4EAT suspected bad solenoid

[kn33]

Hello, I've got a 4eat which buzzes when the key is in the ON position. I
feel the pan and can tell it's a solenoid by the vibration. AT oil temp
light is blinking indicating an electrical fault and the transmission
is shifting with back breaking force, it also stalled the engine when
coming to a stop. all this happened after sitting for 3 months waiting
for me to rebuild the engine. everything was fine before except for a
slightly hard shift into first and second when cold. The fluid is nice
and red and has no smell, 99 Forester, nicely driven, never abused.

 

 

Took off the Transmission oil pan and the 2-4 brake duty is the one buzzing. What should it read on my DMM? what are the chances that replacing this solenoid will solve all my problems? Anyone know the part #?

 

 

Just pulled the solenoid and tested it with my OHM meter. 0.3 Ohm, good or bad?

Edited March 12, 2013 by kn33

[john in KY]

A TPS way out of adjustment will also produces hard shifts.

[kn33]

SON of a Bitch, turned the key to ON after removing the solenoid and now the Line pressure duty solenoid buzzes, which I think I read can be caused by a low battery (which makes sense because autozone told me my battery was bad about 2 hours ago) I tested this solenoid (which is the same part # as the brake duty solenoid) and it reads 3.5 Ohm.



any insight, one is bad, which one? if it works like other solenoids I'm familiar with, the electrons flow through a coil, inducing a magnetic field which propels a piston one way or the other to open or close a passage. the good one should read almost zero resistance.


EDIT: Looks like I was wrong, found the correct resistance values here:http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/115136-transmission-solenoid/

solenoid............description......................terminal #..........ohms

Duty solenoid A (Line pressure solenoid).....[ 5 — 16]..........[ 2.0 — 4.5]
Duty solenoid B (Lock-up solenoid) ............[13 — 16].........[10.0 —17.0]
Duty solenoid D (2-4 brake solenoid)..........[ 9 — 16]..........[ 2.0 — 4.5]

Thanks to: johnceggleston for the answer


with a 0.3 Ohm reading looks like the brake duty solenoid is bad, but I still want your valuable feedback people!



am I right? If that's the case, I just accidentally diagnosed the malfunctioning part, Thanks in advance!

Edited March 12, 2013 by kn33

[kn33]

A TPS way out of adjustment will also produces hard shifts.

Great answer, also thought of this as I had removed it while cleaning my throttlebody and didn't notice the holes were slotted till this morning.How do I adjust it?  multimeter and spin to achieve .45-.55v?

[kn33]

Totally pissed, don't know what happened, but I re-tested the damn solenoid and it reads 3.6 Ohm! they're both good and probably were only buzzing from the low current/voltage could have done the secret handshake and gotten the trouble codes, but NOOOO. I had to go and dump $30 bucks worth of oil that I can't re-use & I've got no trouble code to work with!

Edited March 12, 2013 by kn33

[john in KY]

Don't know the correct way to adjust it. Method I have used on my XT6s involved starting more or less in the middle of the range and then driving the car stopping to make small adjustments. Too far one way and you get the hard shifts. Too far the other way and car runs like crap and no upshifts. Keeping playing with it until you find the sweet spot. 

[kn33]

Don't know the correct way to adjust it. Method I have used on my XT6s involved starting more or less in the middle of the range and then driving the car stopping to make small adjustments. Too far one way and you get the hard shifts. Too far the other way and car runs like crap and no upshifts. Keeping playing with it until you find the sweet spot. 

definitely got the problem upshifting AND hard shifting AND stalling

[kn33]

I think it's only fair to mention that there's probably a leak at my intake gaskets and we all know it's the first thing I should fix. IAC works bvecause it started @ 2000 RPM then gradually slowed down to 1000 RPM as she warmed up. but after that the idle kinda meandered between 800-1000, all vacuum hoses have been replaced but I forgot to attach the heater pipe to that runs under the intake and had to lift the intake up a bit to make some room, when I did I totally JACKED the gaskets, put a thin layer of high temp RTV on either side of the gaskets and slapped it back together with my fingers crossed. have a can of carb cleaner to verify, but can't start the motor because the pan is off my tranny.

[kn33]

Anybody tried this? the method I saw previously said to drive the car above 12 MPH, then all the other mumbo-jumbo, never mentioned the connector under the dash I used to read my ABS codes.

 

 

 

 

To check the TCU codes - if the AT Temp light flashes 16 times on startup then you have stored TCU codes. There is a 6 pin black connector
above the gas pedal and two grounding wires wrapped into the harness
directly above that. Insert one grounding pin into the center pin on the
black connector (blue with yellow trace typically), then follow this process:



1: Turn ignition on, apply brake, and place gear selector in 1. Turn ignition off.

2: Turn ignition on.

3: Move selector to 2.

4: Move selector to 3.

5: Move selector to D.

6: Depress accelerator pedal slightly.



7: Read morse codes flashes on the AT Temp light. 24 will indicate a bad duty-c. These are "stored" history codes from previous drive cycles.



8: Turn ignition off, then back on.

9: Move selector to 3.

10: Move selector to 2.

11: Move selector to 1.

12: Depress accelerator pedal slightly.



13: Read codes again. Codes given here are current faults active in the TCU on the current drive cycle.
 

[kn33]

Solved: damn o-ring on the TPS connector was rolling up and then popping the connector off the TPS sensor when I wasn't looking.

[idosubaru]

A TPS way out of adjustment will also produces hard shifts.

 

 

Solved: damn o-ring on the TPS connector was rolling up and then popping the connector off the TPS sensor when I wasn't looking.

 

That's pretty good work John - high five!

[torxxx]

isnt hard shifts what we want?  I love my SVX when it bangs into gear (til something breaks lol)

[kn33]

isnt hard shifts what we want?  I love my SVX when it bangs into gear (til something breaks lol)

OK, unplug your TPS and you'll feel hard shifts alright......in all the wrong places

Edited March 15, 2013 by kn33

[Numbchux]

Solved: damn o-ring on the TPS connector was rolling up and then popping the connector off the TPS sensor when I wasn't looking.

Did this throw a check engine light? Was the AT oil light on all the time? Did the transmission act like this consistently?

 

 

 

I have very similar issues with a '99 Outback, shifts are kind of hard, and torque converter occasionally doesn't unlock when coming to a stop. But it only happens with the trans is cold, and only sometimes. No CEL, no AT oil light...I'm about to buy a new Duty B solenoid, assuming that it's sticking, but before I do that, I guess I'll check the TPS.

[kn33]

it didn't throw a check engine light, just had no idea when to shift, only drove it once in that condition. AT oil temp light was blinking. they say an out of adjustment TPS can do the same thing. plug in an OBDII scantool and you can see the percentage the ECU is seeing and adjust it accordingly. it truly drove like it needed a new tranny, worst driving experience ever. fixed the plug and she shifted like a brand new car.