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Fixing "no reverse when warm" on ZF transmission valve body

8K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  summertime2781 
#1 ·
This post is to log my attempt to fix my daughter's transmission on her '01 Audi A4 Quattro with 01V transmission (ZF 5HP19FLA.) I will be updating with photos and info as I go.

Reverse gear does not work after the transmission has warmed up. I googled that, and found a common problem is an o-ring in the valve body popping out. That seems to be the case for her transmission. Pic below:



The clip is broken, and the o-ring is popping out. In fact, the piece of o-ring you can see fell off when I removed the broken clip.

Pic of the good clip on the left and the bad clip on the right below.



I found the broken piece in the transmission pan.

The part for the o-ring is 0734 313 190. I found it at https://cobratransmission.com/

The part for the clip is 1060 327 119 but so far I can't find anybody that sells it.

I thought about making my own clip, but I want to be careful that it's not going to fall apart. On my first attempt at bending one, a piece broke off from metal fatigue while shaping it. So I thought of something else.

Below is a pic of how the other cylinders are retained.



Note the inverted "T" on the left. The one on the right is the same, but the "T" is hidden. There are several more like that. The "T" is toward the center layer of the valve body so it can't fall out when it's assembled.

The reverse cylinder, and the other one the same size to the left of it, also have slots at the top and bottom, but there's no room for a "T" head because one side is blocked. There is, however, room for an "L". So I came up with this:




(The scoring on the piston is from the old clip.)

16ga steel. About 34mm tall. Stem of "L" 8mm wide. Lower part of "L" about 13mm wide. Thickness of lower "L" about 3mm. Give or take. This was rough-sawn with a hacksaw and filed to shape in a vise.

Not sure yet whether I'll just use this, or keep trying to find the "official" clip. I think my solution might even be sturdier than the original. No wire to break, just solid metal. It doesn't block any passages. The slot toward the bottom of the "L" is up against solid metal in the spacer, for both cylinders. It's at minimum a backup in case I can't find the clip anywhere.

To be continued.
 
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#3 ·
Master VW mechanic I trust looked at my custom part and said that should work fine. I trust it more than bending my own wire clip. Cobra transmission said the wire clip was only available from Germany and would take 8 weeks to get, so that's out. The other "L" part I found that looks like mine, I can't find anywhere, so I guess I'll just use the parts I made.

So now I can add "made custom parts to repair a transmission" to my repertoire. :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Everything's been put back together for a couple weeks, but had to wait for a clear weekend day to fill it.

Last weekend, had a minor disaster. I rigged up a pressurized pump in the gallon ATF jug with a tire valve for air pressure, and a piece of brake line to the bottom of the jug for fluid, and a hose to the transmission. Used an electric tire pump for pressure.

Don't do that.

Worked great for about 30 seconds before the jug exploded, spraying the side of the house with ATF and spilling most of it on the driveway.

Then it started raining.

Threw down some cat litter and spent the rest of the week cleaning off the side of the house and shoveling oily clay muck that got worse from a few days of rain.

Take two worked. I got a gallon garden sprayer at Aldi. 5/16" brake line replaces the nozzle perfectly. These are normally $6.99 but now they're on sale at my Aldi for $4.99. You can get something similar at Home Depot or Lowes for $15-$20.

I tested the flow last night. With two quarts in the container, and 10 pumps, it took about 1:15 to pump about a half quart. Then I just kept pumping it up and it had pumped both quarts out by 5 minutes (including the first 1:15.)

 
#5 ·
Filled with as much as it would take while off and cold, then followed the procedure described in many places to fill while running and shifting through gears (with foot on brake) until up to temperature and no more fluid can be added without it dripping out, then capping before shutting off. I won't describe details since the info is elsewhere but feel free to ask questions.

Reverse is working again, even after warm up. It also doesn't "clunk" a few seconds after shifting into reverse, which it had always done since my daughter bought the car, even after having the transmission fluid topped up. Besides the O-rings, I also replaced the pressure regulator valve with a Transgo part:

http://www.transgo.com/products.php...d=267&countdisplay=1&start=0&addcountview=Yes

So I don't know whether the "clunk" was caused by the O-ring slowly failing, or the PR valve, or both, but I thought I'd do the PR while I was in there.

Will give an update after the car has been driven a while.
 
#6 ·
Still running fine after 200 miles of driving.

When I filled it, it took a little over 7 quarts, which surprised me, because I though the full capacity was something like 9 liters. I did follow the procedure to let it warm up to temperature and run through the gears. Nothing spilling out when up to temp, just a few small drips.

Maybe having the valve body off and the car sitting for several days with just the pan on it let some more drain. I did have to re-drain the pan when I took it off to put the valve body back, but I didn't measure it and don't think it was more than a quart.

Anyway, mentioning this because it seems like a good idea to buy a little more fluid than you think you will need, so as to not have to run out and buy more mid-job. :)
 
#8 ·
I've been having the same reverse issues for 2 years now. I continue to deal with it by putting it in reverse and switching to neutral then back to reverse with RPMs at 1500-2000 to back the car up. However, with my daughter starting to drive she doesn't want to drive the vehicle without reverse. Which led me to this community post.



Researching the o-ring and "locking wire" as ZF calls is, I wrote ZF Services North America, LLC to try and locate this wire that was not being found via Google. They told me to contact their distributor and ..... SUCCESS!!!, they had the o-ring and wire in stock. Below you'll find the name and phone number if anybody is looking for the parts.



Eriksson Industries

(800) 388-4418
 
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