Well Hello There Horsepower Lovers!!
How To Eliminate!
Well this is quite a tedious process and somewhat easier than testing volts on all the random stuff that might be leading to some problems! Yeah power... I don't know all the in's and out's that I am supposed to know, but I do know how to change a fault or figure out why something is giving problems!
Now a different transmission shop bought a clutch from us and they claimed that we sold them a buggered up clutch. Nah my guy why would we do that? Pay good money just to return it to you?
Let's see if we can scratch out that fault!
By the way it's an electrical fault and not a mechanical one, so why and how is the clutch buggered?
The First Step!
Create another fault on something similar.
Okay so this transmission has two of these electric solenoid motors that actuate the clutch forks on the transmission, we already know that motor 1 is the top one and motor 2 is the bottom one.
On the Ford it's A and B. Shows you how differently the manufacturers work! This is a Renault by the way!
So what I did here was I unplugged motor 2 so that there can be a new fault and then we will compare those codes with the one we have!
A Bunch Of New Ones.
Okay so just by unplugging the second motor I got a whole bunch of extra codes, four to be exact. That's a lot, I now know that this isn't a power problem at all. I mean it is but not a power supply fault, the motor 1 is actually actuating and everything.
This means it's not the wiring harness neither is it the electric solenoid, but for the hell of it, let's go ahead and swap out the two electric solenoids because it really isn't a lot of work.
See if it was the electric solenoid it would have given the same error as Clutch 1. It would have said "174301 Clutch 2 Motor Circuit, General Electric Failure" (Both Clutch one and Clutch two would have had the same error codes.
Quick Swap.
I mean the battery is already taken out so might as well swap em out and see what happens and if the errors will smooth out.
They didn't.
I still had two things to check out, the wiring harnass (Which it likely is not) or the (TCM) Transmission Control Module, that does all the actuating. Now that last one is critical, oh it's critical. Now this being a car from another shop how the hell are they going to convey this news over to their clients?
Like just how?
Good Practice.
It sure as hell is good practice to test the clutch forks aswell since the actuators are removed. I know that's a full on mechanical problem but it still is good practice! Very good practice. (Especially now a days! Dear fuck... The people in my trade are shaming our name! Oh damn! Got to stand out aboce the rest!)
They are both fine though! But now we know for sure!
Another Swap Out.
This might just be good practice but still.
I removed the wiring harness on the transmission and tested out all the points on it, well the points that were giving trouble or suspect to give trouble.
They all seemed to be fine and we gave it a little cleaning out to top it off, always better that way! I'm telling you, good practice!
A Strong Foundation.
Okay yeah at this point most would say but yeah I have all these parts to test out the problems with... well yeah... we've been around for quite some time and we've worked on many of these problems! On both the Ford and the Renaults in which these transmissions are used.
Amazing stuff and it does give you a sense of achievement, it really does.
We swapped out the TCM on this one and low and behold the problem changed, the problem only jumped to actuator clutch 2! Yeahp okay so I still have the problem?
Well yeah we don't just keep a thousand dollar computer lying around for the fun of it, nah.... The one we fitted was a damaged as well but now that the problem jumped to a completely different cluster shaft that is a good thing! A very good thing, not for the client though!!
Here is the thing, you don't need to find the fault, you just need to change it, when you change it you'll know where to start scratching, at-least if you have some basic idea of what you're doing and be logical about it, don't over think the shit.
To The One Before Me.
Well I sure hope a bolt falls from your car sir, this is not nice.
A small one but not nice at all! (Funny thing I know who worked on the car before me! I know him personally! What the dang dude! You crazy or what?
I Know Where You Go!
Believe it or don't but I do, it's part of what holds the air intake pipe stable, he must have went in to fit it and it fell down underneath the battery box and decided to well.... screw it! Or rather not screw it!
I'll just fit it back!
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