Started by rebuilding the valve body to standard spec. First job was to drop off the valve body from the AT. Here it is on my bench:
Was full of horrible black gunge which I presume is clutch or band material. Gaskets are very fragile as well. Cracking the valve body open is piece of cake:
The only things to be careful of are the orifice check valve, a little filter that nestles between one side of the valve body and the separator plate and a number of ball bearings (9?) that sit within the valve body assembly. The oil galleries within the valve body were in some places very gunged up so I set to work with degreaser and a toothbrush:
All the valves themselves were removed and packaged up in bags and envelopes so they didn't get lost. Getting the valves out and back in again is a fiddly process that needs some patience. I wouldn't say it was difficult though.
Re-assembly was the reverse of disassembly. Valves went back in one by one before I put new gaskets on between the upper and lower valve bodies and the separator plate. All the valves were liberally lubed with new ATF on reassembly.
The solenoids then got a full work out (clean down, resistance check with multimeter etc.) before being bolted back on the valve body along with the cable supports and hydraulic pipe protectors. Again plenty of ATF was put around the solenoids and seals to ensure all sealed well.
Given that I don't plan to put this back in until the rest of the rebuild is done, that pretty much signals the end of the valve body part of the job. All that is left is to put on the oil filter unit and bolt up the valve body and oil pan to the (yet to be rebuilt) box.
The rebuild of the valve body was pretty easy. I am reasonably confident it will work. I reckon if you have AT troubles and are lucky enough for it to be a valve body related problem then most could tackle this. It probably took me about 4-6 hours all up over two evenings.
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