Most Aston Martin DB9’s, DBS and Rapides between 2004 and 2014 were fitted with an excellent Touchtronics II 6-speed automatic gearbox made for Aston Martin by German company ZF (I’ve written about this elsewhere if you are interested). While Aston Martin claims the transmission is ‘sealed for life’, ZF actually recommends that it be services every 8 years. My 2005 car is now 15 years old and long overdue for this. I set about changing the fluid, filter and seals and have put together a series of articles on the process (which you can find here). During the service I was able to drain 9.5 liters of fluid out. After putting it all back together the last major step is to properly refill the transmission fluid and set the final fluid level. Since Aston never intended to make this serviceable, its trickier than you might think. I this article I will show you how to tackle the next step which is to bulk refill the fluid. Let me share some tips with you. Continue reading “Refilling the Automatic Transmission Fluid in an Aston Martin DB9” →

The Thermostatic Valve is an integral part of the Automatic Transmission Fluid cooling system. It regulates the flow of fluid from the transmission at the rear of the car to the transmission oil cooler at the very front. You may have removed your Thermostatic Valve as part of doing a full transmission service including changing the fluid, filter and seals like I did (read all about that process here). Maybe you’ve had it out because it failed, or was leaking, or you had to change the fluid piping. Whatever the reason, reinstalling it isn’t that hard but there are a few tricks along the way. Let me share the process with you. Continue reading “Installing the Thermostatic Valve in an Aston Martin DB9” →

I had the Transmission Oil Pan/Sump off my 2005 DB9 to change the fluid, filters and seals of the Touchtronic II 6-speed Automatic Transmission.  This is the ZF 6HP26 fitted to most Aston Martin DB9, DBS and Rapide between 2004 and 2014.  I’ve been doing an entire series on these tasks (check it out here) and for me its time to reinstall the Oil Pan.  There are some specific steps to doing this properly, let me show you how. Continue reading “Installing the Automatic Transmission Oil Pan/Sump in an Aston Martin DB9” →

Most Aston Martin DB9s, DBS and Rapides from 2004 to 2014 were fitted with a Shift By Wire magic ZF 6HP26 6-speed Automatic Transmission. I’ve written about this great transmission in detail here. As ‘Shift by Wire’ suggests, there is a substantial number of wires that interconnect with the the Transmissions Mechatronics unit. These need to pass through the transmission housing somehow, and this happens through the ‘Electronics Sleeve’. As I discussed in the article on removing the Electronics Sleeve (read that here) the O-rings that seal it to the housing tend to degrade and begin to weep fluid. I was doing a full fluid, filter and seal service to my transmission and as part of that I’ve elected to replace my Electronics Sleeve. Getting it installed was a bit tricky, let me share those tricks with you here. Continue reading “Installing the Electronics Sleeve in the Automatic Transmission of an Aston Martin DB9” →

The Mechatronic Unit is responsible for the Shift By Wire magic in the ZF 6HP26 6-speed Automatic Transmissions fitted to most Aston Martin DB9s, DBS and Rapides from 2004 to 2014. If you’ve already removed you Mechatronic Unit for some servicing work (I was changing the Mechatronic Valve and Bridge Seals – check out this video), you’ll need to get the unit properly reinstalled afterwards. There are some specific procedures to follow and let me share those with you here. Continue reading “Installing the Mechatronic Unit in the Automatic Transmission of an Aston Martin DB9” →

Most of the Aston Martin DB9’s, DBS and Rapides built between 2004 and 2014 were fitted with a ZF model 6HP26 6-speed automatic transmission.  Within the transmission there is a device called the Mechatronic Unit which is responsible for shifting the transmission through its gears.  The transmission has a pump that creates hydraulic pressure, and the mechatronics unit uses a series of electronic solenoids to control the flow of the fluids to operate the various clutches.   

