how to read tranny UOA for clutch pack wear

[outersquare]

How does one read the analysis to check for clutch pack wear?


I had an analysis as follows;

first set this car / universal average for 15.5K miles

Aluminum - 81 / 23
Chromium - 1 / 1
Iron - 82 / 70
Copper - 8 / 18
Lead - 1 / 4
Tin - 0 / 1
Molybdenum - 1 / 1
Nickel - 0 / 0
Manganese - 1 / 1
Silver - 0 / 0
Titanium - 0 / 0
Potassium - 0 / 1
Boron - 235 / 192
Silicon - 13 / 14
Sodium - 3 / 7
Calcium - 360 / 367
Magnesium - 228 / 147
Phosphorus - 3 / 75
Zinc - 349 / 254
Barium - 4 / 4
SUS viscosity - 43.8 / 43-51
Flashpoint = 335 / >335
Water = 0 /
I think ~30K miles on this fluid, since last drain/fill. Total mileage on vehicle, 70.5K miles.

 

[bruce381]

need to know what the chlutches are made of i would think the iron would be 1 of the metals but they maybe all syn material and not show up on a normal spectro, maybe some knows what they are made of i do not.
bruce

 

[The Critic]

I would assume Iron and/or Insolubles.

Your Iron appears normal, if not excellent for that many miles.

Aluminum, though, is a different story. Perhaps you have issues with your torque converter.

A $20 check to Terry (www.dysonanalysis.com) for a professional consultation would be money well spent here.

 

[outersquare]

i posted this also in the used tranny fluid forum also but this is what the car has been through in this interval;

one time incident where i gassed the car in neutral, thinking it was in drive, then put it in drive without waiting for rpms to fall back to idle. Basically car accidentally neutral dropped at ~2k rpms.

car is occasionally power stalled up to 2k rpms or so.

car has a couple of bolt ons and makes +17 whp/+20 lb-ft at wheels over stock. Nothing incredible, but it is an auto 4 banger.

The car still drives fine, if the torque converter eventually gets messed up, i guess i have an excuse to try a built/higher stall one.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Iron would be from the gears. Componets normaly ***. with steel will be the steels that contact the clutch pack. Clutch pack material will show up as insolubles. Usualy you can look at the pan and tell were the were is comeing from. Clutch pack material is usualy an off white,red or orange color on most OEM transmissions and will fill like powdered sugar or sand. Dark gray metal shaveing are from the gears. Shiny metal particles are usualy from the steels,TC or sprags. Copper and tin are usualy from thrust washers. Cromium and Nickle are usualy from bearings but can also come from the steels that contact the clutch friction material.

This is just a 30 sec. quick post but it should point you in the right direction. Oh I forgott you seldom see lead in modern automatics and aluminum is usualy just from the sloughing from the case.