Replacing the Transmission Solenoid Pack

Alex Kurdian · Post by **Alex Kurdian** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:35 am

Hi
Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to replace the Auto transmission solenoid pack?

Do I need to be aware of anything special or is it just off and new one back on

thanx

Memitim · Post by **Memitim** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:24 pm

Hi folks. I would like to get your feedback on replacing the transmission solenoid pack as well as I just had my car dye tested for a transmission leak and was told that the solenoid pack was the source. Instead of creating a new thread, I figured I'd just bump this older one and minimize the number of search returns for others.

I can't find anything in the Haynes manual about it, but searching online I found a description that said that all I'd have to do is remove the airbox, remove three bolts, and lift it out. Is that right? Considering that my only problem is the leak, do you think that I could just replace the gasket and be good to go?

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:16 pm

Memitim wrote: I can't find anything in the Haynes manual about it, but searching online I found a description that said that all I'd have to do is remove the airbox, remove three bolts, and lift it out. Is that right? Considering that my only problem is the leak, do you think that I could just replace the gasket and be good to go?

I guess it depends, if the solenoid itself is leaking, or if it is just leaking from the gasket.

Free bump for this thread.

- Nick

Memitim · Post by **Memitim** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:32 pm

After calling around, it appears I can't even get the gasket by itself anyhow.

Looking at the pack, it is absolutely filthy with mud and is a real bastard to clean off, so I'm not really sure. I'm at 110k so I think I'll just replace the whole thing for the sake of being proactive.

Therefore, I guess I'm just looking for the answer to the first question; i.e replacing the whole solenoid pack. Looking at it, it seems easy enough since there's just a couple of wires and hoses over it that I either need to disconnect (wires) or move aside (hoses) and then I should be able to pull the pack up and out. But pretty much nothing that I've worked on with this car so far has been simple, except maybe the audio, so what am I missing?

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:58 pm

Memitim wrote:After calling around, it appears I can't even get the gasket by itself anyhow. Looking at the pack, it is absolutely filthy with mud and is a real bastard to clean off, so I'm not really sure. I'm at 110k so I think I'll just replace the whole thing for the sake of being proactive.

It is possible to buy sheets of gasket material, that you can cut to shape yourself.
However, that would be a little time consuming.

You might want to try degreasing & washing down the solenoid pack and trans area first, and then you'll be able to see where the leakage is coming from.

- Nick

Memitim · Post by **Memitim** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:40 pm

Oh, I'm going to clean it off and take a look, but I'm considered just swapping the pack regardless, just to preempt the failure of the current one which is the same one that came with the car.

I keep getting bit in the ass by trying to cheap out and I really like this car so I'm giving myself a bit of project leeway to give the best effort toward extending its lifespan while making it more fun to drive. Cheap piece of mind's a bitch to come by when its your daily driver to work, 30 miles away.

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:54 pm

viewtopic.php?t=48430

4659982 GASKET, Transmission Solenoid $2.70

Memitim · Post by **Memitim** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:57 am

Awesome, thanks. Now I can just get the gasket if I chose not to replace the solenoid pack.

(Nerd alert: this shit is about to get way too involved for people who think that I should replace the gasket and shut the hell up, so feel free to ignore me.)

Very tempting to just replace the gasket, but I just don't know the expected lifespan of the stock solenoid pack and therefore what the potential risk of leaving it in place, particularly in terms of any additional impact to the car should it experience some sort of unexpected problem.

The timing belt is a good example; that thing breaks and your life just got a lot worse than it had to otherwise be, so it warrants spending hours of pain-in-the-ass or a good chunk of money to replace the timing belt before it breaks. On the other hand, when a splash guard falls off you get to experience a surprise bump in the road followed by a scraping noise but the car's ass probably isn't going to fall off or anything and it isn't hard to get a cheap replacement for the guard. Not worth spending a lot of money or time to decrease the odds of a splash guard falling off.

So the first question is: Does the failure of the transmission solenoid pack present a risk of monetary costs in excess of ~$200, such as by causing a failure of another transmission subsystem? Also, does the inconvenience of dealing with a unexpected failure of the transmission solenoid outweigh the inconvenience of losing $200 right now? I have no idea about either question as I don't know what problems can happen to the pack, other than it apparently can leak oil even if this particular leak that I'm dealing with isn't the actual pack but rather its gasket.

The second question would be if anyone happens to know what other problems might occur with the transmission solenoid pack and have an opinion as to how likely they are to occur over the next 100,000 miles that I have to go to the 200k mark. Like if it was the stock timing belt then I'd say that it has a pretty good chance of breaking before 200k, which will likely lead to a crapton of costs in repairs and a potentially massive inconvenience as your car suddenly decides that it doesn't want to play with you anymore.]

Fortunately I already know what the risk of losing $200 right now is so I can figure out the final answer once I have a rough idea of the results to those previous two questions.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:36 am

Memitim wrote:Awesome, thanks. Now I can just get the gasket if I chose not to replace the solenoid pack.

(Nerd alert: this shit is about to get way too involved for people who think that I should replace the gasket and shut the hell up, so feel free to ignore me.)

Very tempting to just replace the gasket, but I just don't know the expected lifespan of the stock solenoid pack and therefore what the potential risk of leaving it in place, particularly in terms of any additional impact to the car should it experience some sort of unexpected problem.

The timing belt is a good example; that thing breaks and your life just got a lot worse than it had to otherwise be, so it warrants spending hours of pain-in-the-ass or a good chunk of money to replace the timing belt before it breaks. On the other hand, when a splash guard falls off you get to experience a surprise bump in the road followed by a scraping noise but the car's ass probably isn't going to fall off or anything and it isn't hard to get a cheap replacement for the guard. Not worth spending a lot of money or time to decrease the odds of a splash guard falling off.

So the first question is: Does the failure of the transmission solenoid pack present a risk of monetary costs in excess of ~$200, such as by causing a failure of another transmission subsystem? Also, does the inconvenience of dealing with a unexpected failure of the transmission solenoid outweigh the inconvenience of losing $200 right now? I have no idea about either question as I don't know what problems can happen to the pack, other than it apparently can leak oil even if this particular leak that I'm dealing with isn't the actual pack but rather its gasket.

The second question would be if anyone happens to know what other problems might occur with the transmission solenoid pack and have an opinion as to how likely they are to occur over the next 100,000 miles that I have to go to the 200k mark. Like if it was the stock timing belt then I'd say that it has a pretty good chance of breaking before 200k, which will likely lead to a crapton of costs in repairs and a potentially massive inconvenience as your car suddenly decides that it doesn't want to play with you anymore.]

Fortunately I already know what the risk of losing $200 right now is so I can figure out the final answer once I have a rough idea of the results to those previous two questions.

Well.... What I THINK you are saying is, if you cheap out, and replace only the gasket, will the solenoid then fail down the road, and possibly screw your whole trans ??

If this were my own car:
IF the leakage was coming ONLY from the gasket, AND the trans was shifting normally, I would replace only the gasket.

If there is leakage coming from the solenoid itself, then I would replace that, too.
If there is no obvious leakage coming from the solenoid (but only the gasket), and the car was not shifting normally, then I would also replace the solenoid, too.

- Nick

Memitim · Post by **Memitim** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:44 am

Fair enough. It basically sounds like there's not a lot of risk to having a solenoid pack that old being used, so I'll just swap the gasket and see if that doesn't fix the leak. Thanks for the feedback, folks; you guys are awesome.