November 2019 Archives - Transmission Digest
Exploring Some of the Mystery in the MP3023 Transfer Case

Up to Standards Introduced in 2011 in the Jeep Grand Cherokee WK2 series and Dodge Durango vehicles and continuing into 2019, there are a lot of these units on the roads. Magna Powertrain designed and produced the 3023 and 3010 transfer cases. The 3010 series is a single speed active transfer case (no low range)

Shop Profile: Straight Line Transmissions Inc.

Inside the Straight Line Transmissions Inc. shop in Greenbrier, Arkansas, you will find four bays and five lifts, and Caleb Emberson is about to add a sixth. It’s impressive growth from the one-man transmission operation that Caleb bootstrapped six and a half years ago.

Remodel, Renovate, Redesign

Anyone who’s ever taken on a large home remodel knows the time, stress, money, unforeseen challenges and people management that comes with the new look. The amount of time spent planning, strategizing and anticipating simply cannot account for the mold that it turns out was under the floor or the delayed shipping on that tile you picked out, or the endless humidity that prevents the wallpaper from sticking.

Remodel-Rennovate-redesign
Tasc Force Tips: Critical Wear Areas & Vacuum Test Locations

Critical Wear Areas & Vacuum Test Locations

The Rules of Selling in the Automotive Trades – Part 4

A major rule in selling is to decide what you want to be and stick to it. As in most other things you have a choice, but you really need to choose wisely because this choice may be the one that shapes your entire future in the auto repair business.

November 2019 Issue

In This Issue
Mazda 6 – AW6A-EL: Stuck in High Gear Failsafe
Mercedes Benz M Class: Transmission in Limp Mode
GM 8L90: Elimination of the #7 Checkball

2012 KIA Optima 2.4 Hybrid

Not often do we get the opportunity to work with a tech that is having issues with a transmission in a hybrid vehicle. Not too long ago, Gerald Campbell had the chance to do just that with Carlos Costa from Transmission Technology. He had a 2012 Kia Optima 2.4L Hybrid using an A6MF2H transmission. There is no torque converter in this transmission. It does have an “engine clutch” and an “electrical motor” that sits in the area where the torque converter would be (Figure 1). The vehicle came into the shop with a “Stall on Engagement” complaint with repeated “Engine Clutch” burn out. In fact, when the trans was removed and disassembled, the engine clutch was smoked, and the clutch plates frozen/welded together.

Customer Facing

“Quality is the ante to play in this industry, so just providing quality products doesn’t differentiate us,” said Jim Young, Director of Systems at ETE REMAN. “Where we stand out is the customer relationship. In reality, that’s how ETE became what it is.

Wiggle the Wires

Acouple of months ago we had a customer come into our location with a 2006 Kia Spectra equipped with the 2.0L engine and an A4CF2 transmission. The customer’s concern was that the vehicle would not shift at times. I started the evaluation by checking all the fluids, doing a visual inspection, and conducting a battery and charging system test with the Midtronics analyzer, and everything checked out good. I then moved on to connecting the scan tool to the vehicle and checking all modules for DTCs; the only one that came back was a P0748 (linear solenoid) electrical problem. There was no freeze frame data stored; it probably wouldn’t have helped me with this issue, but I wanted to see if it would at least show the speed or temperature at which the code set. From the customer’s description it sounded like an intermittent issue.

There’s Still $$ in Manuals:

On the one hand, manual transmissions have slowly become less available as automatics, CVTs and DCTs have been adopted in response to changing customer preferences and fuel economy requirements. That said, the venerable third pedal is still available for passenger cars both domestically and on a number of import nameplates. One notable standby missing a manual shift option for 2020 is the Corvette. Wow!