockland Standard Gear Inc., Street:150 Route 17, Sloatsburg, NY 10974,Mail: PO Box 13, Sloatsburg, NY10974-0013, PH:845-753-2005,TF:800-227-1523, FX:845-753-2330, WEB: www.rsgear.com, [email protected] inventory of new & remanu-factured standard-transmission &transfer-case units. Complete line ofOEM Ring & Pinion parts. Extensivecoverage of OEM-quality parts formanuals, transfer cases & rear ends.New OEM transfer-case motors +complete line of OEM & performance

From thePublisherBy Bobby Mace

clutches. Manufacturer of Tranzillarace & performance transmissions;Corvette C5, C6 rear ends.

We at Transmission Digest re-ceive literally hundreds of e-mailand fax transmissions every day.As policy, we acknowledge re-ceipt of every e-mail that containsinstructions or publishable infor-mation from suppliers, manufac-turers, subscribers or advertisers.

Faxes, as evidenced above, area little more problematic for us,and thus we offer a few tips onways to improve confidence inthe reliability of your faxes.

First and foremost, programyour fax number, the date andthe time into your fax machine.This will print on the top of everyreceived page. Not including thisinformation with fax transmis-sions violates some federalstatute but, more important,keeps the recipient from knowingwho was sending should the linego dead before the pages areprinted. Verify these pro-grammed fields after power fail-ures and when changing to orfrom daylight time.

We maintain both transmissionand reception logs for our fax ma-chines. When we have an impor-tant document outbound, wecheck to verify that our machineand the receiving machine con-nected and that the number ofpages received matches the num-ber we started with.

Best wishes for prosperity andhappiness in this new year! TD

ExecutiveCarol Langsford

PresidentMichelle Dickemann

Vice PresidentBobby Mace

[email protected]

EditorialGary Sifford

[email protected]

Wayne ColonnaTechnical EditorTerry GreenhutBusiness EditorMike Weinberg

Contributing Editor

Art DepartmentJay Young

Creative DirectorLonnie Bolding

Art Administrator

CirculationDudley Brown

Circulation ManagerMike Turner

[email protected]

Advertising SalesMike Anderson

[email protected]

Accounting/CreditMuriel Lincoln

Credit ManagerDonna Blackburn

SHOWPOWER 2011March 17-19

Indiana Convention CenterIndianapolis

Bob JacobsmeyerExhibit Manager

[email protected]

FounderLes Langsford,

19281993

TRANSMISSION DIGESTM D Publications, Inc.

(417) 866-3917

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You might say that Ernie Aubuschons career intransmission repair has come full circle. His firstjob in the industry, in 1980, was at a mom &pop shop; two years ago he and his wife, Kim,opened a similar business near Missouris Lake of theOzarks.

Aubuschon Transmission Repair in Sunrise Beach isa three-bay shop operated by the two of them. Erniedoes all the mechanical work and Kim handles officechores. About a year ago they began offering generalautomotive repair in addition to transmission and driveline work.

We do brake work, transfer cases, differentials, balljoints, tie-rod ends, drive axles, shift kits, U-joints just about everything on a vehicle except doing front-end alignments and selling tires, Ernie said.

Since Sunrise Beach is a tourism-oriented communi-ty, business is seasonal, he noted. Our main thingaround here is, of course, tourists, so the wintermonths normally are slower.

After about eight years at his first job, Ernie movedto St. Louis and spent 10-12 years working for an inde-pendent shop and a transmission-repair franchise,then spent about four years working for a different

Owners Ernie and Kim Aubuschon

Aubuschon Transmission Repair in Sunrise Beach, Mo.

continues page 6


franchise in nearby FairviewHeights, Ill. I hurt my shoulderand they released me from work,so I looked around for a job andcouldnt find anything. I was goingthrough a divorce at the time.

He decided to start his ownbusiness and found a building inIronton, about 90 miles south of St.Louis, where he operated a shopfor five years. When we decidedto move here, wed had it up forsale, and I sold it to my stepson.

He was going to run it as just ageneral-repair shop, and then thebuilding caught on fire and burneddown.

At the last franchise shop wherehe worked, I very seldom had anycomebacks, Ernie said. They hadanother builder there who it justseemed like every week had some-thing coming back. I put a lot intomy products. Ive been doing it along time, so the biggest thing istrying to stay up with the newtechnology on these cars nowa-days, get all that late-model infor-mation you can take in.

I dont want any comebacks, sowhen I build transmissions I put alot of parts in them and take a lotof pride in what I do. I try to treatpeople the way I want to be treat-ed. I think I treat people very fair-ly. The product I put out there tothe consumer, I think its a verygood product. We give a goodwarranty, and we rarely have anycomebacks.

Ernie and Kim recently complet-ed a training course fromManagement Success. With usbeing new here, we were doingnewspaper advertising, did someon the radio, Ernie said. It justdidnt seem like we were gettingthe business quite like I wanted.They kind of opened up my eyes todo more general automotive repairto try to fill the void instead ofstaying strictly transmissions.

They originally attended one ofthe companys seminars in St.Louis, Kim said, and then went toLos Angeles twice for more-in-depth training in managementprinciples. You had consultantswho called you every week andwanted your numbers, to see howyou were growing and what haveyou. They helped us out as far asgetting some checklists and somethings like that we didnt have.

We send out Thank Younotes, Ernie said, and I thinkthat helps out a lot. It shows thatyou really do care about the cus-tomers. And weve got a referralprogram that weve been workingon.

Some shops in the area thatdont do transmission repair referthose jobs to his shop, and if hesbusy with a transmission job hellrefer general-repair work to one ofthose shops.

Ernie and Kim also joined thelocal chapter of BNI, an interna-tional business networking organi-zation whose purpose is to give itsmembers the opportunity to shareideas, contacts and business refer-rals. Members of the group operatevarious types of businesses andrefer customers to each other.

We try to be fair with the peo-ple when we do any type of work,Ernie said. We offer free check-outs. Even if I scan a vehicle, Idont charge for scanning it. TD

The shop has three lifts, including a drive-on unit.

Ernie does all the repair work.

Kim handles the office duties.

I bet my dad I could have four new distributorsin 2010, and I can now announce #3! CertifiedTransmission is proud to welcome PrecisionTransmission in Dubuque, IA to our family.I just need one more distributor to win thatbet with my dad. Help me win and become aCertified Transmission Distributor. The CertifiedTransmission Program is unique, designedexclusively for professional transmission shopslooking to increase capacity, sales and profits.More than just another reman unit, CertifiedTransmissions are installed by the people whobuild and test them and by professional shopsthroughout North America.

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Washington DC Glen Burnie Transmission 410-766-8500Boston, MA Metro Transmission Distributors Inc 800-891-5508Des Moines, IA All Drive Transmission 800-247-1499Dubuque, IA Precision Transmission 563-585-0270Framingham, MA Bonded Transmission 508-872-1119Ft. Dodge, IA Certified Transmission Iowa 800-362-2189Kalona, IA Kalona Auto 800-728-3098Kansas City, MO Certified Transmission Kansas City 800-544-7520Kieler, WI Shift Point Transmission 608-568-3054Madison, WI Trans Works Transmissions 608-742-5136Minneapolis, MN Tri Star Engine & Transmission 800-322-5859Manhattan, KS Stagg Hill Transmissions 785-539-2900North/Central NE Norfolk Transmission 800-234-8726Omaha, NE Certified Transmission Nebraska 800-544-7520Philadelphia, PA Metro RMP 800-257-7418Quad Cities IA/IL Snider's West 563-391-7534Rapid City, SD Logan's Transmission 800-579-1742Salt Lake City, UT Freeway Transmission 800-354-5920San Diego, CA Metro Certified Transmission of So. Cal 888-374-8383Scottsbluff, NE Wilburn's Transmissions Inc. 308-635-1212Sioux Falls, SD J & M Transmission 800-504-2050Tulsa, OK Eddie's Transmissions 918-272-6683Youngstown, OH/

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Precision Transmission has been in business for 11 years,and now has locations in Iowa and Wisconsin. Not onlyhas installing Certified Transmissions in my two shopsbeen beneficial, the Certified units have allowed me todevelop a Wholesale Carryout business with minimal warranty exposure.

