August 2011 Archives - Transmission Digest
A View into the Honda Five-Speed’s Shifting

If you’ve ever tried reading the explanation given by Honda in its hydraulic charts on how the transmission shifts, then you know how it can be confusing and hard to visualize, to say the least. The intent of this article is to make it easier to understand, using capture snapshots of the actual shifts using pressure transducers. We hope this makes it easier to visualize, for as they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Stick to the Plan, Stan!

How hard is it to make a business plan and stick to it? Turns out for most people it’s very hard. That’s one of the reasons not a great number of entrepreneurs are the super successes they set out to be. Lots of folks come up with terrific business concepts, but not very many can see them through to fruition.

Case-Mounted Coolers

Case-mounted transmission-fluid coolers that are used by Volkswagen and other manufacturers are effective at warming and cooling the transmission fluid. The 01M family, 09A and some 09G transmissions use a case-mounted cooler.

Chrysler Transmission-Range Sensor

The transmission range sensor (TRS) has three primary functions:

1. Provide a Park/Neutral start signal to the engine controller and the starter relay.
2. Turn the backup lamps on when the transmission is in Reverse and the engine (ignition) is on.
3. Provide a transmission-range signal to the instrument cluster.

Getting a Grip on the Aisin AR5 Transmission

Up to Standards With the continuing decline of vehicles available with manual transmissions from the manufacturers, we must be aware of more “niche markets” for our businesses. The typical vehicle counts with stick transmissions have declined steadily, with both GM and Ford no longer offering full-size pickups with manual transmissions. The sports or performance cars

42RLE: 1st-Gear Shift Shuttle in Drive

This article, yet another pointing out cross-connect scenarios, has to do with the 42RLE input-shaft and output-shaft speed sensors.

Retrofitting the GM 12-Inch 350/400 Non-Lockup Converter

The GM 12-inch 350/400 non-lockup converter is still very popular with torque-converter rebuilders. The converters are needed for many vehicles from that era that are being restored, and even more are used in the construction of street rods. The high demand and limited availability for cores have been an issue with some rebuilders. The lack of cores is easy to understand when you consider it has been more than three decades since the last GM 12-inch non-lockup converter was manufactured.

Automatic-Transaxle Tales: What is the ‘Right’ Repair?

When a 1998 Honda Accord rolled into my shop with a customer concern of “poor shifting,” I thought a moment before saying “Yes.” I began with a fluid check and a test drive, finding that the shifting was indeed “poor.” I followed the test drive with a thorough visual inspection above and below the vehicle (Figure 1), and I wondered just how many possible causes could exist for this shifting issue.

August 2011 Issue

In This Issue
VT20/25-E: Noise in forward and reverse after repairs
VT20/25-E: Delayed forward engagement
Ford 5R55W/S: Failure of overdrive carrier