Ground problems Archives - Transmission Digest
A ‘Guess Why’ Tech Article

A 2006 Ford Focus 2.3L with a 4F27E transmission comes into a shop with a complaint of a harsh garage shift into gear (drive and reverse), as well as harsh lift throttle coast downshifts. All forward upshifts are perfect. There are no codes stored in the system. In some cases, the transmission had been rebuilt, which included a different valve body and solenoids in an attempt to resolve the problem.

Chew on This: Curious Tech Sinks His Teeth into a Start-Stop Problem with a Prius Hybrid

“My check-engine light came on in my Prius,” one of my customers told me. “Is it OK to drive it home?” “Is it running OK?” I asked her. “It seems to be running fine. I just need to get home. Then I can get my husband to follow me to your shop.” “Well, if it’s

Staying Grounded

As a member of our team of technical advisers, I have come across many different scenarios that have been traced to the improper grounding of a component, or case. There are many different symptoms, but all have a common cause and repair: They are all elated to a grounding problem in an electrical circuit of the vehicle. We always think about the importance of source voltage, but the ground side of the circuit is equally important. As automotive design has evolved over time, the electrical integrity of all control circuits is critical for proper function.

The following cases are some real-world examples of customer complaints, symptoms and repairs that were traced to faulty ground circuits.