Valve Bodies – FAQ
Common Questions for Valve Bodies
What is the difference between a Nomad Valve Body and Extreme Valve Body?
The Nomad and Extreme valve bodies are slightly different. They are both Heavy Duty assemblies, both can handle a substantial power increase and both have far greater towing capabilities. The Nomad is a slightly firmer and instant shift over the factory fitted standard units while the Extreme is simply firmer again. The only difference between the Nomad and Extreme valve bodies is the firmness of the shift. The Nomad is the best On and Off road and well suited to all performance chip / tune and exhaust upgrades while the Extreme is more for the person that wants the firmer shift or has significant power upgrades for example bigger turbos, high flow injectors and superchargers.
What is a Valve Body?
Considered to be the “brain” of the transmission, it is a maze of channels with lots of valves, springs and solenoids. The valves are controlled via hydraulics or via electronics (in late model vehicles). Each of the valves will either prevent oil from flowing, enable it to start flowing or vary the pressure at which it can flow. By re-calibrating the flow of oil using modified valves, separating plates and springs, we can affect how clutches apply, provide better lubrication, increase longevity and even increase flow to the coolers.
Why do I need a Valve Body?
People looking at buying a Nomad Valve Body are regularly wanting the following outcomes:
- A noticeable upgrade in their capability to tow caravans, horse floats and boats.
- Crisper, cleaner shifts.
- All known OEM upgrades after your valve body was originally built are included.
- Recalibrating the Nomad Valve Body allows us to prepare for all engine upgrades, for example, tuning, chips and exhausts etc.
- Greatly reduced wear and tear on clutch packs inside the automatic transmission that lead to excessive repair costs earlier than expected.
- Allow any lock-up kit to work in 1st gear for true 100% engine braking on demand.
- Minimises gear hunting.
- Reduces sluggish, slow gear changes on both up and down shifts including kick down.
- Improves engine responsiveness.
- Upgrades the transmission’s natural ability to provide engine braking by 10-15%.
- Improves fuel economy.
- Decreases transmission temperature.
What happens when the valve body goes bad?
Driving with a faulty transmission valve body is something that impacts on driving ability and can create problems when changing gears. Some symptoms of a bad transmission valve body include:
- Hearing banging or knocking noises when pressure is applied to the brakes
- The car slows down when the car is put in reverse mode or driving backwards
- The transmission has problems when downshifting
- Problems when changing gears to reverse or drive
- The car’s transmission may get stuck in neutral
How much does a valve body cost?
A quality value body from Wholesale Automatics will cost between $1,295 and $1,595 depending on the make of vehicle. This is a premium valve body with many advantages as listed under “Why do I need a valve body?”
Can a bad valve body be repaired?
Depending on the nature of the damage to the valve body it may be possible to rebuild and repair the valve body instead of replacing it entirely. This may be a cheaper option.