Reverse gone! Did Kirt move?

[632 Regal]

Sorry for the confusion, too many posts going on. Agreed it sounds like the VB.

Jeff, I have the 5HP30 which -sure seems like- got its fame from valve body failures. bubba966 is driving a 540 now, but he didn't say it was the car with the broken circlip holder. When I mentioned the circlip to Kirt, he said that sounds more like a 5HP18 and he couldn't remember one on a 5HP30. Add in the fact that my car has not thrown a single code (eliminating the trans ECU?) and it almost has to be the valve body, or at least that sounds like the way to bet. I did tell my tech if he sees metal in the pan, call me and don't even bother installing the VB. Just in case I'm the first.

As far as doing it myself, if it were a 4-barrel Holley that I could stand on both feet to remove for a rebuild, no problem. Since I started getting junk mail from AARP (knew I should have stayed away from that Foreigner concert they sponsored) I find I would rather get a root canal than work underneath a car. The last time I changed the trans filter on the Mercedes I got an oil shampoo. Long arms, a 12" deep ribcage, and jackstands make for pretty miserable working conditions on a crawler. Maybe I need to throw the jackstand boxes away. Seeing "Made in China" every time I have to trust my life to them doesn't help any.

[zhandax]

Information overflow; bane of life in the 21st century.

I did get some good news today. I parked in the only entrance to the garage, and the service manager told the new guy to bring the car in and find a place and added that it did not have reverse. The new guy must have felt he had something to prove, and he pulled forward a bit and then shifted into reverse and gunned it far enough to build enough pressure to kick the ball over to the reverse side. He pulled back in front of the office window and forward repeatedly until I gave him the finger horizontally across the neck to indicate we got it. I told the guy when he came in the office I did not do that because I knew it would slam the transmission when the ball moved over but once probably did no damage and it does indicate we are dead on with the VB. This also indicates that the ball did not get sucked through the hole so the 60 or 80 miles I put on the car since should not have done any damage to any clutch packs. I will know the entire story tomorrow, but so far it looks like this could have been worse.

One question; I forgot to ask Kirt if he sold replacement EEPROMs for the trans ECU mapped to the VB upgrades. My tech did manage to get one from the dealer mapped to the standard ZF upgrade package. Does Kirt do anything in addition to the standard ZF upgrades, or should the EEPROM from the dealer work?

[zhandax]

The car did need the valve body upgrade and the tech said when they changed the EEPROM they noticed that no one had ever been in there and the car still had the original chip. Apparently the required chip mapped to the upgrade is dependent on the trans serial number and mine was just past the first cutoff so he sent it back and got the correct one. The car runs great and the upgrade appears to have eliminated the rough 3-4 shift, although I will not say that with certainty until we get a cool night. It never was particularly harsh in warm weather but it is noticeably improved.

No metal in the pan and the tech said everything looked fine in there. All in all, it could have been worse.

[Tiger]

Congrats! What fluid did you use? When I did my valve body in 2001. I used the Penzoil Multi-Vehicle ATF... with this fluid, it really did smooth out everything. Also, when I did it, it seemed like almost everything drained out because I had to use 12+ quarts to bring it to level.

[zhandax]

I took a couple of gallons of Penzoil Multi-Vehicle ATF when I had the fluid and filter changed a couple of years ago and this time my tech had a 55 gallon drum of the stuff. I remember talking to him about it then but don't remember the details. He said that is the only fluid they use for the 5HP30s now.

[Tiger]

Ahh... okay. You should be fine... the shifting should firm up a bit rather than being buttery smooth. This multivehicle ATF is great for alot of tranny... even regular tranny.

I didn't do any tranny chip upgrade... I know only the engine chip has been updated.

[zhandax]

Since some posters report upgrading the valve body without improving the 3-4 shift it would be interesting to see how many had replaced the EEPROM. Makes you wonder how big a part that chip plays? My tech got the chip from the dealer and even if he marked it up it was only $25 but it apparently requires a little over an hour to change.

I have been taking it easy to let everything settle in but so far it shifts smoother than it has since I bought the car.