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DadI have number 3! One to go!



Aisin AW Linear Solenoids

In this article, the AW 55-50/51five-speed (also known as AF23/33) will be referred to as theAW 5.

The AW 5 has three types of lin-ear solenoids (Figure 1): SLU(black connector), SLT (blue con-nector) and SLS (green connector).Other on/off-style solenoids areused to control the position of theshift valves. The AW 5 uses linearsolenoids to control line rise (SLT),the converter clutch (SLU) and theoil flow rate and accumulation forthe clutch circuits (SLS). The flow-to and function of these solenoidsoverlap, which makes diagnosisdifficult.

All three solenoids are supplieda regulated oil pressure through asolenoid modulator valve. Thefunction of this valve is compara-ble to that of a GM 4T65-E/4L80-Eactuator-feed-limit valve. In theAW 5, the solenoid modulatorvalve limits solenoid pressure to 90psi. If you wish to verify the regu-lation point, tap into SLT pressureand perform a stall test. If SLT ex-ceeds 90 psi, the solenoid modula-tor bore is worn at the inboardend.

Bore wear at the solenoid modu-lator can allow maximum pressureto be excessive, but it also canallow pressure to be lower thanline pressure. For example, if thereis bore wear at the spring end ofthe valve, line pressure could be 55psi at idle, but feed to the sole-noids could be reduced to only 40psi. High solenoid-modulator pres-sure causes harsh, bumpy shifts

and tie-ups. Low pressure createsflared/long shifts and poor TCCapplication. Although most AWsix-speed solenoid functions differfrom those of the AW five-speed,solenoid modulator function andrelated problems are the one thingthey have in common.

AW 5 drivabilityFigure 2 on page 10 highlights

the more-dramatic effects that dif-ferent linear-solenoid malfunctions

have on shift quality or torque-converter feel at various shiftpoints. As a general rule, if allshifts are harsh, check line pres-sure first. Line rise is controlled bythe SLT. If forward and reverse areharsh or delayed, the 1-2 is harshand 2-1 coast-down firm, the con-cern is often related to the SLU.The SLU also affects TCC controlafter the 2-3 shift. When the SLU isout of adjustment, the TCC maycycle or result in a harsh gear

1

Sonnax 2010

Tasc Force Tips

Subject: Valve-body and solenoid service

Units: AW 55-50/51 (AF23/33), TR-60SN/09D, TF-80SC/AF40,TF-81SC/AF21 and TF-60SN/09G

Author:Bob Warnke

Essential Reading: Rebuilder

Shop Owner

Center Manager

Diagnostician

R & RTEC

HN

ICA

LT

RA

ININ

G

Cast #

SLT

Up or downposition

Width

Length

SLS

#1

NO orNC

#2

Thermalsensor

#3

No code = earliestC code = latest

#4

#5

Insulatorcolor

SLU

9165 = early

Vented/no vent

Plate code

continues page 10


Tasc Force Tips

change due to an inadequate re-lease of the converter clutch. Whenthere is a flared shift on multiplegears such as 2-3, 3-4 and 4-5, sus-pect the SLS because it is the flow-control solenoid.

AW 5 solenoid adjustments The adjustment screws on the

AW 5 increase or reduce the spring

force against the valve. The springopposes the force of the coil(Figure 3). To avoid severe dri-vability issues, the adjuster shouldbe set at or near the OE position,which averages 0.195 inch/4.9 mmmeasured from the end of the ad-juster to the end of the solenoidmanifold. If the adjustment is toofar off either in or out variousdrivability issues occur. In many

instances, an out-of-adjustment so-lenoid may cause the TCM to set agear-ratio code or a solenoid-am-perage high/low code.

If the solenoids require an ad-justment in the vehicle, accessholes can be drilled in a cover tomatch the location of the adjusters(Figure 4). The holes can beplugged later with a blind-head

3

4

AW5 Linear-Solenoid Strategy

Gear SLU SLT SLSP/D X

P/R X X

1-2 X

2-1 X

2-3 X X

3-2 X X

3-4 TC X

4-3 TC X

4-5 TC X

5-4 TC X

TCC X

X Greatest effect of this solenoid on shift indicated

TC Drivability effect on converter clutch

Harsh upshifts/downshifts. Verifythat amperage to SLT changes. Ifit does not, TCM may be in fail-safe. Verify that lockup controlvalves react to SLU amperage.Cooler flow will drop/rise by 50%with proper valve control.

SLU Affects TCC. If valve bodyis worn, SLU may be functioningbut not hydraulically releasing.This creates harsh shifts. Useconverter-release pressure tap orSonnaflow to isolate hydraulics.Adjustment: Clockwise/in reducesSLU pressure

SLT Use pressure tap to checkSLT. It is common to have elevat-ed SLT when secondary regulatorbore is worn. Low SLT is createdby solenoid modulator bore wear.Adjustment:Counterclockwise/out reducesSLT pressure.

SLS Is pulsed between upshiftsand downshifts to interruptclutch pressure. Adjustment:Counterclockwise/out reducesSLS pressure.

2

Plungershaft seizesin bushing,primarilyabove200F.

Adjuster compensates for variation inOE tolerance.

Adjuster & retainer

Balancespring

Valve

ManifoldCoil

Armature/plungerEnd cap

AW 55-50 Linear SolenoidCanister

Altering the distancebetween cap &crimp will affectplunger travel.Plunger travelthen affects output pressure.

Bronzewasherdeforms,armaturecracks &shaft needspolishing.

Bore wearaffects solenoidpressure

55-50SN Linear-Solenoid AccessThe side cover can be drilled and plugged to adjust the linear

solenoids. Cover must be removed for this procedure!

Hole size depends on whatplug you will use. 1/4-inchblind-head rivets are anoption. Seal with siliconeupon installation.

2.660 inches case surface to center of SLS2.40 inches case surfaceto center of SLU

Center of bolt tocenter of SLU 1.100 to 1.130 inches

0.100 inch center of bolt to center of SLS

0.550-0.575 inchcenter of bolt holeto center of SLT

2.730 inches case surface to center of SLT

Sonnax Industries 2010

continues page 12

THE COMPLAINT

THE CORRECTION


AW6 Clutch-Control StrategyFord-Volvo-PSA

Gear SSC-SLCI SSD-SLC2 SSE-SLC3 SSF-SLB-1

VW

N92 N282 N90 N283

P/N X X

R X X X

1 X X X

2 X X

3 X X

4 X X

5 X X

6 X X

X solenoid energized

P/N Strategy dependent on program.

Note: These transmissions have skip-shift capability. Linear solenoidscontrol the clutch fill and exhaust rate.

Adjustment: Counterclockwise backing out the adjuster causes theclutch circuit to charge and exhaust faster. Clockwise turning adjusterinward slows clutch control. Increments of one turn are suggested.

5

rivet. In some vehicles, adjustingthese on a hot transmission in acramped compartment can be un-comfortable. One trick is to use acover with speedometer cablesmounted through it. These extendto the drivers compartment forease of adjustment.

Note: If the valve body is worninternally, a solenoid adjustmentmay improve operation at first butit will be only temporary.

AW 6 linear solenoidsThe following information

applies to the entire Aisin AW six-speed lineup: TR-60SN/09D,TF-80SC/AF40, TF-81SC/AF21and TF-60SN/09G. The TF-60SN/09G will be used as theexample, because the valve bodyand solenoids tend to be more sen-sitive to calibration and adjust-ment. The chart in Figure 5indicates the solenoid control strat-egy used in all the six-speed units.

Each clutch in an AW 6 is con-trolled independently by a dedicat-ed linear solenoid. Source oilpressure for all the linear solenoidsis regulated by a solenoid modula-tor valve.

The AW 6 does not use a typical

clutch switch valve as in the AW 5.The AW 6 relies on the linear sole-noids to control the applicationand release rate of each clutch. Byreviewing the chart, youll noticehow active the N90 and N282would be in city traffic. Because ofthis drive cycling, one or both ofthese solenoids tend to hang up,resulting in rough coast-downshifts.

