Larry-valvebody.

qxd

3/15/04

4:34 PM

Page 24

by Larry Frash

Chronic
Valve Body
Wear
E

very penny Ive earned in my

life has been from the automotive industry. For that, I
am thankful. If the manufacturers made
a perfect vehicle, all we could hope for
is to be somewhere in the auto-body
repair industry. People will never stop
crashing cars! But lets face it; there are
certain transmissions that put food on
our tables every day. We all know
which ones Im talking about.
But chronic valve body wear is
where I draw the line between thanking
the engineers, and blaming them. I
think most of us already know a
handful of transmissions that, with
more than 50,000 miles on them, will
have a worn valve body! I know that
someday Ill read an extended warranty, and at the bottom of the page there
will be a notation saying: To honor
this warranty, the spare valve body
(located in the trunk) must have been
installed at 45,000 miles. Come on ref
throw the damn flag!
Im okay with broken planetary
gears and stripped drive shells. Driver
abuse causes a lot of this. But when a
car with 50,000 miles comes into a
shop, setting a code P1870 due to a
worn valve body, theres something
wrong at the engineering level!
With that said, lets discuss some
theories of why certain valve bodies
wear in certain areas and others dont.
Theories may seem useless when trying
to understand and/or solve problems,
but keep in mind that some of
Einsteins theories werent proven for
years after his death. The intention of
24

From Pump
To Converter/Lube

To Pump Intake

LIGHT_6
LIGHT_5

LF
LIGHT_0

Line Pressure
Converter/Lube
Pump Intake

Balance Oil
Figure 1

this article is to open your eyes to a

problem that is plaguing our industry,
and point out the common valve bore
types that wear the most.
For something to wear, it must
experience friction, which needs
motion. The more a valve moves in its
bore, the more chance it has to wear.
This is why shift-valves rarely wear,
and regulating valve bores do so, often.
But why are some regulator valves
prone to wear and others arent? To
begin, lets review how two basic types
of regulator valves work.

Mainline Regulator
Valves
For this example, we will assume
the regulator spring is calibrated for a
desired mainline pressure of a constant
70 psi. If pump volume cannot keep up

with this demand, the regulator valve

would be in what well call the stage
one position (figure 1). In this position,
the regulator valve is in the deepest part
of the bore, supplying oil to the mainline circuit only. Youll also notice the
valve is not supplying oil to the converter/lube circuit.
Once pump volume is high
enough, and mainline pressure exceeds
the desired 70 psi, the balance oil pushes the valve into what well call the
stage two position (figure 2). As the
valve moves into this position, pump
volume is supplied to the torque converter/lube circuit. This use of pump
volume will reduce mainline pressure.
If this is not enough to reduce
mainline pressure to the desired 70 psi,
balance oil will push the valve into
what well call the stage three position
GEARS April 2004

GRTSAD-4-04-X.qxd

2/25/04

COMPLAINT:

10:14 AM

Page 1

LATE 3-2 DOWNSHIFT IN DIESEL & TOWING APPLICATIONS

Also:

HEAVY DUTY THROTTLE VALVE KIT

Shift timing concerns

Throttle buzz
Poor kickdown
Late 2-3 upshifts
Oversensitive 3-2
downshifts

42/46/47RH/RE,
A904-A727
Heavy Duty
Throttle Valve

Also available
from Sonnax :

CAUSE:
Original equipment downshifts prematurely and takes
engine out of the torque band.

Valve
Body

Shims

RENAULT DPO
P/N:

120002
PUMP BUSHING

Balance Spring

CORRECTION:
Sleeve

This hardened steel valve

and spring reduces throttle
sensitivity and lowers
downshift points.

Alternative Throttle
Valve Spring

Part No.

4R44E,
4R55E, A4LD

Throttle Plunger

22771-HDK

P/N:

56412RK
FRONT PLANETARY
REBUILD KIT

COMPLAINT:

STEEL PLATE LUGS WEAR GROOVES IN CASE CLUTCH CHANNELS

Also:

No forward or reverse
Burned low/reverse
clutch
Harsh 2-1 downshifts

LOW-REVERSE CLUTCH CHANNEL INSERT KIT

Chrysler
A604/A606

Friction Clutch Plates

FORD
SOLENOIDS

CAUSE:
Grooves worn into aluminum case by steel clutch
plate lugs interrupt smooth
clutch apply/release.

