Small Problems Tend To Lead To Bigger Problems If Left Unattended

Well I finally got a DCT 450 valve body to give some love to and in all truth I don't know how I should be feeling about this, should I be happy to experience something new and different or should I be terrified or just plain not in the mood for this. 😂

Okay I know not in the mood sounds awfully terrible but taking a quick look at this thing it is going to be more than a mission to get it open and properly cleaned.

The grime is sticking to this thing like nothing I have ever dealt with... It took me a colossal two hours to tear this thing down and another hour just to get the two plates clean and that means I've not even started with all those pistons and not to mention the damn solenoids will need a proper cleaning to and they LOVE holding that grime inside.

See the thing is that the oil in these transmission have additives in them that prevent the grime and dirtyness from sticking to the casings and such and even then it stuck like mad.

So you can only imagine how dirty it really is.

At this point I already tore down the whole valve body and have already washed the casing plates. All that is left is the pistons and solenoids and then I have to assemble and see if any pistons might be sticky.

Hot Dayum!

Are you seeing what I am seeing? Are you sure? Look closer!

So removing the computer board on this valve body I already don't have good news for the client, and the client being someone that works at Ford and since this is something fitted into a Ford.

Yeah bad news.

The client only wants the clutch done in the transmission but taking a look at the condition of the oil it is beyond clear that this thing needs a vast amount of love and love can only take you so fat until you need to start throwing the dollars out.

And these would be a few dollars my friend!

Ah maybe it's not that bad, after all it does have two seals preventing the grime from entering that small pinhole, although it does seem like grime did get past at some point.

Lets put the computer to the side for now and focus on the mechanical side of things!

I have little to no hope for this valve body, but with that said these things have surprised me more than once in my life and they are known to be quite sticky, sticky in a good way.

What I don't like about this one is that it has about twenty little T15 torque bits holding in those solenoids and they are pesky as pesky can be. You have to remove them in a certain order otherwise you can not get any tool in to remove the bolts.

Not too bad atleast.

Removing the solenoids was a irritating task. 😂 Or perhaps not, the irritating part was that I had to wipe my hands constantly because of the insane amount of oil. It's kind of ironic I hate the feeling of oil on my hands and here I am doing a job that has an excessive amount of oil in everyday.

The thing is valve bodies can make a person go crazy. 😅 It really is a constant dripping of oil and working on them beneath the cars... well say hello to oil in the hair... face... eyes... and sometimes the mouth.

I tend to keep the solenoids in the same order as how they came out of the valve body, sometimes they are different but more than often they have the same basic function. However I am not in the mood for a future removal after I fitted it.

I am glad I convinced bossman to let me give this thing a thorough cleaning, at the end of the day it will all come down to us anyways so might aswell eliminate a few problems ey.

Just look at the grimeyness inside and believe you me, you never get all the grime and dirty out without tearing it apart. That oil clings to the inside of those tubes.

I already found one small problem, that little bolt is suppose to be tightened. Now it wont affect the sealing part at all since the two casings get bolted to each other and that would seal it up nicely.

BUT

That might cause a major flow restriction of oil in the valve body, I mean that thing blocks a whole channel. Might very well be why the client eventually got a clutch failure.

Lack of oil flow in these can cause tremendous amounts of damage as everything this transmission does is dependent on oil pressure.

I am surprised that this complex little valve body has so little small parts on the inside of it when you split the casings. Don't get me wrong it has many more but those are all secured withing the piston chambers. These can fall out when splitting the casings so keeping an eye on where they fall out is important!

See those black marks, I want to make sure that all of that is gone from the casings. Now the first was on the splitting plate proved to be very easy since it is a flat surface but once you get to all the crooks and crannys things change up dramatically. Its one the casings that I spent more than an hour trying to wash them, where it should have taken me no more than five minutes.

Laughs everyone is probably thinking "Yeah and this guy said there isn't that many parts on the inside" well I was wrong I suppose. But these are the parts inside the piston chambers. These are what makes the vehicle shift from one gear too the next in a smooth continuous action.

Above everything those are not to be messed up at all. losing track of which piston came in which cylinder with what spring in what order is probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember of all. Glad I got photos ey because I left those pistons just like that on the table at work and if a mouse should run over it I might be righteously screwed. Well if I was dumber I suppose.

It would take a very stupid person to get the wrong pistons into the wrong cylinders but it would take a slight mistake to swap the springs. Even the springs have a certain tension on them to be able to push back against the oil pressure so yeah its all more complicated than meets the eye.

Well hopefully upon arriving at work tomorrow I can find everything as I left it. I doubt I will make a post about the assembling of this valve body but who knows perhaps.

Fingers crossed everything is as I left it!

Dated 14/03/2023

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Take note this is not a how to guide, merely myself talking about the work I do and my thoughts around certain things.

To everyone who made it this far into my post Thank you for the read and the support.

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Most of all please leave a input in the comments below, whether is good or bad critic I would like to know, whether its your opinion or your way of doing things in a different manner I would like.

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