The Automatic Transmission Thread

[shanzy]

Hey guys got a 97 leggy auto. And I need help plz.my gears starting to rev out etc I've had it for 12ks bit overdue for gearbox flush.. how would I do it myself? I wuldn have a clue about the gearbox

 

[babylon6]

Make sure the pins in the grey connector in the gearbox are all straight. Had exact same issue last month and traced it to a pin bent. If the red wire on solenoid harness is disconnected then it will take out the 3 solenoids you mentioned.

 

[babylon6]

Guys has anyone ever seen workshop manual for the W5A51? I needs hydraulic diagram for my GTA.

Cheers

Tony

 

[Guest]

Guys has anyone ever seen workshop manual for the W5A51? I needs hydraulic diagram for my GTA.

Cheers

Tony

Try this, it's for the FWD versions but is as close as you will find.

http://www.mivec.co.nz/tech/F4A4x_AT_Manual.pdf

 

[tails]

I've spoken to Jon about it, because he hadn't done the wavespring before he recommended I speak to MV Automatics (I assume that's who you're talking about when you mention Oz auto specialists) but I was looking at $1800-1900.

If you know someone else let me know.

 

[BCX]

Tell Jon is easy as! Could probably lend a hand even.

It's possible to do with the box still in the car, but fwiw - i'd take the box out to do it.

And if he's got a MIG, weld the planetary carrier pins too. My mate and I recently did this on a F5A51, but the W5A51 is exactly the same box.

Also its worth noting - that although the wavespring is a known problem and does fall to pieces due to heat, i wouldn't say it was the cause of all auto box failures.

 

[TME_Steve]

yeah MV is who I was thinking, people up here have sent their auto to them....

But there you go, Jon plus Bill equals auto done

 

[Guest]

I personally wouldn't bother removing the transmission but some people prefer to do that. One benefit of removing it though is that if you find you have the crap wave spring and some pieces have gone AWOL you are in a better position to flip the transmission over, remove the front half of the case and have a poke around for the missing bits and change the internal filter. However with the transmission left in the car you can still make the call to remove it when you get up to that stage.

It is a straight-forward job, but requires a very clean workspace, lots of space to spread out all the parts in an orderly fashion and good attention to detail and note taking so you don't do something wrong during reassembly. If you have the transmission already on the bench and didn't need to split the case and ferret around for missing pieces of the wave spring then the job should take about 2 hours.

Taylor, according to your VIN you have the 3EZB variant so are at high risk of having the wave spring fail.

 

[tails]

Hmm...I might see if I can hunt down a transmission already out of the car and have it done in preparation. That way if it does happen to my car I can just swap the trans over. I've been offered a trans already, so I might pick that one up. Are there differences between FL and PFL?

 

[Rabit]

I personally wouldn't bother removing the transmission but some people prefer to do that. One benefit of removing it though is that if you find you have the crap wave spring and some pieces have gone AWOL you are in a better position to flip the transmission over, remove the front half of the case and have a poke around for the missing bits and change the internal filter. However with the transmission left in the car you can still make the call to remove it when you get up to that stage.

It is a straight-forward job, but requires a very clean workspace, lots of space to spread out all the parts in an orderly fashion and good attention to detail and note taking so you don't do something wrong during reassembly. If you have the transmission already on the bench and didn't need to split the case and ferret around for missing pieces of the wave spring then the job should take about 2 hours.

Taylor, according to your VIN you have the 3EZB variant so are at high risk of having the wave spring fail.

Can you tell, just from looking at the outside of the box in the car, what variant you have.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I would like to know also. What determines how likely you are for it to happen?

 

[Guest]

How to find the variant here:

http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?9045-The-Automatic-Transmission-Variant-Database

Early and late ones seem to fail, the middle years don't seem to have as much problems and often have the solid wavespring.

 

[tails]

Can you tell, just from looking at the outside of the box in the car, what variant you have.

If you look in from the top, down past the air box you can see the code engraved on a plaque in the top of the box. From memory it's kind of between the air box and the engine block if you're looking down on it.

 

[fieldy107]

Hmm...I might see if I can hunt down a transmission already out of the car and have it done in preparation. That way if it does happen to my car I can just swap the trans over. I've been offered a trans already, so I might pick that one up. Are there differences between FL and PFL?

I think if you get a new transmission you also need to make sure you get the TCU as it wont work without it. Others have put new trannies in but kept the old TCU and had problems getting it to work

 

[Guest]

I Have a 97 model, is it the year/month date or the Transmission number that determines how early it is?

 

[BCX]

I think if you get a new transmission you also need to make sure you get the TCU as it wont work without it. Others have put new trannies in but kept the old TCU and had problems getting it to work

This is probably due to slight differences within the box and the TCU software. Usually nothing electrically different with looms etc - the software drives the box differently. Same thing happens with the Magna (this was a problem with the 4spd boxes more so).

I Have a 97 model, is it the year/month date or the Transmission number that determines how early it is?

Probably transmission variant that will determine. But, who knows - it's probably what part they had handy at the time tbh.

With the Magna 5speed - They had the thick wavespring in early 4speed boxes (i believe even in the TR/TS magna 4 speed - same part #), then switched to the crap wavespring (no exact date really), then later magnas (eg TL) they went back to thick wavespring. So they had it right in the first place. they probably changed it probably to make the gearbox smoother so it appeals to people. Also wouldn't surprise me if they switched it cos they got a better deal cost wise or availability.

Look at other things on the car... the Third Gen magna has 4 different processor types over the years. (unknown -> H8/7202 -> SH7052/sh7055). the range all had practically the same motor and ignition system. Same as vr4 - why change from 7201 -> h8 -> 7202 -> 7203 when the software is the same?

 

[Guest]

Also no separate speed sensor on later boxes.

 

[BCX]

Also no separate speed sensor on later boxes.

Again, TL onwards in a magna - the ECU/TCU generates the speed signal from transfer shaft pulse gen. Earlier boxes had dedicated sensor.

 

[MR2QIK]

Need help boys. Found a transmission leak whilst doing the major service @ Meek. They've dropped the transmission & found one of the carrier pins have come off already.

The car drove in fine (except the leak of course) & I was looking to have the pin put back in (tig weld them) & have the wavespring checked to make sure it's the solid type (change the torque converter seal at the same too I guess). Meek are telling me that simply doing that will cause problems as they're not changing seals/orings & basically is saying it should be completely rebuild (despite it driving in fine), therefore costing $2-3k on top of the transmission removal.

I'm yet to have a transmission inspected that they didn't want to rebuild & obviously I'm not looking to throw away money here.

Any advice? I see a few people have simply tig welded pins & changed the wave spring.

 

[Guest]

How did they know that one of the pins has come off? Surely they would have had to disassemble the transmission to do that and that's pretty much the whole job done already apart from getting them welded, dropping in a new wave spring and putting it back together, preferably with new seals.