July 2011 Issue
What’s Inside
Honda BMXA/SLXA: P0740 – lockup control-system fault
Volkswagen 09G/Mini TF60-SN: harsh double upshift 2-3
Volkswagen New Beetle: failsafe DTC 01045 stored
Audi/Volkswagen 01M/01N/01P: Assembly of K1 clutch
Audi 01J: Engagement issues
Audi 01J CVT: Adaptation
Cooler Bypass
External cooler bypass valves are becoming more and more popular, it seems. There are also many different variations of these bypass valves. It’s important that you check the cooler lines and cooler closely to see whether the vehicle you’re working on has one of these bypass valves. In most instances they can be removed and cleaned.
Is It Time for a Checkup from the Neck Up?
Many of the shop owners I’ve interviewed lately have indicated that they’ve had a tough time coping with all that’s taken place over the past couple of years in their businesses and the economy in general. Many remember the days of “easy business” when you could rely on doing certain basic functions like advertising, marketing and selling the same way over and over again because they always yielded a good result.
Electrostatic Discharge: the Quiet Computer Killer
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is defined as a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two objects of different electrical potentials.
At one time or another, everyone has walked across a rug and reached out for a door and gotten a little shock. This was an electrostatic discharge. There are many ways to generate electricity in our bodies; just a few examples are removing a coat or sweater, walking across a room, sliding across a car seat, or handling plastics or plastic foam. Depending on the humidity of the day, you may feel a shock from the electrostatic discharge.
New Converters: Visually Inspect, Measure, Document
Every torque-converter shop should have a system to visually inspect, measure and document a converter when it is seeing the converter for the first time.
The Problem Is not in the Transfer Case
The most critical part of any repair work is locating the cause of the problem that causes the customer complaint. Be careful in this day of extreme economic pressure not to be too quick to remove a unit, especially a transfer case, before being positive that it is the source of the problem. We all need more work, and it is much too easy to remove the transfer case from the vehicle without inspecting all the other components that could be the source of the problem, such as driveshafts, yokes, differentials and driver bad habits.
AS68RC Pressure-Switch and Performance Codes
When an Allison 1000/2000 transmission produces a pressure-switch code, it does not necessarily mean the pressure switch is faulty. A solenoid needs to stroke a valve, which then sends oil pressure to the switch to close it. If the solenoid is performing poorly, or the valve is sticking, the pressure switch will not close, causing the associated code to set.
Troubled Continental Running ‘Rich’
The complaint on the car was that it ran terribly rich and the fuel mileage had gone down to about 8 mpg. The car had been to two independent shops and, last, at the Ford dealer. It had had both O2 sensors replaced and two electronic control units (ECUs) installed. The dealer told the owner that the car was getting as good a gas mileage as it was going to get. They had installed a new ECU because they said the one that was in it was an aftermarket part and wouldn’t work properly. The car was not setting any codes, but the sooty exhaust made it obvious that it was running pig rich. A scan check revealed that the engine was reaching operating temperature, the manifold-air-pressure (MAP) sensor was working, the engine was in closed loop, and the O2 readings were showing lean. I got the image in Figure 1 by connecting one channel of my scope to one of the O2 sensors and the other channel to the injector signal at the ECU.
JF011-E/RE0F10A Revisited
The first point is to know that there are two different types of internal wiring harnesses among Dodge, Mitsubishi and Nissan vehicles. Mitsubishi and Nissan provide an internal ground for all their solenoids and the stepper motor (Figure 1); Dodge provides an external ground for three solenoids (Figure 2).
