After discussing fill quantities in an earlier thread I put 8 litres of Dexron 3 into my filling bottle and duly transferred about 7.7 litres into the tranny no problem. Today I decided to add the final 300cc prior to starting the motor and whilst the car is still on the jack stands. With this in I pumped up some pressure in the bottle and commenced the transfer. Just as I was about to stop the transfer I suspect the oil level in the filler bottle had dropped such that slightly pressured air then blew through into the tranny but whatever the cause ATF started leaking out of the driver side of the tranny but not sure eactly where it came from. It did not leak much in the big picture of things and landed on the flattened out cardboard box I was using as a crawling mat. a little ATF also came out of the fill connection.

As I understand the tranny has a vent connection on top of the casing and therefore should not be able to pressurise or gt liquid locked. Much appreciate if anyone can advise what has likely happened and whether any damage has likely been caused before I attempt a start tomorrow now that my planned activities are complete. I did have some problem fitting the pan gasket as it seemed to jump out of the groove as I inserted it elsewhere. I think I got it seat correctly but...?

 

Just bumping this thread with an update.

The ATF that leaked seemed to come from around the location where that cable plug is mounted on the driver side of the transmission. nitially it looked as though the leak was from the pan but upon inspection I could not see any signs of anything wrong with the gasket albeit I had some difficulty fitting it evenly as it was distended a bit- still I was very careful and believe I seated it evenly.
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Yesterday I ran the motor up but not after some difficulty which turned out to be cuased by my EZK nunit that appears to have gone south [very rare failure?]. Today before doing anyhing I took a look at the ATF tank and could see a level around the mark for the cold engine- figured that some ATF will have been transferred into th torque converter and stayed there so that would seem normal. I aded about half a litre of ATF and then started the engine after cycling the gear lever through the all the gears. Crawled under the car with the engine running but still to warm up and the level was towards the bottom of the reservoir. Tried to put some ore ATF in but then had a problem with the filler rig.

As things stand I would say I have added just over 8 litres in total and need to bring the level up some to get to the cold engine mark. Does this sound "normal"?

Anyone happen to know how much ATF it will take to get from lower part of tank to the cold fill mark with the engine running?

Further update:

Added some more ATF [about half a litre] cycled the lever, run the motor and cold the tank is now showing full- now too much in the damned thing or so it would seem. This makes no sense to me. I do not like lying under the car on axle stands with the engine running trying to watch the fill. Looks as though i may have to drain some ATF off now- grrrh!

On the positive side no signs of anything leaking at the moment!

 

Make sure the car is near level....not jacked up in rear, only.
Start and run the car. Emergency brake set. Shift through all the gears....multiple times.
Adjust fluid level until reservoir at cold mark or slightly over, depending on how warm the fluid is.

Drive car to get the fluid hot. Car back up in the air. Depending on how how the fluid is, the level should be between minimum and maximum (hot level.)

Adjust level.
Drive and monitor for leaks.
Note that the oil pans for the transmission had the "ears" bent when tightened at the factory, the first time. Getting these pans to seal is very difficult and frequently requires sealant.

 

Greg,

Many thanks for the tips- car is on jack stands and level. I was following WSM procedure but still no idea why it peed some ATF out. After cycling through the gear positions a couple of times I checked the level and it was then at the bottom of the reservoir so put some more fluid in and then it was too much arrrgh! I was ever so careful with the seal as it did not seem to want to sit evenly- even so I checked every inch I could access to ensure it was even and not distorted. Will drain some ATF out this afternoon all being well and assuming I can get the correct level cold I will take it for a spin.

Wonderful to know that they could not build an oil pan that seals properly. Beginning to wish I had just left it alone for another year or two given the previous ATF was as clean as a whistle- guess I should be thankful for small mercies!

 

Fred, separate from the fluid thing - how did you spot that the EZK had an issue?

I had a failure of EZK on S4 last year, John Speake advised me that 'these don't fail' - but when he kindly tested it mine had.
Bought one on line, OK briefly but running erratically now. Is these another fault that damages the EZK ?

Maybe if these starting to fail through age there is a repair option. Peter

 

Peter,

Before I started my current project I had a starting problem that initially I suspected the LH but it was not at fault. When I started working on the LH/EZK harness revamp I found that the CPS male connector fell apart so I kind of figured that might be the problem. When trying to start up a couple of days ago the thing was just not firing or so it seemed. I carried out a few simple analytical tests- first thing I did was check that I had put the HT leads back on in the correct order. Then /i looked at the tachometer to see if it was kicking upon turning the key - that told me the new CPS sensor was working. I also checked that the idle switch contact ws making/breaking. I then got a couple of spark plugs and attached one to a cylinder on each coil bank- cranked the motor and it seemed that both were firing at cranking speed but the spark on one cylinder looked weaker than the other and nether looked as jjuicy as I felt they should so I checked to ensure that all the HT leads were pressed home. I then had a eureka moment when I felt as though I might have left ground point 3 undone but that was not the case. As John advised you, generally speaking EZK units are bullet proof but by now I concluded that maybe a faulty EZK unit was the cuase so I pulled out one of my two spare units- connected it and the thing fired up no problem. With hindsight I am surprised I did not suspect the EZK earlier but given its reliable reputation probably threw me. These things are now 30 plus years old but unfortunately there is not an equivalent of John for the EZK unit but there are specialist repair houses in the UK who understand the ins and outs of such units. I had the combination fuel/ignition unit box fail on my 1996 Daimler Century V12 limo- found a unit on the internet and sent it to England- a week and 250 quid later it was repaired.

Bottom line owners of S4's and GTS's really need to have a spare MAF, LH and EZK unit in their spares box like I do. Maybe someone on the list knows of someone who specialises in EZK box repairs? I suspect the damae will be very simple and there will be one or two suspect weal link components that may be easy to replace. My wife's AEG [red Electrolux washing machine] conked out a few months ago. I figured the problem was likely the control board- did aninternet search, found a couple of website that advised this was likely the problem and itemised three components. Went to an electrical shop that speciaiised in circuit components and for the princely sum of $5 purchased the requisite items- after half an hour with a soldering the thing was working like new. This is doubtless what John used to do with his LH repair

 

Hi Fred

A super guy name of Mike Parris took over John’s business when he took well-deserved retirement. He’s another S4 owner and posts here but I’ve forgotten his username! Begins with P and end with O I think, but that’s not any use!

on LH repair I think it was more complicated in that a hybrid style processor chip would fail. John reverse engineered the code and burnt replacements using less fragile modern chip technology, so may not be as easy as an appliance board repair!

 

Mike can be contacted via the JDS website contact info.

 

Stinking hot and humid today. Drained some ATF from the sump- checked cold level and then needed to reintroduce about half of what I drained. This produced a cold level on the limit level for such so good to go. Given my ambient was about 35C today the hot level will not increase the same as a cold clime measure. No signs of leakage anywhere so will hopefully take a test drive tomorrow after fitting the belly pans and a couple of ad hoc jobs,