AW 6 drivabilityIts important to understand

clutch overlap on the six-speedunits. The timing of applicationand release of two to three ele-ments has to vary according toload, engine speed/torque input,temperature etc. If the solenoid orclutch-control valve is slow due towear or contamination, the TCMmay not react or compensate fastenough to get the shift within pa-rameters. Often these units canhave severely harsh or flared up-shifts or downshifts with minimalclutch damage. Valve-body and so-lenoid service will correct a broadrange of complaints, but if thefluid is very dark, damage andwear may have advanced and in-ternal repairs will be needed.

AW 6 in-vehicle serviceOn most AW 6 units, the valve

body must be lowered onto longerbolts or pulled outward from thecase to exchange solenoids. To helpisolate which solenoid is slow, youcan swap from a neighboring boreand, if the problem travels to a newclutch/position, its related to thesolenoid. The adjusters that calibratethe solenoid and clutch-control

6A. Vacuum test here isolates the solenoidcap, the solenoid manifold-to-bore & thevalve-to-bore tolerance.

B. Vacuum test here isolatesbore wear & loss past theadjuster.

Measure the distancefrom the end of theadjuster to the casting.This adjustment altersclutch fill & exhaust rate.

Note: Improve your shift quality by finding a solenoid with a better vacuum test at A.Poor vacuum test at B results in a faster valve travel and bumpy shifts.

Commonbore wear

Do not removethis cap unlessyou can crimp& seal it.

Bore wear affectsclutch pressure

Each clutchhas a solenoid& controlvalve.

Tasc Force Tips

Transmission Digest12

continues page 18

AAMCO Transmission Center owner Robert Goldberg says, When we used the GPX Friction Plates on a Honda transmission rebuild, they shifted well from the rst application. We always worry about aggressive shift quality with Hondas and Acuras. This had perfect shift quality and we didnt have to use the very expensive Honda uid to get good shifts. I saved a lot of money with the GPX Friction Plates.

Our commitment to quality manufacturing and product diversity is unsurpassed. Raybestos Powertrain is dedicated to the highest level of service and products.

/iVi]>v`i] {U/ii\nU>\x{{xU>\>J>Lii>V www.raybestospowertrain.com



Anearly endless stream of new OEM technologyis applied to transmissions, keeping PrecisionInternational, like much of the powertrain af-termarket, hard at work creating the kits rebuilderswill need to repair those units. Although the role of akit packager has changed little over the past 40 or 50years, the workload has greatly expanded as both the

number of kittedparts for a mod-ern unit and theproliferation ofmodels encoun-tered in shopshave grown.

Precision hasexpanded to oc-cupy a 68,000-square-footheadquartersand operationsfacility on LongIsland, N.Y.(TransmissionDigest, December

2007), employingnearly 150 people.

The companyssales and marketingmanager, JohnSollazzo, says thatwith so many differ-ent modern units thecompany maintainsits focus on what itbest knows: develop-ing and bringing tomarket automatic-transmission kits. Inthe days when there were a relatively small numberof transmission units, it was easy to look at expansionopportunities beyond this [specialty] market. But,todays marketplace requires products for so manyunits and so many variants and so many modifica-tions that it takes all our concentrated effort to haveeach one of those addressed and to be able to knowwhy a specific kit works or doesnt work with a spe-cific unit from a specific powertrain, within a modelyear, and so forth.

Sales and marketing managerJohn Sollazzo

Precision International founderand CEO Dennis Marshall

January 2011 15

Frank Miller, exec-utive vice presidentand general manager,adds: Weve ex-plored expansion op-portunities like theheavy-duty market-place and others. But,thats not ourstrength, not whatwere really good atdoing. We know auto-matic transmissions.

We define our-selves as being very proactive. We dont want to bewatching other people and playing catch-up; we wantto be at the forefront. Thats basically been the mantrahere forever. Weve always concentrated on stayingahead with the new products the industry needs. Thedifference is that the cycles are becoming shorter andshorter.

An OEM develops a transmission for use in new

vehicles. All of a sudden, one day theyre coming outof warranty and we need to already have the kit readyto go. Everything on the vehicle is lasting longer andpeople arent getting rid of cars after 100,000 milesanymore. So theres a big demand for rebuilding thoseunits.

We bring the expertise of knowing that some partsneed to be upgraded as part of the process. Weredoing more than reverse-engineering to create a bill ofmaterials. Were looking at where we think problem

TheDevelopmentCycle

Vinnie Soviero

Engineering (from left, front): John Marsar, Dirk Atherton, Scott Wilson;(back) Vinny Soviero, Stacy Soviero, Pete Zervakos, Mike Verni

Vinnie Soviero oversees an engineer-ing department responsible for dis-covering and specifying each componentof every transmission kit the companysells.

There are four engineers who areworking a new unit along with someupdates. A fifth was hired recently totake some of the other duties off thedevelopment people. He handles docu-ment data control work for our ISO certi-fication and keeps the procedural manu-als, the control inspection proceduresand such. That frees up the rest of theteam so that they can proceed morequickly on kit developments.

Right now, were just getting to acomfort level with the CVTs. There arefewer parts in those but the componentstend to be pretty complex, larger drums,rings that require the right manufactur-ing and materials, and the driven pulleysthat arent found in a typical automaticunit.

Dual-clutch units are new, and weredeveloping expertise with the functional-ity of something that is a combination ofa manual transmission and an automatictransmission. Its computer driven andhas incorporated some hydraulics wehavent seen before. But theres a drumin there and seals and pistons, and wecertainly are used to seeing and working

with those types of components.The rest of the hot-list kits are most-

ly six-speeds, with seven- and eight-speeds coming up as well. Well be tear-ing down a Toyota eight-speed in thenear future to begin developing a kit forit. Mercedes has an eight-speed andwell have it in here before long.

Right now we are working on ZFsand Mercedes and have about 12 thatare being sourced and should bereleased in the next couple of months.The flow keeps going all the time. TheTF-80SC on the bench that we justopened up is for Volvo all-wheel-drivesix-speed. It will make its way throughthe same process.

Frank Miller, executive vicepresident

Small parts are counted by machine and packaged assub-kits for later use in an overhaul kit.


[wear] points are likely to be. Were thinking about al-ternatives, about what parts may need to be madefrom stronger materials, looking for things that willlead a rebuilder to be able to have more confidence inthe parts hes putting into a rebuilt unit.

In this manner we are both packager and parts-en-gineering designer. Because we can do that, we be-lieve we come to the market a cut above ourcompetition. We have customers out there that insiston our kits because thats what works for them. Usingour kits gives them confidence.

Miller observes that for every application andevery modification, a development cycle is takingplace in Precisions engineering department. Our de-velopment list includes units were only just nowhearing about. From that point to the point where wehave a transmission rebuilding kit that we have in ourhands and can sell to our customers, it can be fiveyears. What shortens that time frame is demand.Anything that were taking calls on will be expedited.

Were not trying to be so far ahead that we intro-duce a kit to market before its needed. We continual-ly change the priorities of the development list,changing the hot-list portion which are the itemswere working to release soonest. The top kit or topfive kits are continually being changed as we react tothe calls and in-quiries we receive.

As I said, thecycle seems to beaccelerating. Idont know if peo-ple are running upthe mileage quick-er or if it has to dowith parts notbeing availableonce a vehicle isout of warranty.

A huge changefor our industry isbonded pistons.The OE replace-ment pistons arent

available; nobody can get them. Try to buy them in anOE kit, theyre not available that way either. Aboutthe only thing that you can find for many late units isa filter and pan gasket. There are cars out there thatare being driven enough that the warranty is expiringand yet the car owner still wants to drive that vehicle.

The OEs arent developing or making availablethose kits. Weve actually had OE remanufacturersusing our kits because the parts arent available any-where in their network. I just put together a kit for theVolt. It took nearly six months to source the parts thatwere going to need to package that one. Thats start-ing out with the OEMs information on what goes inthe kit.

