Body of Evidence

• Subject: Solenoid identification and terminology
• Units: A750E/F, A760E/F/H, A761E, A960E
• Vehicle Application: Toyota
• Essential Reading: Rebuilder, Diagnostician
• Author: Jeff Parlee

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Different terminology for the same part has been an ongoing problem in the transmission industry ever since I can remember. When I was learning to rebuild transmissions, Chrysler Torqueflite and Ford C-4 transmissions were always in the shop. These two transmissions had the same power flow, but all the internal components had different names.

For example, in first gear the Torqueflite transmission had the low roller clutch and the rear clutch applied, and the C-4 used a low roller clutch and a forward clutch. The forward clutch and the rear clutch did the same thing and were in the same area of the transmission. Chrysler named the clutch packs by their location in the transmission, and Ford named the clutches by the job that they performed. Back then it was just learning each manufacturer’s terminology; not so bad.

Nowadays the car manufacturers have brought this confusion to a new level. Let’s look at the transmission valve-body solenoids on the Toyota A750E/F. Each solenoid has a repair-manual name, a parts-catalog name and an SAE or scan-tool name. Say, for instance, that your Toyota has a trouble code P0986 and your scan tool defines this code as SSE circuit high. Next, you look in your repair manual or software to find where SSE is, and you don’t find it.

If you look up the trouble-code information from the manufacturer, you may figure out that SSE is the same as the SR solenoid in the repair information. After some testing you decide that the SR/SSE solenoid is bad and you call the dealer for a new one. If you get a good parts person who sells a lot of transmission parts, they may know what you mean when you ask for an SR or SSE solenoid. You may not be that lucky, because the parts catalog has entirely different names for each solenoid. The parts-department terminology for the SR/SSE solenoid is “3-way solenoid # 2.” As you can see this can be confusing and frustrating. See Figure 1 for A750E/F solenoid locations and Figure 2 for the different solenoid terminology.

For Toyota six-speed transmissions A760E, A760F, A760H, A761E and A960E, the solenoid locations are in Figure 3 and the solenoid terminology is in Figure 4.

Jeff Parlee is director of product support at ValveBody Xpress.