god i need a beer after all that! somebody grab this and host it for the board please, it may be useful
i took a few pics of core tranny parts to give a strong idea on how to repare this common defect, this tranny is in m20 bimmers, m30 bimmers after about 84, volvo 740 without overdrive non turbo, peugot and jag don't know which. this is how to repare the main problem with the tranny, when the car will only move in reverse and in extream cases not move at all.
this is the cause of the problem, these steel seals leak and send pressure to the 1st gear clutch pack and burn it up
these are the bolts to take out to remove the bellhousing and pump as a unit, unless you need to replace the converter bushing you do not need to take the pump apart or off of the bellhousing (i will describe the proceedure for that and why at the end of the post)
heres the bh/pump assy off
heres the front of the rest of the tranny and case
grab the a-clutch basket and yank it out of the bh/pump assy
heres the back side of the a-clutch basket, theres a steel bearing surface missing in this pic that you will have, between all rotating parts theres a bearing race (looks like a washer) flat roller bearing and another race
you can leave the shaft in a-clutch basket or pop it out so the basket will sit flat on a bench, of you can just leave the whole thing in the bh/pump assy while you do the clutches. theres a spring clip that holds the basket together that you remove with a screwdriver or pick
inspect the basket for cracks, i've found a few blown up from people who didn't take no for a answer, also look at the grove the spring clip was in, those ears can break
heres the pack of disks and plates, theres a black wavy disk on the top and bottom of the pack that you reuse
this pressure plate is under all of the clutches, you can see some of the burnt clutch on it, clean that off and clean under it
heres a new disc and steel, soak the discs in fresh atf a few minutes before installing
with the teflon seals there should be a drill bit and a sandpaper flap drill thingie, i've never drilled the hole in the 25-30 trannys i've done, it's up to you, it's to releve any future leak pressure, i've been doing these for over 5 years and have yet to have one of my repares fail. the sandpaper drill thingie is used to knock down any burrs left from the steel seals here
seals
and where they go
after cleaning the bore from honing it, stick the input shaft back in the a-clutch basket (if you removed it) lube the seals and bore with atf, make sure the three pieces of the bearing are inplace and slide the a-clutch assy back into the bh/pump assy, it will seat with a thunk and spin freely
put this bearing race on the of the input shaft/a-clutch assy, then the bearing and last the other race, it will be the smallest of all the races
then insert this gear into the a-clutch assy
till it's bottomed out in the clutch pack
.
if you didn't break the paper gasket that seals the pump to the tranny you can reuse it, a new one is a bitch to fit onto the pump without ripping it, all that's left is to reinstall the bh/pump assy into the tranny, get comfy this can be fun sometimes, what the object is is to slip the fingers on the back of the a-clutch into the slots of the 2nd gear clutches in the tranny case, twisting the input shaft helps you gotta feal your way in, there will be no gap between the pump and tranny case when seated, tighten the 17mm bolts in a cross pattern, and you are done.
take your time, look carefuly at how everything came apart, if in doubt dump atf all over it if it's inside of the tranny, the bently manual has a exploded view of the tranny if i remember right, when installing the converter make sure it's all the way in, if the tranny and motor won't go together find out why, don't pull it together with the bolts, you can destroy the pump and converter.
i get most of my parts from these guys, but theres almost always a tranny parts place or two in town
new problem
the converter seal is leaking you just replaced it and it's leaking again, the bushing behind the seal has walked forward and is blocking the drain, time for a new bushing
it's hiding here
take the bellhousing pump assy off as seen in the a-clutch repair and take the rest of the bolts out of it and separate the pump from the bell housing and take the bolts out of the back of the pump, then you can strip the pump all the way down and press the new bushing in, reassebly is covered in the a-clutch repair
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
god i need a beer after all that! somebody grab this and host it for the board please, it may be useful
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
Though I will never attempt any tranny repair in my life (okay, MAYBE a clutch if I ever get a manual again), that doesn't stop from appreciating your post! Thanks for your efforts.Originally Posted by winfred
Oh, and enjoy that beer. ;-)
Peter
ever read on the board. Hats off! Excellent review of a common and expensive failure for ZF autobox owners like me. As to drilling the little relief hole...I am right with you. Best to not drill the hole. No less an expert than Kirt Koeller does not drill a relief hole in any of these transmissions he rebuilds either and he does a lot of them.
A question...if I were to run into this failure...do you now take on these repairs from forum members? Is so, what would be your price less shipping
for a standard rebuild of clutches and seals?
Many Thanks for your contribution Winfred...really good stuff.
George
90 735iL/149k...original ZF 4HP 22EH that still shifts like new..but for how
long?
Great job Winfred!!! Kudos to you!
Transmissions are just mechanical things. If you are new, looking at the insides of a transmission for the first time, it looks foreign and undaunting. But, when you have seen their inards and begin to understand how and why they work, they are no longer as difficult as they seemed at first. This repair I would liken to the 4L30E Intermediate Housing Gasket Failure repair. In that repair, you remove the bell housing, pump and all, the overdrive housing and there the gaskets are. They are easy to get to. From my experience the 4L30E is a great, strong transmission, the hard parts in mine were perfect, heck even the clutches were nice and thick and not glazed at all!
And I see you get your parts from my supplier, ATC! They have been really good to work with. I used them for the rebuild kit for my 4L30E and for a buddy's Dodge A618. BTW, their rebuilt torque converters are excellent quality, I would recommend them.
Scott
Wilmington, NC
01 525iA For Sale
Coming Soon: 2005 X3 3.0i
05 Jeep GCL HEMI
85 318iA SOLD
96 Jeep GCL SOLD
not sure i want to ship in tranny jobs, sounds like something that could bite me in the ass, i've gotten a few in that were screwed royaly and i didn't want to mess with, and at the moment i am not comfortable with full rebuilds and or valve body work. one of my favorite ones was a 85 528e, he brought me the tranny and on inspection the whole a-clutch basket was blown apart, i repared it with used hard parts, a week later the car comes in on the hook, i tear it down and a-clutch is blown up again, it turns out he had the throttle blocked open to mask a running problem and the car was idling at about 2500, so every time he put it in gear it was like a neutral drop chirping the tires
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
In a good way of course. Perhaps that's what it takes to become a motor master?
Some of us can only dream.
Last edited by G Feller; 02-12-2004 at 10:14 AM. Reason: mistake
who did the neutral slams. See what you mean. Tranny work is tough...both in pulling the trans, repairing them and then seeing if they stay together after the fact....why Kirt Koeller bought a dyno for his shop so he could test everything he rebuilt...a lot of steps involved...best to check one's work if possible and a dyno helps.
Have you ever had the autobox apart on your 535i?
George
further commentary on tranny work. In some ways tranny work reminds me of suspension work. The issue of piece mealing or patch working a repair comes to mind.
Because it is such a big cost to pull a trans out...may make more sense to have an entire rebuild...a bit more of an insurance...there are no guarantees...more likely however that a rebuild will go longer than a patch worked fix...say just the A-clutch replaced. The $64K question always is...WHAT are you getting with a rebuild..how many parts are replaced etc....new pump...all new seals?...new stator shaft?...new solenoids?...new valve body?....or only a patch worked tranny put back together from a generic core of unknown past under the guise of a fully rebuilt trans...that is the daunting question whenever biting the bullet for a so called "fresh" rebuild autobox.
Comes down to dollars and cents. If the patch work is much less cheaper than a full rebuild..may be the way to go...still begs the question...what are you getting with a full rebuild...all new or mostly new internals?...unlikely...or a warmed over patch work trans that works ok for the time being.
George
commenting on my driveshaft posting below? thanks.