The problem is that theparts sourcing an OEM useshas become so global in na-ture that instead of everyO-ring being identified,theyll get a manufacturerto build a module such as avalve body or an intakemanifold and they will ex-pect the supplier to sourceall the components to theirTier 2s. Now that subcontractor sources that seal fromwhatever supplier seems logical. Its amazing howdifficult it is to find out who made all the componentsthat were sourced by the subcontractors for a givenunit.

I think thats what leads OEs to say were onlygoing to service this as a unit. We dont want to take itapart and deal with the components. That decision ontheir part, however, creates emerging opportunitiesfor us.

Sollazzo observes that even the domestic vehiclemarket has become much greater than the Big Three.Moreover he finds that the growth path for companieslike Precision lies, to a great degree, overseas.

A lot of the units that are up in Vinnies engineer-ing department are ones which are seldom, if ever,seen domestically, Sollazzo explains. For example,Aisin will develop a transmission and then sell thatunit for use to several different automakers around

Accounting department: (from left) Joseph Mortimer,Peggy Kowalski, Erin Clinch, Elizabeth Nerzig

Managers from the packaging facility include (from left)Rob Haines, Evelyn Gerlett, Gary Moore, DiomarisMendez, Arquimedes Rodriquez, Joe Cassino and DanSokolowski.

Warehouse managerJack Schweit

Quality-assurance tests includeinspection and diametrical meas-urement of arriving components.After passing these tests, theparts are placed in inventory forpackaging into Precisions kits.

January 2011 17

the world. Each oneof those OEMs willtweak it just a littlebit differently. Thebasic kit will workfor everything ex-cept a handful ofparts that a specificOEM changed.Thats why we buytransmission unitsfor each applica-tion. We have totake them apart andmake sure that ourkit has the correctparts for each ver-sion of that trans-mission unit.

We have the OEside of our businessthat is a solid base.We also have a great share of aftermarket productsand a share of the traditional aftermarket like NAPAand Pioneer as well.

The traditional is a different approach for us.Those customers handle the distribution and market-ing so we simply fill the role of packager. Even so,weve introduced new products that create opportuni-ties for growth for us and for them.

Internationally we look at a country or a regionand make a conscious effort to put our products intothat market. This is something we did, for example, along time ago with Russia. We made our effort to winproduct acceptance in that market and, quite honest-ly, we feel that we did a fantastic job. Were probablythe kit of choice in that market because we were therefirst and we did it right.

Miller adds: An important part of expanding intoa market like that is respecting their distribution. Weresearched who the people were who could legiti-mately handle our product. We looked for those with

compatible missions,those that wanted to bedistributors. We startedwith those guys andweve stuck with them asweve grown our businessin that country.

Sollazzo emphasizesthat people are the most-important factor for con-tinued success of thecompany. I think havingthe management team in place for as long as we haveis an advantage to us. Its hard to concentrate on cus-tomers and markets and growing a company whenyou have to stop and regroup or restructure.

Miller adds: This industry is about knowledge,and you cant let the people with that knowledge goand assume you can replace them with somebodywith college training or whatever. The best salesper-son or purchasing person or whatever doesnt comewith that industry knowledge that makes all the dif-ference. Thats just the way it works.

Both Sollazzo and Miller have been with the com-pany for more than 25 years, and they point out thatmost other top managers have more than 15 years inplace. Then you step down to middle management,Sollazzo says, and all those guys have been here foryears and years as well. This makes us consistent. Thecustomers feel the consistency because they knowwhom theyre talking to. Thats a lot of what makes ussuccessful. Theyve learned that if Im not here Frankcan give them an answer.

Both agree that opportunities continue to come.Applying the newest technological expertise to thesimple and longstanding tenets of being first to mar-ket with kits that have been developed with an eye to-ward updating parts that address service-lifeproblems has been and will continue to be the formu-la for Precision Internationals approach to business.

Says Sollazzo: We are what we are, and were verygood at what we do. TD

Customer service department personnel (from left,standing): Jim Cioffi, Rob Montano, Scott Schneider, PatManning; (sitting) Gina Posanti, Donna Covino, JenniferJackalone

Michael Glassberg, vicepresident of sales andmarketing

Boxed shipments leave Precisions Long Island facilitybound for distributors in the U.S. and abroad.

Pickers pull stock from inventoryto fill orders received.

valve are easily accessible. Withinone to 112 turns, you should notice adifference in that clutch.

Bench testing (Figure 6)A common issue found in both

the AW 5 and AW 6 is a hot dri-vability concern. This happenswhen the plunger starts to seizewithin the coil bushings at operat-ing temperature. The results are

acceptable shifts when cool but aharsh downshift or flared upshift(often 3-2 and 2-3) over the215F/85C range. If you suspectthis, a slow or sticking linear sole-noid can be identified by a hot-soak test (figures 7 & 8). Heat thesolenoid to operating temperature.Using a shop rag or some othermethod of protecting your handfrom the heat, pry and hold thevalve away from the plunger andshake the solenoid. In a good sole-

noid, the plunger shaft will be freeto rattle back and forth.

Rebuild vs. new solenoidsThis is a tough choice on most

modern transmissions, and theneed to address solenoid functionbecomes even more critical whenlinear solenoids are involved. Oneither end of the rebuildingprocess you will need to find amethod to disassemble and re-assemble the solenoids. In the mid-dle of the process, effectiveservicing requires some basicequipment, including a demagnet-izer, a hot tank, an ohmmeter andthe proper method to energize thecoil. Initial labor for each solenoidmay require about 30 minutes todisassemble, clean, demagnetize,re-bush and reassemble. If youwant to avoid the on-car adjust-ment process, you will need a sole-noid test plate and avariable-frequency controller, plusa data-acquisition system to deter-mine pass/fail parameters basedon testing known, good solenoids.Fortunately, affordable new high-quality aftermarket solenoids arebecoming available. For many, thisoption may prove the better choicethan either developing your ownfull-blown solenoid-rebuild opera-tion or trying to find good replace-ment solenoids from cores.

The AW 55-50 solenoids aregenerally calibrated as a set andthen installed. It is very importantto remember that whether yourebuild your existing solenoids orinstall replacements the valvebody itself must be properly re-paired as well.

Bob Warnke is Sonnax vice president of technicaldevelopment and a member of the Sonnax TASCForce (Technical Automotive SpecialtiesCommittee), a group of recognized industry tech-nical specialists, transmission rebuilders andSonnax Industries Inc. technicians.

TD

7

8

AW6 Clutch-Pressure Control Solenoid

5.0-5.6 ohms

Cap & crimp determine the stack-up length and plunger travel

This end of the solenoidseals an oil circuit atlarge OD of clutch control valve and canbe vacuum tested.

Caution on lifting lock tab

Pry valve with tool

AW 6 has a cap

Bench Test

1. Heat entire assem-bly to 200F +/-. Hold within a rag.

2. Pry valve to compress spring,and hold.

3. Shake the assembly4. Coil plunger should

toggle, rattle fore & aft.

Contaminantslodge in thisend on OEdesign

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A Tale of Two Fords

Our first tale is one of those situations in whichyou are in the middle of nowhere and all of asudden a warning lamp comes on. This per-son, whom we will call Mr. Public, was driving hisFord Taurus equipped with an AX4S on a lonelystretch of road at night when suddenly the transmis-sion-temperature lamp came on. Fortunately, Mr.Public was able to limp the car into the closest town,where he took the car to the local transmission shopthe next morning.

Upon initial inspection the shops technicianchecked the fluid and found that it was severelyburnt. The next step was to drop the pan and see whatkind of damage might have occurred. Considering thecondition of the fluid, there was hardly anything inthe pan so the transmission was removed for inspec-tion.

When the oil-pump driveshaft was removed one ofthe sealing rings was a mess and there was some pit-ting on the shaft where the bearing rides (Figure 1). A

number of the plastic washers were also melted, butnot much else was found in the way of real damageexcept when the technician examined the channelplate. What you see in Figure 2 is the result of that ex-amination as well as the cause of all the problems thatoccurred. The delivery sleeve in the center of thechannel plate had turned, completely blocking thelube hole in the channel-plate casting (Figure 3).

