nossisnave

An intresting note and a confession of a noob mistake:
We had reinstalled the motor and trans, ALL the wiring is hoocked back up, motor mounts trans mounts etc. make sure to reattach the shift linkage cable before you raise the tranny and bolt it back to the subframe as there is NO room for your hands (this wasn't the noob mistake ) We're working on getting the shift cable in it's final resting place and it moves through each shift position fine but is extremely resistive to being pushed into park, and when it goes in, the dashboard still says R. Hmmmm....

Call ZF and ask about the issue and Joe L asked if we dropped anything down in the trans when it was out and being worked on, "No" how far apart did you take it, "Only removed the A housing" so nothing came apart inside. He suggested removing the tranny pan to check to see if the Multi Function switch has something lodged in it. After doing this:

nossisnave

When we removed the valve body we forgot to realign the actual pin that slides back and forth for each PRNDS position! Doh oh well fortunately it didn't take long to fix this haha

If you're at this point yourself, you don't need to pull the VB off, take all the screws out except the obvious ones on the opposite side of the slider (loosen them a bit) and it will drop enough to remedy the situation.

nossisnave

And I'm happy to report the car drives like new I've already logged close to 100 miles w/ no hint of trouble and really hope that we vanquished the beast! Now to make it faster...

nossisnave

Joe
Hard to say exactly how many hours my dad and I spent for the whole project as it was never in a straight line. I work, or do volunteer work w/ the sign language group in my area or other stuff. It took roughly 8 hours to reinstall the motor and trans, so in a long day you prob could pull them and have the transmission by itself on your bench. This was the first time ever I pulled apart ANY transmission so there was a lot of googling going on and also the first time pulling an engine and trans from a D2 chassy so we went slow so as not to damage any wiring, hoses etc. while learning where everything is; prob would be quicker a second and more so a third time through. Straight time, doing nothing else: I guess I'd say 2 weeks but that would be 8-12 hour days w/ a good deal of searching online and calling ZF. And I would go mad doing it that much so it had to be broken up

JoePGT5S

Congratulations on getting the car running. Good job being able to resolve the small mistakes.

Joe

TerminA8r

Good job!!Thanks for posting all the pics and notes, it will come in handy for sure. I got two D2's that are inching closer and closer to a rebuild. The transmissions work just fine, but I know they will go bust at some point.

nossisnave

Thanks TerminA8r the more we know our cars, the better we can keep them maintained.

scooterfree62

nossisnave,
Thanks for the info. I am having some shifting issues too. I sure that I have the same problem as you had. It looks like fixing the trans is easier than taking the engine & trans out. I wish the trans could be easily removed by it self.

I must say I was thinking of getting rid of the car but I think I will fix the trans and keep it. Thanks

nossisnave

Glad to help scooter, I was inspired the same way myself. Sorry to hear about the trouble, the amount of problems this gearbox gives is ridiculous but the ZF really isn't that mystical and I can say I've now got 2000+ miles on replacing the O-ring and it's shifting great; it's def worth the effort to fix. I think I spent about $360 on new fluid, filter and gasket and the rebuild kit from the CTSC. I'd rather DIY than pay $4-5k

Others have successfully pulled the tranny alone and done repairs, we pulled both simply cuz unfortunately the motor also had troubles: knocking a burning oil.

I hope you keep it and are able to get back on the road!

JoePGT5S

Just had my failed transmission taken apart (240k miles with no service) and it had exactly the same problem. The mechanic did say the thrust bearing fails first and a subsequent shift in the A drum then tears the O ring. Took some photos that look just like yours: