Understanding the 5R55S/W Initial Engagements
The 5R55S/W transmission has been with us for a little more than a decade. Its common complaints include harsh forward engagement; harsh reverse engagement; delayed, harsh initial engagements; flares on the 3-4 shift; and bind-up on shifts.

Bitter Cold: Sometimes It’s the Root Cause, Sometimes It’s Not
Here in Denver, when the snow flies and the mercury plummets, we all like to press “4WD” on our dashboards and blast out into the blizzard. When our rigs stay in “2WD” and slide into the gutter – that’s when I get the phone calls. The following two customers called me the same morning recently, and we came to two very different conclusions after diagnosing their inoperative four-wheel-drive (4WD) systems.

Volkswagen’s Direct-Shift Gear Box Part 4
Picking up where we left off last month, the remaining three solenoids to cover are two pressure-control solenoids – N215, which operates the K1 clutch, and N216, which operates the K2 clutch – and the N92 multiplexer solenoid (see Figure 1).