Shift Pointers

Subject: Damage caused by blocked lube hole, faulty ground

Unit: AX4S

Vehicle Applications: Ford passenger cars

Author:Pete Luban, ATSG


Shop Owner

Center Manager

Diagnostician

R & RTEC

HN

ICA

LT

RA

ININ

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1

Pitting where bearing ridesDamage to sealing ring

2

The delivery sleeve in the center of the channel plate hasturned.

3

The sleeve now blocks the lube hole.

Fortunately for Mr. Public he got the car in for repairsbefore severe damage to the gear train took place.

Our next situation concerns a different Ford vehiclewith an AX4S that came into the shop because it wasslipping. Inspection of this transmission revealeddamage to the driven sprocket and the driven-sprock-

continues page 24

Think

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5370 Wegman Drive, Valley City, OH 44280800 274 5001 www.lukclutch.com

Certi ed to ISO 9001:2008without Design

These days, it seems that everyone is telling you to think outside the box. When it comes to clutch replacement, thats just not good advice. Many clutch marketers mix and match parts from various sources, a practice that creates quality and installation problems. The parts may bolt up, but can fail prematurely, resulting in a comeback for you. When you install a LuK RepSet, you get the same flawless performance as the original equipment parts.

Designed and engineered to work together. Why risk your time and reputation with anything else?


Another One to Add to the List

Throughout the years I haveproduced articles revealingvarious types of self-inflictedinjuries that ate up time, energyand money unnecessarily as a wayto forewarn others so they canavoid this pitfall. Many thanks goto those who have revealed theirmistakes to us so we can sharethem with all of you, as well as theones we have discovered on ourtechnical hotline.

One of these self-inflicted in-juries deals with mistakenly cross-connecting sensors. In fact, theTechnically Speaking article in theNovember 2010 issue covered across-connect scenario with aNissan RE4F04B transaxle.

Well, here is another one to add

to the list. It occurs with the CD4Etransmission in 2001-and-up vehi-cles. The symptoms producedwhen a cross-connect error occursare immediate chronic gear-ratio-error codes P0731, P0732, P0733and/or P0734. The transmissiontries to shift to third but thendownshifts back to second or firstgear. After the technician clearsthese codes, they immediately re-turn during the road test. Thespeedometer also will read in Parkif the engine is revved up, and/orit is noticed that the speedometeris about 15-20 mph slow.

The cross-connect error that pro-duces this complaint is similar tothe one in the RE4F04B transmis-sion in that the turbine-speed sen-

sor has been cross-connected withthe output/vehicle-speed sensor.Prior to 2001 the VSS was on theopposite side of the trans, whichmade it impossible to cross-con-nect. With the new-design trans-mission for 2001 and up theOSS/VSS has been relocated in theapproximate vicinity of the tur-bine-speed sensor (Figure 1). Then,of course, the connectors for bothare configured the same, contribut-ing to this easily done self-inflictedinjury (figures 2 and 3).

Using a 2001-02 Ford Escape as

3

2

1

Subject: Cross-connection of sensors

Unit: CD4E

Vehicle Applications: 2001-02 Ford Escape

Author:Wayne Colonna, ATSGTransmission DigestTechnical Editor


Shop Owner

Center Manager

Diagnostician

R & R

Technically SpeakingT

EC

HN

ICA

LT

RA

ININ

G

TSS

OSS/VSS

continues page 24

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et support (figures 4 and 5). The plastic thrust washerbetween the driven sprocket and the support is im-pregnated with metal, which you also can see inFigure 5. At this time the technician looked for wornbushings or bearings but found none other than theoil-pump driveshaft bearing.

Further inspection found no reason for the existinghard-part damage, and this made the technician sus-picious of a possible underlying problem that mayhave been pre-existing.

When the transmission was reinstalled the techni-cian checked the battery ground cable and foundnothing wrong with it. His next step was to place hismultimeter between the transmission case and thenegative battery connection to do a voltage-drop test,and he found quite a bit of voltage present.

Thats right, the damage to the driven sprocket andsupport were the result of a bad ground. In this in-stance a ground strap installed from a bellhousingbolt to the negative-battery-cable accessory lead re-moved the voltage from the transmission case.

Just a couple of things to be aware of in your day-to-day experiences.

Special thanks to Bob from Paradise Transmissions in Key West, Fla., forsharing his experiences and photos with us.

TD

4

Damage to the driven sprocket

5

Damage to the inside of the driven-sprocket support

Shift Pointers


Technically Speaking

an example, the connector that hasthe white wire with a light-bluestripe goes to the turbine-speedsensor, and the dark-blue wirewith a yellow stripe goes to the

output/vehicle-speed sensor(Figure 4). Colors may vary withyear and model, so it may be wiseto tag the connectors. The time to

do so will prevent you from losingmore time later should they getcross connected. TD

4

OSSTSS

Wire Colors of Turbine and Output Sensors

Turbine-SpeedSensor

Output/Vehicle-SpeedSensor

Ground spliceG101

Brown/Light Green

1

White/Light Blue

2

Brown/Light Green

1

Dark Blue/Yellow

2



TTiimmeellyyTransmission Tech/Talk delivers answers and updatesfor an unending variety of transmission systems.Answers for the units youre just starting to see andupdates for transmissions that youve been seeingfor years. Hydraulics, electronics, mechatronics andmore.

CCoonncciisseeTransmission Tech/Talk is not a textbook nor a ram-bling collection of long-winded articles. Tech/Talk isfor transmission professionals who need currentinformation that doesnt take all day to read. TheComplaint - Cause - Correction format has madeTech/Talk a favorite of the transmission repair pro-fessional for many years.

AAffffoorrddaabblleeTransmission Tech/Talk newsletter is an unbelievablebargain. Theres nothing else to purchase and nomembership required. Sign up today and beginreceiving eight fact-filled pages every month for just$89 in the U.S. (slightly higher for non-domesticsubscribers).

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A u t o m o t i v e T e c h n i c a l N e w s l e t t e r s


Reflashing Job Takes a Different TurnOverheating PT Cruiser presents dilemma

They told me at the partsstore that you could re-flash my computer,said a customer to me recently.

Now thats a statement thatbegs a question or two, I thoughtto myself.

So I ask away: Does the carhave a symptom that someone hastold you a reflash would cure? Hasthe computer been replaced and, ifso, what caused it to go out andwho did the engine-control-mod-ule (ECM) replacement check?Does the car run? Are you bringingme a vehicle or a computer to re-flash offboard? What kind of vehi-cle is it? Does it have theftdeterrent? Does it need and do youhave the smart-key-immobilizer-module (SKIM) number? Are youan experienced tech from a shop ora driveway guy with access to theInternets most-popular fixes?What all has been done to the vehi-cle?

But the last question is reservedfor me: Do I want this job?

These are but a few of the ques-tions that roll around in my mindfrom the many possibilities thatthis first statement brings up. Imsure weve all been through manyscenarios these days of the tryingto save money by fixing it myselfsyndrome.

If you could fix it today I cancome back in two weeks and payyou, says the customer.

Who sent you? I ask.

1

2010 AutoInc.

Tech To Tech

Subject: Overheating when stoppedwith A/C operating

Vehicle Applications: 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser

Author:Jeff Bach


Shop Owner

Center Manager

Diagnostician

R & RTEC

HN

ICA

LT

RA

ININ

G

D.J., the guy says, whichmakes me take the whole thing in abetter light. This is a guy whoworks at a local salvage yard andis wisely discriminate about whomhe sends where.

So tell me what kind of vehicleyou have and what happened, Isay.

He goes on to explain that it is a2002 PT Cruiser, and it starts over-heating whenever he runs the A/Cand sits in traffic. He traced itdown to the fan relay and replacedit with a new one. Apparently thatsolution didnt work, so he wastrying to bypass the relay to get itto turn on the fan, and smoke start-ed coming out of the computer. Sohe got a used [computer] and put it

in but it still wouldnt start. Hesaid D.J. said it needed to beflashed and that I could do that.He added, I could bring it to you,as I already have it loaded on atrailer.

