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Glen Muller
DieHard
Victoria
Soarer - UZZ31 V8

Posts: 828
Reg: 12-2007

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - 12:18 pm, by:  Glen Muller (Doom_and_gloom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Comments, suggestions, corrections are all welcome.

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So, your gearbox is acting up and you’ve run the diagnostics in your Soarer to discover error codes X or Y, which means you have a solenoid issue and one or both need to be replaced. Don’t despair – it's not a difficult or expensive job to perform and can be carried out in a short space of time with few tools or experience required. Here we will run you through the procedure, and your Soarer will be up and running again in no time.

Tools required:

- 1 x 10mm socket
- 1 x 14mm socket
- Breaker bar or t-handle for your sockets, plus a ratchet handle. A small extension post is most useful for reaching annoying bolts.
- Flat blade screwdriver (a nice long chunky one will do the trick)
- Hammer
- A couple of drip trays. One for collecting fluid, the other for putting a bit of petrol in for washing parts
- A small funnel for replacing fluid
- An empty oil/ATF bottle for measuring old fluid
- Ruler/tape measure, for measuring the gasket
- Hole punch. If you don’t have one, there are some 'bush mechanics' instructions in the gasket section of the tutorial.

Consumables:

- Replacement solenoids (either brand new or contact MV Autos in Blackwood SA for known working second hand units)
- For N/A V8s, Toyota Type IV transmission fluid, available from your local dealer. I paid $39.70 for a 4L bottle, Ballarat December 2010
- For blown or shift kitted V8s and TTs, I believe you are to use Dexron III transmission fluid. No idea about cost!
- A new gasket. You may either purchase one from a dealer or alternatively, you can cut your own gasket from a sheet of gasket material, available at your local Supercheap / Autobarn / Autopro / Burson Auto Parts. For the purposes of this tutorial I will be showing you how to make your own gasket. It's cost effective and you will have plenty of material left to stash away in the shed for later. I bought a 1.6mm sheet of gasket material for about $10, 400 x 375mm which is JUST long enough for the job. If it's less than 400 long you’re in trouble.
- A couple of litres of clean petrol, for washing parts
- A tube of gasket sealant – I used Gasket Goo, available from Supercheap at the princely sum of around $7 - $8 for a tube. Make sure whatever you buy doesn't contain silicone, as it is harmful to transmission fluids.
- Metho, for surface preparation
- Clean rags for cleaning up

Notes:

You will need to put your car up on stands or ramps for the job. Never climb underneath a car supported only by a jack: it's plain old unsafe, and besides, the job will be far easier with the correct gear.

How long will this take? Bank on a lazy 2 hours or so on a nice Saturday afternoon.

Procedure:

Righto, let's get to business. For those of you with TEMS, any work carried out underneath the car is nicely complimented by hitting that height switch and putting your car up as high as it goes. If you have an aftermarket controller, do the same with it. Any extra wriggling room under the car is most welcome!

Once your car is safely supported by ramps or stands, you can slide yourself underneath. Position your drip tray under the drain plug, undo the it with the 14mm socket and drain the trans. Be careful not to drop the screw into the old fluid! Give it a few minutes to drain right out. The less fluid in the pan, the less likely you are to make a monster mess when you’ve removed it. Don’t do this... its what I call a "mess", and it took me a while to clean it up!


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See all those annoying-looking 10mm bolts around the pan? You guessed it. Start going around the pan and undo the lot of them. Keep them somewhere safe for the time being, because if you lose one the pan won’t seal up properly when you refit it.

OK, now for the first fun part. Don’t move the drip tray just yet! Pop that 14mm plug back in its place; it's easier than wondering where the hell you put it later on. Now you need the hammer and the flat screwdriver, to pry the pan away from the transmission. Be careful, patient and persistent. It WILL come off eventually!

Be VERY careful removing the pan! There will still be a reasonable amount of trans fluid left in the bottom of it... I made a mess. This is another reason for putting that 14mm plug back in. If the unfortunate happens to you, it's not too hard to clean up. Wipe up what you can with a rag then go to town with a can of degreaser and the hose.

Well, looky here.


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This is where those pesky solenoids have been hiding the whole time. While you're under here, its also a good time to remove the transmission filter and give it a nice clean. See that odd-rectangular shaped shiny thing? That's it. Grab your 10mm socket and remove the three bolts, and carefully remove it. Throw it in your spare tray with a bit of petrol, give it a nice clean, and flush it out with a bit of trans fluid and you’re done. A petrol soaked rag is good for cleaning the area from where you removed it. Reverse procedure to refit, and make sure all the little gaskets are in place.

