Morning Sickness – Well, Sort Of
At ATSG we have received several calls on the 5R55N/W/S transmission in the new Lincoln LS, Jaguar, Ford Explorer or Mountaineer concerning a complaint of delayed or no engagement. The condition occurs most often during first morning startup, under extreme cold-temperature conditions, and the transmission may engage if the throttle is snapped wide open.
‘Sleight of Hand’
Another problem area also can be the throttle-pedal cable. This cable is so long that it eventually stretches (see Figure 1). When you step on the throttle, the TPS responds by lowering the voltage (yes, lower voltage; the TPS ranges from 4.5 to 0.5 volts), at which time the injector-pump lever has not been moved.
I See It, But I Don’t See It!
Incorrectly installed 4T65-E internal mode switch causes shift problems
I got a call from a technician who was working on a 4T65-E. It seems that after the freshly rebuilt transmission was re-installed, the car would not start in park or neutral and the transmission would make a wrong-gear start and shift only once. I came to find out that this was not an original problem, which means it was created during the repair process.
A New Way of Looking at Things
If a 1998 or newer Kia enters your shop with code P1624, MIL request signal from TCM to ECM, and/or P1121, TPS signal malfunction from ECM to TCM, here’s a new approach to diagnosing and solving the code.
When Is a Stick Not a Stick?
Which brings us to the meat of this article, which is BorgWarner’s DualTronic™ six-speed transmission, otherwise known as a DSG (direct shifting gearbox) or AMT (automated manual transmission), which was adopted by Volkswagen and Audi when the VW Golf R32 and the Audi TT 3.2 made their debuts.
Fun with Fords
As almost all of us are aware, a technician can easily create a scary nightmare when trying to mix and match parts while making repairs to some of Ford’s automatic transmissions. A classic example of this is interchangeability of the lockup solenoid (LUS) for the 1991 AXOD-E (AX4S) transaxle.
Something Is Missing!
Remember, earlier in the article I mentioned that this was a fleet vehicle. You know what happens with fleet vehicles; they borrow good working components from one vehicle and put it in the vehicle that’s not working. Now, maybe the fleet mechanic had every intention of replacing the borrowed part, but it never happened. It was forgotten, and the fleet mechanic on a different shift ran into the transmission stuck in 4th gear and sent it to this transmission shop.
Back to the 40s and 50s
The F4A42 hit the streets in 1997 in the Mitsubishi Mirage. Since then it has grown into a F4A51 and has found its way into larger Mitsubishi models as well as Hyundai vehicles. This month we’re going to explore some valve-body-related issues, look at valves that can be installed incorrectly and provide some explanations about valve function.
‘THEM’
The title of this article envisions scenes from that 1950s “B” sci-fi movie by the same name – only, in this instance, “THEM” refers to the original-equipment manufacturers. This month I have a few tidbits relating to problems you may have to deal with that were created by the vehicle manufacturers.
Montero Madness
There have been an increasing number of calls lately concerning manual code retrieval on Mitsubishi Montero models equipped with the R4A/V4A51 transmission.
The nature of the problem seems to involve the blowing of a fuse in the underhood fuse box when pin 1 of the OBD-II diagnostic connector is grounded.
I Hate Noises
By this time, I guess you’ve figured out that this article has to do with noise. I’m sure many of you reading this have your own noise-related horror stories. Noises are difficult to diagnose when you’re standing right there; on the phone, they’re next to impossible. (Have I mentioned that I hate noises?)
Plumber’s Helper
This month’s problem/fix comes to us from overseas and concerns the ZF 5-HP-24 transmission. Although this problem has occurred primarily in Jaguars in this shop, it also could occur in other makes using this transmission.
Here is how the symptoms were described to me: The car comes in with a complaint of harsh upshifts and downshifts, no codes are stored, and the transmission is not in limp mode.