Well, after a bit of discussionabout the possibility that therecould be more wrong than a flashwill cure, the guy agreed to pay usto diagnose the problem shouldthere be one. He managed to get itunloaded and brought it into mydiagnostic bay.

Once it was in the bay and thebattery had been charged, I con-nected it to a J2534 interface. Iflashed the computer and triedwithout success to start it. After

continues page 28


Tech To Tech

cranking a bit in clear-flood mode,it finally lit on two cylinders. Igrabbed a quick scope shot withthe current probe of the feed wireto the coils, since it was easily ac-cessed on the top of the engine.Figure 1 was my first waveform.

It was clear that something wasgoing on in the primary current,but I was not able to pinpoint theproblem without a few more tests.Notice in Figure 2 the ground-po-sition arrow to the left of the wave-form graticule two marks up fromthe bottom. This is the zero-currentline. This is where the coil ramp

3

2

should start and end. It looks as ifthere may be a short on the coil-trigger circuit for the missing coil.

There are two coil primary con-trol circuits for these coils, both ter-minating at the ECM. I chose thecircuit that has the gray wire withthe black stripe and connected thecurrent probe around it whilepiercing it for a voltage signal atthe ECM on scope channel two.

This was one of the good firingcylinders, as evidenced by thespark line in the primary circuit.Also notice that the zero-currentline is even with the ground arrow.

XXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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The durability of the rear planet issignificantly improved by using themodified race and bearing assembly toreroute the endplay/thrust path in therear planet. When driveline forces areredirected through the larger Sonnaxbearing assembly, modified race andcarrier, the endplay/thrust path nolonger impacts the fragile capturedbearing inside the rear planet.

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January 2011 29

My next test was to let me knowwhether the short in the coil feedfor the other cylinder was in theharness or in the ECM. I grabbedthe other current wire and the trig-ger at the ECM for the image inFigure 3.

Figure 3 was the result of thecurrent signal from the shorted coiland the blue/tan wire at the com-puters other coil-control circuit.

Figure 3 shows a steady nine-amp current and about four voltson the control circuit. The currentleaves when the control circuit isdisconnected at the ECM. I con-cluded from these tests that theECM the guy got from the junk-yard was no good and probablynot even related to his originalproblem. I had him bring me hisold ECM, which I plugged in to geta baseline idea of why he thoughthe needed an ECM to begin with.The vehicle started and ran on allthe cylinders.

I grabbed the waveform inFigure 4 while I could get it to run.

Figure 4 shows the current forboth coils and the control circuitfrom the blue/tan wire, which wasshorted in the other ECM. The ve-hicle, however, now was runningvery rough and setting half adozen codes relating to a missingreference signal. The owner hadtried to get the fans to run by pow-ering the relay with a jumper wire.He had apparently proved that thisECM was bad, using the SalemWitch trial method. Its off to theyard for him now for anothermoney-saving trip for hopefully a good ECM this time.

I printed the connector view andran a check of the ECM-controlledcircuits, making sure once the nextexperienced electronic controlunit (ECU) was installed that I pro-grammed the VIN into it and start-ed the engine. As a side note, I amtold by several recycling yards thatthese Chrysler-product ECUs willallow a VIN to be programmedinto them once from the factoryand one additional time. After that,they are done. I started the Cruiser,

5

which ran well this time. I grabbedmy scope and took the waveformimage shown in Figure 5.

Note in Figure 5 that theground-arrow line is now up as itshould be with the waveform zero-current line. At this point, werecalling the car fixed.

I still get a thrill being able toshow new customers the progres-sion of their repair with undis-putable documentation.

I used this progression of wave-forms to show the owner and helpexplain his problem. He requestedcopies. He was quite satisfied to

4

see that it took this technology tofigure out his problem. I think hesoff the hook.

Jeff Bach is the owner of CRT Auto Electronics, anASA-member shop in Batavia, Ohio. For moreinformation on this topic, contact Bach at 515-732-3965. His e-mail address is [email protected], and his Web site is www.current-probe.com.

This copyrighted article is reprinted with the per-mission of AutoInc., the official publication of theAutomotive Service Association (ASA). To learnmore about ASA and its commitment to independ-ent automotive-service and repair professionals,visit www.asashop.org or call (800) 272-7467.

TD


4R/5R55E: Engine Stall on Engagement after Rebuild

Alocal general-repair garagebrought a 5R55E transmis-sion and converter to atransmission shop for a rebuild.The transmission came out of a1997 4.0-liter Ford Explorer with216,456 miles on the odometer. Theshop had the correct rebuilt trans-mission and converter in stock, soexchanging the change-over partswas all that was necessary to re-turn the unit to the garage.

After what seemed to be a rou-tine installation, the technicianstarted to fill the transmission withATF. Everything seemed to per-form normally when the transmis-sion was in the park or neutralrange, but the engine would stallabruptly when the transmissionwas placed into any drive range.The transmission shop was calledand the decision was made to have

the vehicle towed back to thetransmission shop for a closer look.

When the vehicle arrived, thetow-truck driver said he was ableto drive the vehicle onto his roll-back. Despite this information, allthe normal external performancechecks were completed before anattempt was made to drive the ve-hicle. All the tests, including acooler-flow check, proved to bewithin the proper parameters. Theonly thing out of the ordinary wasa P0743 code for an electrical-sig-nature fault discovered during thescan check. The technician rea-soned that the TCC was being ap-plied because of a faulty orincorrect solenoid. When the vehi-cle was road-tested, performancewas satisfactory. The only hint of amalfunction was a sensation ofwhat was described as a slight

dragging of the torque-converterclutch.

The decision was made to in-spect and/or replace the TCC sole-noid, so they dropped thetransmission pan. When the pancame down, the technician foundmore ferrous-metal debris thanwould be expected after only afour-mile road test. It was obviousthat there was more damage insidethe unit and it needed to be pulledout.

When the converter was re-moved, the input shaft remained inthe converter. This is not abnor-mal, but what was strange was thatthe shaft could not be easily re-moved from the converter after-ward. When the input shaft waseventually removed, the damage toits end (Figure 1) began to tell thestory, and the damage found to the

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Sonnax 2010

Torque Converter Tech Tips

Subject: Engine stalls on engagement into any drive range

Units: 4R55E, 5R55E

Vehicle Applications: 1997 Ford Explorer 4.0-liter

Author:Ed Lee


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inside of the converter cover(Figure 2) told even more of thestory. It was now obvious that theinput shaft was protruding too farfrom the front of the transmission,but why was this happening?

A 2002 ATSG tech bulletin (02-20) was found that warned of theexistence of two input shafts of dif-ferent lengths. If you start back atthe A4LD shaft, there are actuallythree input shafts that have thesame diameter and spline countsbut are of different lengths (Figure3).

The A4LD shaft measures 97/8inches long, the 4/5R55E shaft(XL2Z-7017-AA) measures 10 inch-es long and the 5R55 N/S/Wshafts (XW4Z-7017-AA) measure101/4 inches long. Although theremay be some long-term damagefrom insufficient tooth contactwhen a shaft that is too short isused, the real danger comes fromusing a shaft that is too long. Oneinch is the proper distance that theinput shaft should protrude fromthe stator support (Figure 4), but11/4 inches is too long (Figure 5).

If the R&R technician had beenpaying close attention, he wouldhave realized that something waswrong. With the converter tradi-tionally being bottomed outagainst the transmission during in-stallation, it is normal to have topull the converter forward whenattaching the flex-plate bolts. Thisstab-depth distance, normally0.125-0.250 inch, would have beenzero in this situation, because theshaft would have prevented theconverter from moving as far in to-ward the unit as it normallywould. If the R&R tech had noticedthat the converter did not moveforward, the shaft issue might havebeen caught before the damagewas done.

Ed Lee is a Sonnax technical specialist who writeson issues of interest to torque-converterrebuilders. Sonnax supports the Torque ConverterRebuilders Association. Learn more about thegroup at www.tcraonline.com.

