Hi all,

Think I might finally get my trans filter and fluid change completed this week after hours of fighting with rounded bolts.

The done thing is to have the adaptations reset but some say if the car has been disconnected from the battery for a long time the TCM will reset any way. Does anyone know if this is a fact or just hear say?

My battery has been out of the car for around 2 weeks so there definitely isn't any residual current hanging about.

Cheers,

Owen

 

My understanding is that the adaptations need to be set again (re-set), not reset (to zero?). This is an active procedure where the TCM learns/tunes the PWM signal to the various solenoids to smooth out shifting, based on the particulars of your transmission, including condition of the fluid and clutches. This goes on for 100 miles. To my knowledge, this procedure might introduce some additional unwanted wear on your clutches, so this is not something to do all too often. You might want to wait until after you do an additional drain/refill to get the max amount of new fluid in there so this adaptation is done when it counts. If in doubt, ZF/Ericson Industries tech support is reputedly very helpful and will give you pro input on this question.

 

You need the dealer software to clear the adaptations and trigger the procedure. Disconnecting the battery will not reset the TCM or clear the old adaptations.

 

+1

With the current software the car is driven and a second person watches the IDS/SDD screen as the clutches adapt (learn).

I believe there is then no need to drive in any particular way, though it makes sense to do whatever you ordinarily would.

 

This is what I thought but the internet is full of 'smart' ideas like driving it up through the gears and then back down again 5 times in a row.

the car needs an MOT anyway so might as well get it done at the same time. When I refill the transmission I was planning on doing a double cycle of fluid anyway as I have bought plenty and it's done 126k miles without a change

 

In the early days there was no such IDS software and so driving gently etc was needed. No doubt the net is still full of instructions about that.