If You Were the Customer, What Would You Do?
Your choices, like the average consumer, boil down to basically two: You can have it fixed in one of several ways, or you can decide that the vehicle has outlived its usefulness to you and sell, junk or trade it for something new or newer. Your decision will depend upon several factors.
September 2016 Issue
In This Issue
Mazda SkyActiv-Drive Six-Speed Automatic
GM 5L40-E, 5L50-E
A low vacuum reading indicates wear. For speci!c vacuum test parameters, refer to additional information available at www.sonnax.com.
Ford 6R60/6R80 Component Upgrades, Part 2
The second part of this two-part presentation involves planetaries, filter and valve body.
Did You Hear That?
In my experience NVH, (engineering speak for noise, vibration, and harshness) is one of the more time consuming and difficult diagnostic situations. The manufacturers work extremely hard at ensuring that their automobiles have as quiet environment as possible inside the passenger compartment. They have to contend with road noise from the tires, air noises while the car is at speed, mechanical noises from the operation of the engine, driveline, and other components, noise due to weather, harmonic vibrations from various components, and increasingly sensitive consumers.
Family Business
It wasn’t always the case but considering the past 15 years, in today’s aftermarket, the story of a family-owned, single location transmission specialty parts distributor stands out amid a consolidated industry. Transmission Digest recently made its first visit to the people of Mid States Transmission Parts in Davenport, Iowa. By way of geography, Davenport joins Bettendorf and, reaching across the Mississippi River border between Illinois and Iowa, Moline and Rock Island to form the Quad Cities. The John Deere Corporation is headquartered in Moline and the area. Deere’s sponsorship results in the area hosting the annual PGA Tour stop aptly named the John Deere Classic.
Staff, Reputation Move into Next Half-Century
Lansing (Michigan) Transmission, founded in 1963, has built a reputation as the best and most reliable transmission shop in town.
Honda CR-V: Which Model Year Easier to Service: 2011 or ’16?
This month, we look at the evolution of the Honda CR-V through the eyes of a tech. Is this little SUV getting easier to service, or did the engineers forget about us? Full disclosure: Honda Research & Development and Honda Manufacturing are Automotive Career Development Center (ACDC) customers, and as I stated ealier, I have had a love affair with Honda for almost 50 years.
But I won’t let that keep me from reporting the truth as I see it.
Cranky: Diagnostics yields no solution to misfire
A 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0L 4×4 comes into the shop for transmission repair. After installing a rebuilt transmission the vehicle exhibits a misfire. Upon inspection, I find the vehicle has stored a P0352 code for an ignition coil #2 primary circuit fault. So I perform the diagnostics related to this code and do not find any circuit problems.
Checking on Accuracy of Dyno Tests
The focus of this article is the Toyota AB60, as it has a nice balance of five on/off solenoids: S1, S2, S3, S4, and SR. In addition to those, there are 4 PWM solenoids: SL1, SL2, SLT, and SLU, which all operate at about 335 Hz. The test vehicle is a 2008 Toyota Tundra equipped with a 5.7L engine.
Failure’s Place in Goal Logic
These people work their collective tails off and are not afraid to set the bar high. However, with lofty goals comes an increased chance of falling short.