CORRECTION:

MULTIPLE
YEARS & APPLICATIONS
P/NS:

56842B-01,
76919-01,
76921-01,
76922-01

Insert Ring

Thin hardened spring steel

inserts fit into the damaged
case channels. The steel plates
included with the kit have
unique lugs that are narrower than OE to allow clearance
at the installed inserts.
Steel Clutch Plates
Part No.

92834-02K

Channel Inserts

See your nearest

Transmission Specialties
distributor & ask for
Sonnax quality
engineered products.

VISIT OUR
OUR WEBSITE
WEBSITE FOR
FOR
VISIT
REAMERS
SONNAX REAMERS
SONNAX
& OTHER
OTHER TOOLS.
TOOLS.
&

Automatic Drive P.O. Box 440 Bellows Falls, VT 05101-0440 USA 802/463-9722 800/843-2600 fax: 802/463-4059 info@sonnax.com www.sonnax.com
2004 Sonnax

Larry-valvebody.qxd

3/10/04

3:46 PM

Page 26

Chronic Valve Body Wear

From Pump

From Pump
To Converter/Lube

To Pump Intake

To Converter/Lube

To Pump Intake

LF

LF

LIGHT_0
LIGHT_0

Line Pressure

Line Pressure

Converter/Lube

Balance Oil

Pump Intake

Figure 2

Line
Pressure

Line Pressure
Accumulator Pressure

Balance Oil

Pump Intake

Figure 3

Line
Pressure

Line Pressure

Exhaust

LF

Converter/Lube

Accumulator Pressure

Exhaust

LIGHT_6
LIGHT_5

LF

To Accumulator

LIGHT_6
LIGHT_5

To Accumulator
Balance Oil

Balance Oil
Figure 5

Figure 4

(figure 3). In this position, the valve

will open an exhaust circuit back to the
pump intake. This will essentially create a large enough leak to reduce mainline to the desired 70 psi.
In a perfect world, with non-varying pump volumes and demands, this
regulator valve would tend to find a
position somewhere between stage one
and stage three and simply stay there.
However, as we all know, this couldnt
be further from reality. Varying engine
RPM, and constant mainline pressure
adjustments by the computer or throttle
cable keep this valve very busy.

Other Regulator Valves

For this example well use a simple
accumulator regulator valve with a
desired pressure of 30 psi. Unlike the
mainline regulator, we dont want to
exhaust pump volume to control a separate circuit like accumulator pressure.
If we did, mainline pressure would also
drop to 30 psi. So this type of regulator
valve works a little differently.
26

In the stage
Line
Pressure
one position, the
Line Pressure
valve is deepest in
Accumulator Pressure Exhaust
the bore, supplying
mainline to the
accumulator circuit
LF
(figure 4). Once
the accumulator
pressure
rises
above the desired
30 psi, balance oil
To Accumulator
will move the
valve into the stage
Balance Oil
two position (figure 5). In this posiFigure 6
tion, the valve cuts
off the mainline pressure that supplies
Boosting Regulating
the accumulator circuit. Cutting off this
Valves
feed will lower the accumulator presMany regulating valves are used in
sure. Just past the stage two position is
such a way that they provide varying
the stage three position (figure 6). Here,
pressure. For an example of this, we
the valve opens an exhaust to leak accucan simply add a boost valve to our
mulator oil from the regulated circuit.
mainline regulator valve (figure 7). As
The valve will float back and forth to
throttle pressure or EPC pressure rises
maintain the desired pressure.
to the boost valve, the boost valve
increases pressure on the spring side of
LIGHT_6
LIGHT_5

GEARS April 2004

goode placed.qxd

2/18/04

10:50 AM

Page fpo222

How
can
you
get
a
potential
costumer's
attention
if
you
don't
have
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million
dollars
and
a
celebrity
endorsement
?

It
starts
here.

the TRANSMISSION REBUILDERS

ADVERTISING and MARKETING
SPECIALISTS
(866) 577-9966
goodeagency.com

Larry-valvebody.qxd

3/15/04

4:34 PM

Page 28

Chronic Valve Body Wear

the regulator valve. This makes it harder
for the balance oil to move the regulator
valve, and is how line rise is created.

