UUUUUGH!!! I'm REALLY REALL SORRY guys!!! I got down to the garage and got the car up on jackstands, got the pan off and thought.. perfect picture opprotunity. Got out the camera only to find the memory card was still HOME!!!
Anyways... here's the deal.. Lots of interesting information to pass along.. I REALLY wish I could have gotten pics for everyone cause they SURE as hell would have helped me.. I don't know about your trannies, but this one had 4 check balls under the valve plate and another 4 under the servo plate. LUCKILY, since mine all fell out no matter what I did, the spots for them were painfully obvious. they are tear dropped shaped spaces with a small hole at the small end and the big hole at the big end.. the check ball goes in the big hole. once I saw this, I just put them all in a pile till I was ready to put them back together..
Ok.. sorry.t hat should ahve come next.. but here's a few other things.. when removing the valve body, remove the DARK colored piece FIRST. BTW.. keep ALOT of shop towels on hand and a LARGE catch pan for the fluid. Once you remove that piece, you can pop off the solenoid wires.. either way, those will come off without any trouble no matter what you do first. OK.. now.. there's a small rod connecting to the shifter held in place by a metal clip.. I STRONGLY suggest pulling that rod off first. It's attached to a looong valve that goes all the way thru the valve body. depending on how you tilt the valve body when you remove it, this might just fall right out.. that's ok cause it will slip right back in.. it's held in by nothing more than the rod connecting it to the shifter. There is also a THIRD connector you need to be VERY careful of. It's a 5 pin connector with only 3 wires in it. you pretty much need ot have the valve body off to get to the clip holding it to it's connection.
What else can I think of... oh.. HOLD the solenoids in place as you remove the retaining clip.. and DEFINITLY don't have it pointed at your nose..... there's a bit of spring pressure behind them. Also, do not forget to remove the tiny sheck ball from the pan if it has not already made it's way to the pan magnet. this is from the inside of the broken solenoid. fortunately, I only had ONE broken solenoid but I replaced them both anyways... amazing how a small L shaped piece of metal can make a HUUUGE difference.
All and all, it was kind of a fun job. definitly a learning experience.. never touched a FWD tranny before. and guys.. I'm NOT bragging here I promise you, but using just hand tools, I went from putting the jack under the car to washing my hands and putting my tools away in just over 2 hours. spent the third hour cruising the interstate at 80 for the first time in my new cadillac.
Again, I am SOOOOOOOOOO sorry about not being able to get pictures.. I had nice plans for some very good pics with captions, markings n such.
PS.. make sure you let the car cool off for a LONG time or bring friggin pot holders.. internal parts remain HOT for a LOOONG damn time.. I unfortunately, was very pressed for time ahd had a VERY hot trans to work on... was glad I brought my gloves..
Thank you guys for helping me thru this experience..
Jamie Swimm
Re: Shift Solenoid "A" and "B" question 
