August 2012 Issue
In This Issue
Dodge 45/545/68RFE: Design changes in lube circuit and pump casting
Understaffed Shops Make for Underserved Customers
When the shop is understaffed, owners and managers turn down work. Often they don’t know they are doing it and they will never admit that they are chasing customers, but that’s what they’re doing by not trying very hard to sell a job or by stalling customers off to a point where some of them just go away – all because they are understaffed and don’t know how they will get the work out after they’ve taken it in.
Ford 6F50 and GM 6T70: Similar but Different
The 6F50 and 6T70 transaxles were developed as a joint effort between Ford and General Motors. Because this was a joint effort, as you can imagine many of the internal parts are very similar or almost identical. In this article we talk about the solenoid body and what is similar but different.
Issues Pop Up During Emissions Check
How often have you had a customer with a high-mileage, 20-year-old vehicle say, “I just need it to last one more year”? With the average age of vehicles on the road more than 10 years, I am seeing more “20-somethings” coming in my bay for TLC.
A customer recently brought in her 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 3.8-liter engine, 138,000 miles and a failed emission report. In our metro Denver area, we all must pass our centralized emission test – or we cannot renew our license plates.
Identifying Aisin 5- and 6-Speed Transmissions
In speaking about manual transmissions in present-model domestic vehicles, we notice a marked decline in manual transmissions. Aisin World Corp., the mother company of the Aisin group of OEM suppliers, is one of the world’s largest producers of automatic and manual transmissions. Looking around we can see the decline in models available for purchase with a manual transmission among Chrysler, Ford and GM. There are no options on late-model Ford or GM full-size pickups and SUVs for a manual transmission. ZF, which had a long relationship with Ford and still provides us with work to repair past-model five- and six-speed units, is no longer producing units for the blue oval. Muscle cars from Dodge, GM and Ford are optioned with five- and six-speed manual transmissions from Tremec. Besides Tremec, Aisin is now the only player with a skin in the game.
A Significant Departure – the 48RE Transmission
For many of you who have been working on the Dodge/Jeep RE-series transmissions, you are more than likely all too familiar with an engine-stall condition when reverse is selected. This problem usually reveals itself when the transmission is hot. The usual cause is a defective pump. From time to time a restricted cooler would be the culprit, but in most instances it has been the pump.
Top 10 Problems at Installation Part 2
Our company sells a large quantity of wholesale carry-out units in addition to performing in-house installations. We have a panel of technical advisers that provides guidance for both types of installations, and this article focuses on what we consider to be the top 10 issues that installers face today, based on the data we continually collect.
Solving a No-Movement Puzzle
I have always loved the challenge of working on those “puzzlers.” So, when one came to my bench recently I knew I would definitely take the challenge.
This was the day the 1996 Lexus GS300 with an A350E transmission came as a tow-in with no movement.
