Getting Up to Speed with the RE4F04B
The RE4F04B transmission is no stranger to our technical hotline, for a variety of reasons. This article is about a self-inflicted injury that occurs every so often and, when it does, makes for a very bad day.
What Could It Possibly Be?
Recently, a local Lee Myles shop was dealing with a vehicle that had this 01045 code but didn’t go into failsafe right away. The symptoms it produced seemed to indicate a bad Multi-Function Switch (transmission-range sensor) on the transmission rather than the Tiptronic assembly in the console. So they brought the vehicle to our facility here in Miami.
Deal with High Current and Intermittent Failures
Tips for troubleshooting intermittent failures and no-starts
What is your knee-jerk reaction when a vehicle rolls into your bay with the following concern: intermittent no-start? Personally, I usually like to know the make and model of the vehicle so I can tag it with a pattern-case failure (and I will revisit this point a little later), but this can often lead me to dangerous and time-wasting conclusions.
How User Friendly Is Your Business?
The level of service provided to customers is usually mandated by a business owner or very high-level manager. Most of them have lofty ideas as to how they want their customers treated. The problem is that as the customer-service message filters down through the ranks there’s a good chance that it will become diluted, sometimes to a point where it isn’t service at all. When that happens a business is doomed unless it can be turned around, and that can be very difficult after customer trust is destroyed.
Whodunit?
Every technician who rebuilds transmissions has failures, which we call comebacks. We get the failed or improperly working unit back, diagnose the cause and make it right.
The entire exercise we go through on a daily basis making repairs is based on the same set of facts: We have to first diagnose the problem, understand the cause of the failure, correct that cause and then certify that the unit is working correctly and deliver the product.
November 2010 Issue
In This Issue
Audi/VW 09M/09G/TF60-SN: Harsh shifts into reverse, third and fifth gears
VW 09A & 09G: 2-3 flare, harsh 3-4; double-bump 2-3 and/or downshift clunks
Summary:
Before or after overhaul, vehicles equipped with the 09M/09G/TF60-SN transmission may exhibit a complaint of harsh reverse, third and fifth gears when hot.
After overhaul, vehicles equipped with the 09A may exhibit a 2-3 flare and a harsh application into fourth. On vehicles equipped with the 09G the complaint may be a double bump on the 2-3 and/or downshift clunks.
Listen to the Customer
The customer brought his 2005 Ford Taurus to our shop with a complaint of an intermittent jerk at highway speeds. The customer had gone through the trouble of documenting the times that this jerk appeared, the temperature at which it occurred and under what driving conditions he was feeling the intermittent condition. He also told me that another shop had recently rebuilt the transmission. I took the time to listen to him and to ask several follow-up questions that would help me correctly identify the problem. It occurred only once every couple of days.
6T70/75 Converter-Pilot Issues
To date most of the converters seen at converter-remanufacturing facilities have had vibration and/or leak complaints. After taking a closer look at the attachment between the pilot and cover, it is easy to see why (Figure 2).
