1997-850- Trans Valve Body Cover Seal?

[Swedebrickinneed]

Hi all, first post here. Yesterday I did a trans #2 shift solenoid swap on my n/a 850's aw50-42 after dealing with it throwing code AT-222 for the last year and a half. While I think everything went well for the most part, It was a 8hr project going slow n steady just to clear things out of the way, open the cover, install new solenoid while checking others and the wire harness that connects them, and re-installing the cover. I ended up finishing installing the valve body cover in the dark on the street, I left the rest of the reassembly for today but wanted to get the cover on before I called it for the day to avoid any moisture in the morning, which I now am starting to think I should've just covered it with a bag overnight. It went... okay? Maybe? I ordered both the liquid Aisin Transmission sealant as well as a Gasket from Oregon Performance Transmission, cleaned the trans side of old sealant as best I could, and completely cleaned the valve cover and made sure to get it spotless inside of old sealant bits. I applied sealant to the valve body cover and spread it evenly as best I could, and set the gasket on top, I then applied sealant to the gasket side that would mate with the valve body(which was way easier and in the future I'll try to only apply it to the gasket before setting it on the cover, instead of applying directly to cover). Here's where I'm really starting to doubt my work, I ended up dropping the front of the subframe while holding the engine n trans up with jacks/stands, and gently prying between bottom of trans and subframe with a crowbar through the driver wheel well. This allowed me to move the subframe down just enough to remove the cover, but made re-install a huge operation by myself. I had to have my right foot on the side of the car, slightly pushing the bar down while I slid the cover into place from the top, trying not to touch anything. I aborted and pulled the cover back up twice, worried I'd smeared sealant on the body, but I was fine both times, the third time I went for it, and got it all seated, I then tightened everything with admittedly "German Torque Specs"(by feel). Not only did this operation definitely take longer than the 10 minutes the sealant advises between application and mating, I'm worried about not being able to know if I accidently smeared any sealant inside the body. So, after writing this novel to you all, my question boils down to this, how bad would it be if any sealant got smeared inside the body, say on the outside of a solenoid? I haven't refilled anything yet or re-assembled the rest of the car, so I still have the option to redo things, but I'd obviously rather not. At this point it's had the 16hrs it takes to cure the sealant, if I just "hope n' pray" I got it right and refill, leak possibilities aside, and there is a small amount of sealant on the bottom of the valve body, what do you think the odds are the sealant gets loosened and goes somewhere it shouldn't in the trans, causing clogs or worse.

[scot850]

You were the only one there so it would be hard for us to know the answer. I personally have not done this job, but perhaps someone who has will chime in.

My suggestion is this clearly bothers you, so if it is going to worry you if you are going to damage the car, then remove and re-do. You may need a new gasket unfortunately, and anerobic sealer if you don't still have sufficient for a 2nd round.

Neil.

[Sveedy]

I would be a little worried about any sealant getting into the valve body passages, so I hate to say it, but I'd go ahead and remove the cover and do it ONE more time. Except this time, I'd figure out some way to raise the trans a little, so that you can have the necessary clearance to reinstall the cover cleanly. Might have to loosen the engine mounts.

[Swedebrickinneed]

Thank you both for the replies, I had mostly resigned to redoing it and already have ordered another gasket, was just hoping by some miracle to be told otherwise. I’ve done quite a bit to this car over time but don’t have much experience with setting gaskets, could anyone confirm if my method of sealant-gasket-sealant was indeed correct? If I can get away with just the gasket, that’d sure make things a lot easier, but I wasn’t quite confident it would be enough dry on its own to get a good seal.

[scot850]

Some only use the sealant to hold the gasket in place. The covers are also a little flimsy, so can warp if you over tighten. So some may use sealant as well to cover themselves.

Neil.

[jmartin919]

I did this job recently and used sealant on both sides of the gasket (Duraprene) but don't know if that was really necessary. I also replaced the torx bolts with hex head. I torqued to about 10-15 ft-lbs and later realized that wasn't enough and had to retorque due to leaking at the bottom edge. I think the gasket compresses soon after install. If I had to do it again I might go to 20 ft-lbs. My rear motor mount was broken so that helped.

[Swedebrickinneed]

I did this job recently and used sealant on both sides of the gasket (Duraprene) but don't know if that was really necessary. I also replaced the torx bolts with hex head. I torqued to about 10-15 ft-lbs and later realized that wasn't enough and had to retorque due to leaking at the bottom edge. I think the gasket compresses soon after install. If I had to do it again I might go to 20 ft-lbs. My rear motor mount was broken so that helped.

Thanks for heads up about having to possibly re-torque after gasket compression, I'm waiting on a new gasket now which should be here Thursday. Will report back when everything is back together (and hopefully working again), for anyone looking around in the future with this issue. While this isn't the hardest project to do or that I have done on these cars, it's been the most nerve-racking having the transmission open, since in my mind transmissions are still in the land of mystery and semi-magic with my level of experience working on them internally (basically zero). I got to peak and get a preview inside my old parts car's(1996 850 sedan) valve body when I salvaged the solenoids from it before sending it off to the scrap yard (unfortunately was moving or I would have kept it), but it was a lot less scary when I didn't need it to drive again once I put it back together. Also a note to anyone looking to get new solenoids in the future, I ordered a non Aisin green connector shift solenoid off Ebay as insurance to the ones I pulled from the parts car, and ended up still using the salvaged Aisin one. With a recommended resistance range of 10-15 ohms, my brand new Ebay Solenoid was 15.6 ohms, my salvaged parts car solenoid was 14.7 ohms, and my faulty solenoid I replaced was 46 ohms.

[aeg]

The factory recommended torque was a mere 8.9 ft-lbs (increased from 7.4 ft-lbs), but that was with sealant and no gasket.

I found one technique recommended online, although for a different transmission:

The trick though is to go to [half torque] on each bolt, SLOWLY. Once you have confirmed [half torque], then SLOWLY go to [final torque]. Leave it sit for a half hour. Then come back and torque all to [final torque] again. You will find they have all changed, even with rubber gaskets.

I get the impression that if you remove the transmission mount and also remove the bolt from the engine mount near the passenger wheel well, it might be possible to jack up the transmission enough for the cover to clear without dropping the subframe.

[Swedebrickinneed]

I'll try around 18ft lbs with new gasket as a middle of the road going off Jmartin's experience and see how it feels, I'd assume adding the gasket would require added torque unless someone can correct me on that. I removed the Trans torque mount bolts and front engine mount top nut, but didn't remove passenger side engine mount bolts, I'll give it a try next go around and see if it gives me just the little bit of extra clearance I need. Although I'll likely still drop the front subframe bolts 75% of the way just for the sake of as much clearance as possible, since they're already broken loose. Trying to avoid popping axles out, although that would give me plenty of room.

[aeg]

Did you get everything back together? There is a solenoid replacement in my future also, so I'm interested to see how this pans out (no pun intended).