While we're cleaning things, it's also time to give the pan a nice clean and get rid of that old gasket. There are four magnets in the bottom of the pan. You'll find them when you pour a bit of petrol in it and swish it around. Pop the magnets out and wipe the little shards of metal away, along with any sludgy gunk stuck to them. They go back in the pan where those raised guides are positioned.

To remove the gasket, scrape it away with something firm and clean up the area with petrol. It is well worth running a little bit of sandpaper around the rim of the pan to ensure it is nice and clean. Decontaminate the rim of the pan with metho, and the Gasket Goo will work its magic better.

OK! Now it's time to get those God-awful solenoids out. One 10mm bolt holds the two together. This guard needs to be bent out of the way to allow removal of the solenoids. Unplug them, and gently pop them out of their home. To fit the new ones, reverse the procedure, and make sure you bend that guard back down over the wires it was protecting. Head over to that green plastic contraption with "SULO" written on the front of it, open the lid and drop those dead solenoids in! Hooray! They’re gone!!!

Can you feel it? You’re nearly there! Now it's time to make a new gasket. If you’ve opted for the 'bought one' route, ignore the following and skip down to the fitting procedure. To make a gasket, here goes:

Place your gasket material down on a flat surface and lay the CLEAN pan down on top. I did it on the corner of a table so the dipstick tube wouldn’t get in the way. Go around the edge of the pan and cut out the shape of with a nice sharp utility knife or box cutter. When you have the shape done, measure the distance from the edge of the pan to the inside of the recessed line upon which the seal is to be created. Mark it out on the gasket material, making sure you allow for the curves around the holes. If you don’t have a hole punch, you can make the holes easily with a small flat-blade screwdriver and a hammer... I had to do this after hunting high and low for a hole punch to no avail. Pop the pan back down on the material, and carefully punch around the inside of the hole with your screwdriver. It's slow and tedious, but only took me about 10 minutes to do them all.

Now that you have a nice shiny new gasket for your trans pan, it's time to put it all back together again and reap the rewards of a job well done. Grab the gasket goo and run a thin bead all the way around the pan. Smear it all over the flat surface with your finger and make sure there’s no metal visible. A thin layer is fine; no need to go to town with the stuff, because you’ll only waste it and it will harden and end up going through your transmission. You don’t want that! Carefully lay the new gasket onto the surface and line up all the holes. Do the same thing with the goo on the surface of the gasket. By doing this, you will ensure a nice snug fit and the chance of a leak forming is minimized. It also makes the refitting process easier, by holding your gasket in place while you mess around trying to refit the pan to the transmission. Here's my pan, with the gasket fitted, ready for the next layer of Gasket Goo and the refitting process:


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Here's another fun bit for you: refitting the pan! If you don’t line up the tube on the pan with the upper part of the dipstick tube, you won't be able to put fluid back in and you won’t be able to take fluid level readings! So spend the time with it and do it right the first time! Once it's in position, put a couple of the pan bolts back in and do them up. Once you’ve done that, you’re free to pop the rest of them back in. Don't over-tighten them – they’re only holding a small pan up and keeping the seal around the edges tight.

Get your funnel and place it into the top of the dipstick tube. You will need to know how much fluid to put back in, so it's worth pouring what you got out into some kind of fluid measuring device. I'll leave that for you to work out. I removed around 2L of fluid during the process. Carefully pour the new ATF into the funnel – you don’t want to spill it because it will land right on your catalytic converter (V8 drivers).

Once you think you've put enough in, check the level. Not enough? Chuck some more in, but take it easy!

Showtime! Make sure you haven't left any tools laying around in weird spots, and you're free to fire up your car. Let it run for a while. When you go to put it in gear, there will be a slight delay before anything happens. This will go away! Your gearbox just has to build up the oil pressure again. Back off your ramps carefully, and let your beast idle for a while and warm right up before going for a sedate lap around the block, returning home to check the fluid levels again now that the car has warmed up. Also have a good look under the car while it's running and check for any leaks from the transmission.

Once you’re satisfied that your levels are in check, perhaps it's a good time to flush out your transmission properly using the relevant tutorial. If you choose not to do this now, you can either go for a drive now that your gearbox is in working order again or head inside to wash up and grab a nice cold beer. You deserve it!

Happy Soaring!

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