Hold on to What You’ve Got
Most of the time I teach people in our industry how to run profitable businesses by using proper sales and management techniques. Many of you have learned your lessons well and have gone on to build very successful businesses. Your reward for all of your hard work comes in the form of a sense of accomplishment and, of course, money. As good citizens, you’ve paid taxes on the money you’ve made and hopefully put the rest to work to make you more of it. Many of you have invested in real estate, either land, buildings, or both. Others have tried the stock market, bonds, annuities and other business ventures, hopefully all lucrative. Some of you have put your money in banks feeling that even though there wasn’t much to be made, it was safe.
May 2016 Issue
In This Issue
Allison electrical harness upgrades
Nissan Versa that slips and hesitates
Misinformation forces tech to work harder
As with most of the accounts we’ve shared detailing vehicle symptoms and repairs, electrical issues seem to be the most common root cause. Our subject today involves a 2003 Dodge Sprinter 2500 that showed up at our door with the customer informing us that they could not shut it off since it would not restart without jumping the solenoid on the starter. The gentleman stated it would not start with the key, the shifter would not come out of park and the transmission would not shift. He also stated that we had installed a TCM about a year ago, and because it did not shift, the customer thought it was related to what we had done. He also stated he had replaced the fuse in the fuse panel for the transmission and that didn’t help. Apparently, we needed to diagnose some electrical problems.
Different Designs for Different Diffs
We work on drivelines for a living. The transmission makes the torque created by the engine into a usable form through steps (gears), the lowest of which transmits the most usable torque, and the highest of which can transmit the most rotational speed. The transmission sends that power to a third member or rear end, or in front-wheel drive, a rear end contained inside the gear box, without a drive shaft. The rear end now transmits the power to the drive axles and wheels, making a 90° turn through the ring and pinion gears. Transmission gears and the rear-end ratios are matched to the power curve of the engine to provide the most fuel-efficient speeds. The ring gear is mounted to a differential carrier, or in many front-wheel-drive transmissions, a planetary-type of carrier. The differential is contained inside the carrier.
All in the Family
You may have noticed some similarities over the years in regard to a family of Chrysler transmissions that began with the Ultradrive 4-speed automatic in 1989. In its day it was fairly innovative, featuring clutch-to-clutch operation (no bands) and adaptive shift technology. Over time, the basic structure has developed into a variety of different models, some with 5- and 6-speed variations.
Forrest Gump Was Right
Sometimes, bad things happen. Anyone who has not lived in a climate-controlled bubble knows this. Your reaction to an unfortunate series of events is what changes the entire experience.
Cadillac CTS No Movement Condition (The Fix Requires More Than One Item)
The owner of a 2010 Cadillac CTS started to notice a clicking sound when placing the transmission into drive or reverse. Due to a busy schedule, the owner chose to delay bringing the vehicle in for an inspection, until one morning that the transmission failed to make any noise. The noise was gone, replaced by a no-movement condition that brought the busy schedule to a screeching halt.
