[V8] V8 stalling problem FINALLY solved...(longish)

[Shawn Head]

Hi all.
 
Well after about 9 months of searching, fixing, and poking around, dad
and I finally solved the stalling problem I have been having on my car.
Symptoms included high idle, rough stumble after shifting car into
reverse, and stumble/stall when sitting at a light and when starting
from a stop.  
 
Turns out that the #1 solenoid was bad somehow, and was causing the
torque converter to lock while in 1st  gear.  I have been complaining
lately about how much my car feels like it has been towing an elephant,
and that seems to be why.  The engine was having to push against the
massive load of the torque converter and sometimes just couldn't take
it.  Which caused the stalling problems.
 
First off, January 1st/2nd we switched out the valve body from my car
with the spare Valve body from the tranny that dad had rebuilt by Ralph
the ghost.  BTW make sure you only remove the bolts that need to be
removed.  If you are going to do any tranny work by yourself, be sure to
get the ZF transmission booklet first or get someone to make a copy of
key pages including the proper bolts to remove the Valve Body hint hint.
 
Anyhoo..before we could actually get dad's VB in my car, we had to let
it sit overnight with the Tranny pan off.  We lost a good bit of fluid
which looked like about 1 qt or so.  16 hours worth of work later, when
we got everything all bolted up and ready to go we filled her up with
about 5 qt's.   Started her up and Damnit!!! LIMP MODE!!!!
 
Cleared the codes, drove it around and still in limp mode.  I didn't
have time to fuss with it for a few weeks, so dad took my VB over to
Ralph's shop in Melborne for Ralph to take a look at.  Turned out that
the #1 solenoid was bad.  Replaced the solenoid, tightened everything
up, replaced a couple of O-rings and Vualah!  Rebuilt VB.
 
So this weeked I found some time and put mine back in.  It is amazing
how much easier things are the second time around.  This time I took
about 3 hours a day over 3 days taking my time and getting everything
prepped and taken care of.  First off If you decide to work on the
Tranny/VB take the extra 20 min and remove the entire section of exhaust
from the Down Pipes to the Compression Clamp after the Cats.  It frees
up so much room it is unbelievable.  
 
Second thing I did different this time around is I bought 2 gallons of
Tranny fluid.  After the replacement of dad's VB with my rebuilt VB I
filled the tranny with 1 gallon (4 qts) of fluid, ran it for a while (in
limp mode still)  shut it down, pulled the tranny Fuse to clear any
codes, started It up again still in Limp mode.  
 
To be sure that I had a full 10 qts in the tranny I used this first
gallon to refill any missing fluid that leaked out of the torque
converter and to refill the VB.  When I drained my fresh Tranny fluid it
was almost cotton candy pink due to the amound of air bubbles inside the
fluid.  Hmm seems like there is a little air in the system..Replaced the
drain plug, filled it up with another 4 qts, started her up, and still
in limp mode..
 
I let the car idle for about 10 min while I cleaned up my tools, got in
the car and low and behold NO LIMP MODE!!!!  At this point I am
seriously jumping for joy.  I let the car idle for another 10 min or so
while I get all of my tools together, take it off the jackstand, and
pour the used tranny fluid into the empty 1 gallon containers.  This is
where it gets interesting.. 
 
There should be 2 gallons worth of fluid that came out of the
transmission right?? WRONG  there as only 6 Qts worth of fluid that came
out, which means that the transmission was about 2 qts low, which
probably caused the limp mode the whole time.  We apparently lost about
3 qts of fluid while it sat overnight.  
 
But the car runs like a champ.  We cleared the codes with the VAG-COM,
and everything is awesome.  Zero Studder/stalling.  The plus side to
this #1 solenoid being bad is that you don't have to remove the VB to
replace the solenoid.  The #1 solenoid is right on the bottom of the VB
and only requires that you remove the Tranny pan to access it.  Not sure
how much the solenoid costs, but if you are having the same symptoms,
replace it.  Might be a relatively quick fix.
 
Shawn Head
'91 pearl/Nautica V8q