AT woes

[Daniel Jones <ma.ultranet.com@ma.ultranet.com>]

First of all the 087 trans is not the type of tranny that an aspiring
mechanic should try to repair.  Before I went back to the dealer I used to
rebuild a ton of these things.  I always found that if the trans had been
rebuilt using aftermarket seals they would either fail very quickly or act
very similar to what you describe.  All of the aftermarket seals I have
found are dimensionally inaccurate.  The most common are the 2 seals on the
2nd gear brake piston.  If the seals are not a good tight fit going in then
pressure will bleed by at low speeds,  then as line pressure increases with
rpm the seals will finally allow the piston to move and engage the next
gear.  So if the seals were not purchased from either the dealer of a ZF
parts dealer then this very well could be your problem.  Also you mention
that when changing the ATF dirt was found.  When rebuilding any automatic
trans cleanliness is paramount!  All parts must be spotlessly clean and no
matter what,  the valve boby should be carefully cleaned.  This process
alone should take several hours.  If there is sediment in the fluid this
can allow the valves in the valve body to hang up wich results in a erratic
shift.  My recomendation is to remove the trans and start from square one.
Make sure you have a copy of the Bently manuel on hand and treat it as the
bible and adhere to everything it says.

HTH,  Good luck.

Daniel Jones 2x84 4ksq one street,  one aspiring to be a rally car.