EPC Pressure
To Converter/
Lube

Throttle Pressure
On a 700-R4, the mainline regulator boost valve is controlled by throttle
pressure. As the throttle cable is pulled,
the TV plunger compresses the spring,
making throttle pressure rise. Because
throttle pressure rise is obtained by
mechanically compressing a spring, the
pressure will smoothly rise with no
pulses in fluid pressure.

From Pump

LF
LIGHT_0

X
Line Pressure
Converter/Lube

Electronic Pressure Control

Pump Intake

When a computer controls the

boost pressure, it does so by pulsing a
solenoid on and off at a very fast speed,
called a pulse-width modulated signal.
The frequency by which this happens is
measured in hertz (pulses per second).
This can be anywhere between 20 and
900 hertz, depending on the year, make,
model and application. The main thing
to keep in mind is that the computer
doesnt change the frequency to change
pressure. It changes the duty cycle,
which is the percentage of time the
solenoid is on, versus the time it is off.
Most EPC solenoids are calibrated
to use 50%-60% duty-cycle for minimum pressure, and 0%-10 % for maximum pressure. However, for ease of
explanation, well use the following
hypothetical example. Lets say you
supplied battery-voltage directly to the
EPC solenoidmaking EPC pressure
zero psiand if you turned the
solenoid off, EPC pressure would be
100 psi. In this example, if you turned
the solenoid on for exactly 1/10th of a
second, and off for exactly 1/10th of a
second, and repeated this over and over
again, EPC pressure would average 50
psi. This is because it would be on for
50% of the time, and off for 50% of the
time. If the solenoid was on for 25% of
the time and off 75% of the time, EPC
pressure would average 75 psi.
However, unlike the throttle valve in
the 700-R4, the constant pulsing of the
EPC solenoid causes the EPC pressure
to oscillate at the frequency that the
computer is using to operate the solenoid.
Although it is next to impossible to
measure these pressure pulses, they do

EPC Pressure

28

To Pump Intake

Balance Oil

Figure 7

exist. But what does this have to do

with valve bore wear? These pressure
pulses, if large enough, can make the
related valves oscillate. For example, if
EPC pressure is oscillating, the boost
valve being controlled by the EPC pressure will try to oscillate. Remember, the
more a valve moves in its bore, the
more chance it has to wear.
Which causes more damagelow
frequencies or high frequencies? Low
frequencies tend to cause fewer but
larger pulses, while higher frequencies
tend to cause more but smaller pulses.
Because larger pulses in pressure tend
to move valves easier than small pulses,
the lower frequencies cause more damage. In fact, newer vehicles are using
much higher frequencies to control
solenoids than earlier models. Maybe
were on to something.
All pulse-width modulated solenoids work like the example cited
above. However, some supply maximum pressure when turned off, while
others supply minimum pressure when
turned off. For example, many PWM
lockup solenoids supply minimum
pressure when turned off, so that lockup is disabled in the event of a power
failure.

Valve Material
Many of the newer valve bodies
are using hardcoat anodized aluminum
valves. The valves themselves are very
durable. But does the material that
these valves are made of cause the
bores to wear? Well, Im sorry to

saywe just dont know yet. However,

what we do know is that these valves
are extremely light in weight.
Logically, lightweight valves are more
easily moved than heavier ones. This
means that the pressure pulses can
oscillate the aluminum valves easier
than the steel valves.

Valve Support
Some valves are too short, and
wear due to a lack of support in the
casting. A good example of this is the
isolator valve located in the bottom of
the 4L60E TCC regulator bore. This
poor valve is controlled by a PWM
solenoid, is made of the lightweight
hardcoat anodized aluminum material,
and has very little support. And wouldnt you know itit wears a bunch!

Valves To Look At
Whether the valve body wear is
being caused by the electronics, valve
material and weight, or just poor
design, the fact remains that there are a
lot of valve bodies from all makes that
are wearing faster than they should.
The important thing to remember is to
always remove the valves from the
valve body and inspect any valve bore
that is subject to wear. Whether you
install an aftermarket repair kit, or buy
a new valve body, its always best to
find the problem before the customer is
given the final estimate. It means the
difference between them paying for it,
or you paying for it.

GEARS April 2004