Expect the Unexpected
A 2011 Chevrolet HD2500 6.6L equipped with a LCT1000 transmission came into the shop with a customer concern of no reverse and the indicator under the “R” is flashing.
Can of Worms (Buchse der Pandora)
A 1998 Volkswagen Jetta with a 2.0-liter engine and 01M transmission came in with a complaint of not shifting into fourth gear. The owner had just bought the car, which had the problem when he bought it, and he said it would shift normally up to third gear.
Needless to say, the history of repairs is minimal at best. What we do know is that the owner took the vehicle to a nearby transmission shop, which pulled trouble codes. DTCs for shift solenoids 6 & 4 (N93 & N91, respectively) were present, so they replaced solenoids 6 & 4 and the internal harness. The trouble codes returned immediately. That shop didn’t know what to do from there, so they referred the vehicle owner to our shop.
Picking Up Bad Vibrations
Quite a lot has been written and many technical classes have been put on regarding the General Motors 8L45/8L90 family of transmissions. We are now seeing opportunities to put that information to use.
Shaking Loose
One of our retail locations had a 2015 Ram Promaster show up on the back of a tow truck a few weeks ago, and this truck is a service vehicle for a local grocery store. The driver said he was traveling at about 40MPH when he felt like he ran over a boulder in the road, heard loud noises, and the truck stopped moving.
Spiking Speedometer
A customer showed up at our shop with a 2008 Chevrolet Impala SS that was equipped with the 5.3 LS engine and a 4T65E transmission. The customer had a complaint of an erratic speedometer while driving. I began by collecting all the vehicle information for a check out sheet, such as VIN, mileage, engine and transmission type.
Transmission With a Mind of its Own
A customer had brought in her 2010 Ford Escape equipped with a 3.0L engine and the 6F35 transaxle. The customers concern with the vehicle was that the transmission slipped intermittently. We started our evaluation with a quick visual inspection of the vehicle and checking fluids, all of which checked out good.
Two Unique Situations, Two Happy Customers
All of our initial diagnostic evaluations include a battery and charging system test. I’ll bet you can guess the outcome of this one; the battery failed, but the alternator had passed. At this point we informed the customer that some electrical testing was going to be necessary in order for us to find out what was causing the problem. The customer agreed to that and we then proceeded with the job.
PT Cruiser Trouble Code Fixed with New Part
A customer brought her 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser to our shop with a complaint of random high engine revs. She stated that restarting the engine resets the vehicle and it works again temporarily, and this had been going on for about four months. The vehicle had a 2.4-liter turbocharged engine with a 604 transmission.
Don’t Assume; Be Systematic with Diagnosis
Like many of you, this time of year I am usually asked to assemble a variety of items and gifts for my family members. In light of these requests, I have spent a significant amount of time analyzing why we waste so much time assembling, disassembling and re-assembling items out of an unwillingness to simply read the instructions. Often this process results in leftover spare parts and frustration.
The Jeep Patriot with a really bad rolling surge
One of our shop locations had a 2011 Jeep Patriot that came in on the back of a tow truck. The customer stated that it started making noise and then quit moving. This one was an easy checkout; the vehicle didn’t move in any direction, had metallic-looking fluid, a horrendous bearing noise, and had a P0777 (secondary pressure control solenoid stuck on) code stored. Even though this one was pretty much a slam dunk in the way of diagnosis, we still needed to go through our complete evaluation procedure.
What is that Unpleasant Grinding Noise?
John Griffin confronts a 5R55E unit with oil-pan bolts wiggling such that the pan is shifted past the mating surface of the block.
Multiple Causes for P0562
A customer brought in a 2010 Dodge Journey AWD with the high-output 3.5-liter V6 engine and the 62TE automatic transmission. With a little more than 83,000 miles on the odometer, the complaint was for no upshifts and stuck in 3rd-gear failsafe mode. This concern had started out as an intermittent issue but now had become more regular.
