I am half-way through a Zf 6HP26 transmission service. I replaced the 4 cylindrical valve body seals, the rectangular bridge seal, the solenoids on the valve body, and the connector sleeve.

Now I'm about ready to place the pan and fill the transmission, but first I have to connect the harness to the transmission and I can't seem to find a way to get it to connect. I've tried every orientation. I also attempted to connect the plug to the old sleeve that is not in the transmission and cannot get it to seat into position.

Is there a special german incantation that I am missing?

 

Its a bitch. As I recall I had to remove the trans mount for access to get it aligned.

 

Oh that's very encouraging. I may just have to do that. But then, I will have to bolt the oil pan on to be able to support the weight of the transmission with my jack. I'm going to call it for today. It's getting late. I will try it again tomorrow.

 

I don't remember struggling with that part of the job. Did you manage to lock the sleeve in position with the white trigger at the bottom? That part required some pressure as the documentation I read was very specific that no amount of rotation could be involved. From memory, the connector slides in only one way. I believe the outer ring needs to be pulled back a bit. Once the connector is in position, the outer ring can then be rotated to put everything in its final position. There is a very specific gap that needs to be checked to make sure everything is in the right way. I remember the pdf documents in the FAQ part of the CTSC web site were very instructive.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Yes, I managed to lock the sleeve with the white trigger. I can't seem to find a way to pull back the outer ring on the connector. I know what hap you mean, less than 3 mm.

Here's a video demonstrating my issue. I think the center of the connector (harness side) got rotated in a way where it doesn't align with the sleeve. I can't find a way to realign it.

 

I went with this procedure. Nothing you haven't seen I suppose, but all right there in a couple of pages:

6 speed sleeve replacement pdf

Would a silicone spray free this outer ring back into rotation? From memory, the inner plug part with the pins remains, say, vertical, aligned by that inner fin and cannot rotate. The pins on the outer ring then engage with the outer grooves on the sleeve. Then it is a fraction of a turn to lock in place. Are you saying the pins in the outer ring do not align with the grooves on the sleeve?

 

when I did mine I was very concerned @ breaking the plastic...finally sprayed with silicone, took a deep breath and tried to calmly feel any detent as I pressed and turned the plug a little bit. Once I thought I had it lined up I used a long wide (big) screw driver to actually press it in a bit (levering it) and it did move in with a click, turned the locking mechanism and that was that.
Good luck, patience is your friend.
wj

 

I was able plug it in. The center portion of the harness side does indeed rotate and it seems, when I disconnected the plug, I rotated it too much.

I was able to use the old sleeve to realign the center section of the plug by inserting it backwards and having the find depress the white tab which allowed me to rotate it. Then I used the old sleeve to make sure I had the right orientation. Later I moved on to attempting to connect the harness to the transmission and it went in easily. The gap is about 3 mm.

I already bolted the pan on. Now it's just a matter of filling up the transmission and resetting the adaptations.

 

UPDATE:

I just test drove the XKR after I finished filling it up. I am overjoyed. I had never felt this car shift so well. And I know it will get better.

All of my problems are gone:

• 2-1 bump: gone
• 3-4 slip: gone
• 6-5 slip and groan: gone
• Slow to shift into reverse: gone
• Random transmission failsafe mode: gone
• P0783 gone

I don’t know what of everything I did fixed it, I don’t know if it was the new solenoids, seals, and sleeve, the new Mercon SP (previous mechanic filled it with LiquiMoly TopTec; DO NOT recommend), or that it was probably low on fluid.

My car took all 7 quarts before the ATF stream began at 40°C.

 

Well done. These ZF 6-speeds do indeed love a fresh fill of Mercon SP....

 

i'll explain what is happening.... someone tried pushing on the mechatronix receiver sleeve without pulling the pin (by dropping the pan).... this has caused the TCM plastics to deform ... so now the pressure is getting in between causing transmission fluid to pressurize all of your electric plug pin connectors back.... so now! you have to grab all the wires like someones hair and push them into/onto the TCM reciever pins... your TCM is probably going bad anyways... so try finding a junkyard whos won't mind selling a transmission for cheap

 

I don't think so ..... see post #8.

Richard