Like most Hydraulic systems there are seals that keep the high pressure fluids contained.  If these seals begin to leak (from aging or other deterioration), the fluid pressure begins to leak out, the pressures are reduced, and the transmission doesn’t operate as well.  The seals can deteriorate slowly over the years, and you may not notice that your Aston isn’t shifting like it used to since the change is so gradual.  Or a seal can completely fail and bad things can happen.

I’m in the process of doing a complete transmission fluid and filter change (I’ve done a full series of articles and videos on this entire process and you can check out the main article here to learn more)  If you are going to all the trouble for the fluid and filter, it’s just a small amount more work to change the four Mechatronic Valve Seals and the very important Mechatronics Bridge Seal.   

Of all the tasks in that process so far, this is probably the easiest.  Let me show you how. Continue reading “Changing the Mechatronics Valve and Bridge Seals in an Aston Martin DB9” →

Wow, that title sounds cool! Mech-a-tronics unit.  Most of the Aston Martin DB9’s, DBS and Rapides built between 2004 and 2014 were fitted with a Touchtronic II 6-speed automatic transmission. I’ve written elsewhere that this transmission is really a ZF model 6HP26 fitted to many other cars of the era including Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and BMW. It’s a terrific transmission. The transmission features ‘Shift By Wire’, meaning there are no levers or cables doing the shifting.  A computer inside the transmission is controlling a bunch of electronic solenoid valves that control the fluid flows that manage the shifting. A mechanical electronic unit – Mechatronic.

If you are doing a full fluid, filter and seal change to your transmission you’ll end up needing to remove the Mechatronic Unit to drain it and to get to the bits underneath it. I’ve done a full series of articles and videos on this process and you can check out the main article here to learn more.

Let me show you how to properly remove the Mechatronic unit. Continue reading “Removing the Mechatronics Unit from the Automatic Transmission in an Aston Martin DB9” →

Most Aston Martin DB9’s, DBS and Rapides between 2004 and 2014 were fitted with a 6-speed Touchtronic II Automatic Transmission (if you have a manual shift, you are a lucky duck). I’ve already written a few times that this transmission is really a ZF model 6HP26 that was fitted to many other cars of the era including Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and BMW (to name a few). The transmission features Shift By Wire (SBW) meaning that there is no lever or linkage doing the shifting, but rather a set of electronic solenoid valves inside the transmission (the Mechatronics Unit). When you push the shifter buttons on the center console, they are really just sending electronic signals down to the transmission control module (located inside the transmission).

If there are electronic signals, then there must be wiring that plugs into the transmission somehow. This is done with a large multipin electronics connector that twist locks into something called the Electronics Sleeve. The Electronics Sleeve’s job is to create a leak free ‘tunnel’ through the transmission casing allowing the electronics connector to mate up with the mechatronics unit.

The Electronics Sleeve is known to leak. It has two large O-rings that seal it to the transmission casing, and these O-rings start to flatten out over time in all the heat of the transmission (see photo below). My car had this issue and you can see some signs of a ‘weeping’ oil leak that then blows back over the casing and the differential.

Removing (and replacing) the Electronics Sleeve isn’t particularly difficult (or expensive), and I replaced mine as part of doing a full transmission fluid, filter and seals change. I’ve created an extensive series of articles on this process that you can check out here. Let me show you how to remove the Electronics Sleeve. Continue reading “Removing the Electronics Sleeve from the Automatic Transmission in an Aston Martin DB9” →

Removing the Oil Pan/Sump from the Touchtronic II 6-speed Automatic Transmission fitted to most Aston Martin DB9, DBS and Rapide between 2004 and 2014 is necessary for several reasons. You might be wanting to change the automatic transmission fluid & filter, or needing to access the Mechatronics unit inside to change the seals. The fluid filter is integral to the plastic sump body, so if you want to change the filter you are going to need to replace the entire Oil Pan.   I’ve doing an entire series on these tasks (check it out here). Let me show you how. Continue reading “Removing the Automatic Transmission Oil Pan/Sump from an Aston Martin DB9” →