TD

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When Things Go

Wrong

Customer service in the transmission and auto-service business begins when something goeswrong. If nothing ever did, there would be noneed for it. So you have to figure that in virtuallyevery after-sale customer-service situation, somebodydidnt get what they either wanted, needed orthought they were entitled to. That means that emo-tions are running high in every one of these instances.People range from being mildly upset to fightingangry. Often an otherwise calm, friendly individualcan turn into a monster before your very eyes.

Did you do anything wrong that created the prob-lem? Maybe, but it doesnt matter. Whatever the prob-lem, youre stuck with and have to deal with it.Exactly how you handle these situations will deter-mine whether you still have customers once theyreresolved.

Just fixing a problem doesnt necessarily mean youare making a customer happy. The way you do it isfar more important. Keep in mind that the customer isinconvenienced to at least some degree when some-thing has gone wrong. Even if they dont have to payany additional money out of pocket, they do have togive up some of their valuable time to get the problemresolved. They may even lose money if taking care ofthis eats into their work time. They may have to owe afavor to someone for going with them to drop off orpick up the car. So dont take the attitude that itsunder warranty so they shouldnt have anything tocomplain about because you are fixing it for free. It isstill costing them in one way or another.

Learn to recognize (and truly understand) yourcustomers situation. Provide an individual-care ap-proach for your customers. For example, someonewith children will have very different concerns from abusy businessperson, and vice versa. One may needonly a ride home, but another may need a car for theday. Therefore, you must learn to recognize these keydifferences and adjust your responses accordingly.

Teach service employees to understand the contextof a situation and to sympathize with customers. Forexample, many of your customers are under time con-straints. They have to be somewhere at a certain timeto accomplish whatever task. That in itself is nervewracking. Add to it the stress of not having their vehi-cles ready to go when they are and it becomes an in-tense moment.

Dont lie. In an effort to make customers think thatyou wont be tying them up too long its easy to makea much shorter time estimate than what its reallygoing to take. If anything, stretch the estimate. If youthink its going to take an hour, tell them two. If youget it done quicker youre a bit of a hero. If not, youreright on time.

Make sure what you say is happening really is. Getout there and check. Talk with the technician and any-one responsible for securing the parts. Make sure thateveryone is following through with the promisesyouve made. In other words, supervise this project toits conclusion. Dont drop the ball somewhere in be-tween. Its bad enough that this problem exists; letsnot compound it by screwing up what youre tryingto make right.

Be very careful with the customers vehicle in acomeback situation. Thats when most of them seemto get damaged. Maybe its because everybody hasbeen thrown out of their normal routine so they dothings a bit differently. Everyone in the shop shouldtreat customers cars the same way all the time as ifthey were their own and they should think of everycar that rolls into the shop as a brand-new pay job, nomatter how many times its been there.

Be very specific about how the problem will behandled. When taking care of a customer-serviceissue, let the customer know what is going to happenand when. The more information a customer has, theless anxious he or she feels.

Keep in touch with the customer throughout the

Subject: Dealing with customer-service problems

Author:Terry Greenhut,Transmission DigestBusiness Editor


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process. Dont ever let them think you have forgottenabout them. Update them as to what stage the repairis in and when it should be done.

Anytime you receive complaint No. 2 about thesame problem, treat it like an emergency; lights andsirens. Most people are fairly forgiving after one mis-take, assuming you address it promptly and courte-ously, but when you get a second complaint well,its time to go into emergency mode. At that pointtheres no room for further delay or error. Its time forall hands on deck. Throw all your available resourcesat the problem. If you want to keep your customer,you must make sure the problem is taken care of im-mediately and properly this time. This is your lastshot; make it a good one if you want to do furtherbusiness with this customer.

Road-test the car yourself this time. Dont take any-ones word that its right. This is your customer andyour business were talking about, not anyone elses.Although technicians work very hard to solve prob-lems, they hate looking at the same car over and overagain. They can get bored or frustrated with it. If theyget tired enough of it, or feel pressured to move on toanother job, they might accept a fix that weve nick-named in the trade good enough for governmentwork. Remember that good enough never is. Perfectis the only acceptable result, especially after the cus-tomer has been inconvenienced.

Put yourself into loss-control mode whenever youhave a comeback situation. The fact that the comebackoccurred is usually enough to cause most, if not all, ofthe profit from the job to be dissipated. All there isleft to do is salvage the customer so you can get an-other opportunity at some later date. So forget aboutmaking money at this point; just see how much youcan keep from losing while maintaining a relationshipwith the customer.

Apologize once, not several times. I dont knowabout you, but when someone keeps telling metheyre sorry I believe its just an insincere act. Sorrydoesnt mean anything if the problem isnt resolved.Be pleasant, act as if you are totally interested in help-ing to solve the problem; then make sure you solve it.Thats your best shot at keeping the customer.

Make sure everyone understands the gravity of thesituation. Customers are hard to find and easy to lose.Work out a customer-service plan that everyone iswell versed in and make sure all involved employees

are pulling in the same direction to solve customerproblems. Your attitude and that of your employeesduring one of these crisis situations mean as much ifnot more to the customer than the actual fix.

If there are internal issues or employee problems,never let customers see them. As far as theyre con-cerned everything is wonderful in your business.Keep your dirty laundry hidden in the back room.

Dont assume your customers will give you a sec-ond chance. Think about it this way: If a customer hastaken the time to call you about a problem, you are al-ready getting lucky, so youd better take care of it im-mediately. You dont always get a chance to make itright. Often, customers will just move on. Remember,your competition is continually trying to sell the sameproduct or service cheaper, faster and better than you.Dont make it any easier for them by providing inade-quate customer service.

Heres a new concern: In an age of social media, ittakes only one dissatisfied customer to create a PRdisaster for a company. In fact, lately several nationalstories have cropped up featuring blogs and YouTubevideos that customers have created for the sole pur-pose of sharing their tales of bad service with theworld. The Internet has really amplified the cus-tomers voice; its increased their power exponential-ly. If someone were to post a negative story aboutyour company, you might lose a lot more than onecustomer.

You can create and keep loyal customers in todayseconomy, but only if your customer service and atten-tion to detail convince them that there is truly a differ-ence between you and your competitors.

In these challenging times Terry wants everyone to have a copy of his 450-page book, How to Market and Sell Automotive and Transmission Serviceand Repair. For only $98.32 you will receive two copies of the industry text-book that will teach you all the techniques necessary to make profitable salesand retain your customers for future business. Keep one and give the other toan employee, a competitor or perhaps that account youve been trying to landor thank for their business. As a bonus (free of charge) you will also receiveTerrys $ales Help Screens computer software to use as a training aid orwhen you need instant answers to your customers toughest price objections(may not be compatible with the new 64-bit computers running Windows 7).Ordering will also make you eligible to buy additional copies of the book atonly $49.16 each. Please call 1-800-451-2872 or visitwww.TerryGreenhut.com to order any of Terrys training materials or take your20-question self- and business-evaluation test. Although no one can see theresults but you, its a real eye opener.

TD

In an age of social media, it takes only one dissatisfied

customer to create a PR disaster for a company.


Speculating in

Petroleum

The lifeblood of any machin-ery with moving parts is thelubricant. Without the prop-er lube, serious failure occursquickly, yet few technicians havetaken the time to really understandsuch an important commodity. Justas parts have proliferated dramati-cally with so many transmissionand transfer-case designs in themarket, the different specified lu-bricants are now almost too nu-merous to stock. Failure to use thecorrect lube will at worst cause anexpensive comeback and at bestadd to your day with phone callsand more work.

In days gone by there were threetypes of oil that covered basicallyevery vehicle that could come intothe shop: Dexron ATF, Ford Type FATF and 90-weight gear lube.Occasionally a shop would needsome posi-traction additive for alimited-slip differential. Dexrontook care of GM and Chryslertransmissions, and Ford Type Fwent into Henrys products. Fordwas slick with Type F fluid, as itsaved itself a lot of money by rais-ing the coefficient of friction in thefluid and eliminating one clutchper pack in the design.

Today we have dozens of re-quired oils that should be in anyshops inventory. We have to

worry about the proper viscosity,the proper coefficient of friction forthe design and the proper amountof fluid to use. In manual transmis-sions, transfer cases and differen-tials, there is good cause to worry,as warranty issues are never veryfar away.

In times past most stick trans-missions, transfer cases and differ-entials operated on 90W gear oil.This heavy lube created cold-shiftproblems during winter driving,and the vehicle manufacturers gottired of the complaints, so theyshifted to ATF in many designs.The ATF got rid of most of thecold-shift complaints, but no gooddeed goes unpunished. Designmodifications to improve synchro-nization and provide smoothershifting created a number of newissues.

Gone were the typical brass orbronze synchro rings, and nowmore-exotic materials began toshow up on the rings. Paper-linedrings, which had a compositionsimilar to clutch plates on auto-matic units; carbon fiber; Kevlar;and sintered metal of various typeshad arrived. All of these required alubricant with a specific coefficientof friction to make the unit shiftsmoothly and correctly. A synchro-nizer ring is a wet clutch, needing

to apply friction to the cone of thespeed gear to speed it up or slow itdown until the driveshaft speedmatches the input-shaft speed for asmooth shift.

The new materials on the ringsare porous and absorb fluid, whichcreates a real nightmare if an incor-rect fluid is used. Correcting thisproblem may take 500 miles ofdriving with the correct lube inplace or may necessitate disassem-bly of the unit and installing newparts. Either way it is a big hasslefor being ignorant of the fluid re-quirements.

Another issue came up with theincreased use of ATF in manualtransmissions and transfer cases,and that is the vanishing fluid.ATF, because of its lower viscosity,tends to get aerated and form amist that can exit the transmissionvent, causing low-fluid failures.This is common in M5R1 andM5R2 transmissions and in 231and other transfer cases.

Most manual transmissions andsome transfer cases are splash lu-bricated as oil is moved aroundinside the case by the moving geartrain with no pressurized lube sys-tem. It is a rare customer who willcheck the oil on a standard trans-mission, transfer case or differen-tial. By the time you are asked to

Up To Standards

Subject: Using the proper lubricant

Units: BorgWarner, New Venturetransfer cases; Tremec 3650transmission

Author:Mike Weinberg,Rockland Standard GearContributing Editor


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check it in your shop it is gameover. This means that you need toeither get your customers in formore-frequent preventive main-tenance or change the fluid char-acteristics to protect yourwarranty.

On New Venture transfer casesthat do not have pressurized lubesystems or internal clutch packs,changing the lube spec to 5W30motor oil will prevent mistingand eliminate shift or engage-ment problems. 5W30 syntheticmotor oil is the proper lube fillfor NVG 207, 208, 219, 228, 229,231, 233, 241, 242, 243, 249, 261and 271 transfer cases.

Notice I said synthetic. Oil isoil; the petroleum never dies, butthe additive package goes away.Heat and oxidation occur at oper-ating temperatures, and the vari-ous additives in the fluid begin tofail. The friction modifiers, sur-factants, extreme-pressure addi-tives and anti-foaming qualitiesall vanish from the oil under highheat and heavy traffic. Syntheticoil is petroleum that has beenhydro-cracked during manufac-ture, giving it longer andstronger molecular chains thatenable the fluid to withstandhigher heat before losing the ad-ditive package.

The following BorgWarnertransfer cases use a pressurizedlube system with an internalshaft-driven oil pump and mustuse ATF: 1345, 1350, 1354, 1356,1370, 4401, 4405, 4406, 4407 and4411. A number of New Venturetransfer cases are driven byclutch packs internal to the trans-fer case to apply torque to thefront axle. For proper operationin the 136, 236, 246 and 247 seriesas well as other newer models,stick to the factory-recommendedlube for chatter-free operation.

For computer-controlled,clutch-operated transfer cases,you need to specify on your war-ranty that the customer musthave the oil changed once a year

Circle No. 3 on Reader Cardtext continues page 37


Up To Standards

Subject: Transfer-case fluid drain and refill (all-wheel drive)

Models: 2003-09 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana

This bulletin is being released to inform technicians of the need to add additional transfer-case fluid through the threaded speed-sensor opening.

Important: When performing the following service procedure, use only hand tools to remove and install the fill or drain plugs.

6. Disconnect the electrical connector from thespeed sensor.

7. Remove the speed sensor and the O-ringfrom the transfer case.

8. Add 1 liter (1.06 quarts) of DEXRON VI fluidthrough the threaded speed-sensor opening.

9. Install the speed sensor with the new O-ringseal. Tighten to 17 Nm (16 lb.-ft.).

10. Connect the electrical connector to the speedsensor.

11. Lower the vehicle.

GM Corp.

1. Remove the transfer-case drain plug and fill plug.

2. Apply pipe sealant, P/N12346004 (in Canada,10953480), to the threads of the drain plugand reinstall the plug. Tighten to 25 Nm (18 lb.-ft.).

3. Fill the transfer case to the bottom of the fillhole with DEXRON VI fluid, P/N 88861003 (in Canada, 88861004).

4. Apply pipe sealant (same as in step 2) to thethreads of the fill plug.

5. Install the fill plug and tighten to 25 Nm (18 lb.-ft.).

TSB-4473#08-04-21-004, April 16, 2008

January 2011 37

or every 12,000 miles. The clutchesgenerate a lot of heat during theduty cycle, and this shortens thelife of the additive package in thelube. Using an incorrect lube willhave unpleasant clutch chatter as aside effect.

Along the way design failures incertain units have caused prema-ture failure or shift complaints.The most glaring of these is theBorgWarner 4473 used in the GMExpress and Savannah vans. It wasdesigned with the fill plug too lowon the case to allow this all-wheel-drive unit to be filled sufficiently.The accompanying illustrationprovides the procedure for fillingthe case. The basic issue is thatwhen filled to the level of the plugit is about a quart low. The fix is tofill the unit, tighten the fill plugand then add one more quartthrough the speed-sensor opening.

Another design problem, in theTremec 3650 transmission used inlate-model Ford Mustangs, is theopposite of the 4473 issue. If youfill a 3650 to the spill line, it willhave too much fluid in it. This cre-ates a problem called windage the effect of too much oil slowingthe gear train prematurely duringa shift and changing the synchro-nizer timing, resulting in notchy,dragging shifts. The fix here is tofill this unit to 12 inch below the fillplug.

Racing and performance en-gines use windage trays, or crankwipers or dry-sump systems, sothat the crankshaft does not runthrough the oil in the sump or pan,which robs the engine of somepower because of the increasedparasitic drag on the crank. Tryrunning on a beach next to the tideline and then try running in a foot


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or more of water and you will un-derstand the additional effort re-quired.

Lubrication is anything but sim-ple. The quantity, quality and typeof oil specified for each unit arecritical to its proper operation andlongevity. Do not take chances; getthe right oil. I know on a Friday af-ternoon with a customer ringingyour phone off the hook it istempting to use anything handy.Dont do it, as the downside is ex-pensive and unpleasant.

Many shops are now stockingthe correct oils to make sure thatthe job can leave on time with noproblems. Most suppliers will beable to furnish special oils to youwith your parts order. If yoursdoesnt maybe it is time to make achange, as the lubricant is a neces-sary part of the repair. TD


Jasper Engines & TransmissionsJasper Engines & Transmissions has the right transfer case, at the right time, at avery competitive price. JASPER offers the following: Four Wheel and All Wheel Drive Applications Most Popular Units in Stock 3-year/100,000-mile NationwideTransferable Warranty for On-highwayApplicationsGive your customers the quality, valueand performance of JASPER. CallJASPER at 1-800-827-7455. A full warranty disclosure is available atwww.jasperengines.com. Circle No. 61 on Reader Card

Raybestos Powertrain Raybestos introduces the new GPXfriction plate for Honda transmis-sions. The Global PerformanceExtra, made in America, is superi-or to any other friction plate forHonda. The GPX friction platesshifting performance matchesHonda perfectly with even greaterdurability. Engineered to fit rightand outperform any other Hondafriction plate, brought to you byRaybestos.


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Transmission Digest January 2011