JPH11325235A - Oil level detection and display method for automatic transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily fill a proper amount of oil, when filled, in an automobile mounted with an automatic transmission. SOLUTION: In an automobile including an automatic transmission(AT) controller 3 mounted with a failure diagnosis system having diagnosis function, display output that the detection of an oil level is possible is generated in the AT controller 3 in combination of at least an engine 1 running at an idling rotation speed, the vehicle being on parking and a speed change selection lever 25 being in a N-range or a P-range. If such display is output, the temperature of an oil is only managed to fill a proper amount of oil.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for detecting and displaying an oil level of an automatic transmission, which is applied to an automobile having an automatic transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many automobiles, particularly passenger cars, use an automatic transmission (AT) as a transmission. The automatic transmission uses a torque converter and a transmission, and the torque converter and the transmission are filled with oil.
If the amount of the oil is smaller than the prescribed amount, the oil pump cannot suck the oil at the time of low temperature, cornering or climbing a slope, so that air is sucked and the driving force is cut.

On the other hand, if the oil level is too high, the oil is agitated by a rotating member such as the clutch drum of the AT when the oil level rises due to expansion, such as at a high oil temperature, which increases the mechanical loss and further raises the oil temperature. This will reduce the durability of the transmission and also lead to oil blowing from the breather. Therefore, it is necessary to always maintain an appropriate amount of oil.

[0004] As a prior art, a technique for measuring and adjusting the oil level of a torque converter is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-2.
There is an invention described in Japanese Patent No. 47824, and a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-33853 is related to a technique for automatically adjusting and controlling the level of lubricating oil in an oil pan. In the former invention, the oil is sucked upward by a vacuum generator and the suction is detected by a photoelectric sensor. In the latter invention, the oil is taken in and out of the reservoir in relation to the temperature of the oil.

[0005] Since the inventions described in these publications automatically detect or control the amount of oil, the operation of detecting the oil level is performed artificially and the appropriate timing is known. The intention does not coincide with the present invention.

Since the viscosity of oil changes depending on its temperature and the oil level expands as shown in FIG. 3, it is necessary to adjust the oil amount to an appropriate amount while fixing the oil temperature condition. Is good. Usually, in many cases, the vehicle is managed at a level corresponding to a temperature range of about 70 to 80 ° C., which is a temperature range in which the vehicle can be easily reached by general traveling of the vehicle and the oil circulation is easily stabilized. In an automobile manufacturing plant, it is difficult to raise the oil temperature to the above-mentioned temperature due to man-hours. Therefore, a check level corresponding to the oil temperature obtained by measurement after the inspection process is separately set and managed.

[0007] As described above, although man-hours are required in a manufacturing plant, it is possible to thoroughly control the oil level. However, since the oil deteriorates over time, when a car is used for a long period of time, it is necessary to use a dealer or the like. In this case, the oil must be changed. In this case, since there is no means for accurately grasping the oil temperature, the vehicle is actually driven, and the oil level is managed by monitoring the rise in the internal temperature of the transmission.

An actual method for this purpose is to check the oil amount after running the vehicle under predetermined conditions, for example, at a speed of 60 km / h for 30 minutes. If the vehicle is driven under these conditions, the internal temperature of the transmission is stabilized at about 70 to 80 ° C., so that the oil can be injected according to the conditions when actually used.

[0009]

However, it is time-consuming and complicated to carry out the oil injection after actually driving the vehicle as described above. There is a problem that it is impossible because it does not have a The present invention has been made in view of this point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for detecting and displaying an oil level of an automatic transmission, which does not require the vehicle to actually run.

[0010]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the invention described in claim 1 is a vehicle in which a failure diagnosis system is mounted on an AT controller. An oil level detection and display method for an automatic transmission characterized by generating a display output indicating that the oil level detection conditions for an automatic transmission are met.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method according to the first aspect, the oil level detection condition of the automatic transmission is that at least the engine is running at an idling speed, Is an oil level detection and display method for an automatic transmission, characterized in that the vehicle is stopped and that the position of the shift select lever is in the N range or the P range.

According to the present invention having such a configuration, A
When the diagnosis terminal of the T controller is short-circuited,
Different indications are made depending on whether the oil level of the automatic transmission can be detected or not. In this case, if the engine is rotating at the idling speed, and the vehicle is stopped, the oil has spread to the required places and is stable.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. An AT transmission (automatic transmission) 2 is coupled to the engine 1 and is controlled by an AT controller 3 described below. The AT controller 3 is provided with eleven terminals 4 to 14, and the terminals 4 to 13 include a battery 16 via an ignition switch 15, a fuel injection controller 17, an ignition coil 19 via a noise filter 18, a vehicle speed sensor. 20, a turbine shaft speed sensor 21 of a torque converter, a shift control mechanism 22, an oil temperature sensor 23, a shift position sensor 24, an overdrive switch 26 of a shift lever 25, and a diagnostic monitor coupler 27 are connected. A special measuring device (diag master) 28 is connected.

The overdrive switch 26 of the shift lever 25 is connected to the lamp 30 of the meter panel 29. The overdrive switch 26 is turned off when the overdrive switch 26 is turned on, and turned on when the overdrive switch 26 is turned off. It has become. A shift switch of the shift select lever 25 can be locked by a brake switch 32 provided on the brake pedal 31.

The AT controller 3 reads the running condition of the vehicle, the rotational condition of the engine, and the driver's intention based on each input information, and appropriately switches the shift position of the automatic transmission. As input information, the turbine shaft speed of the torque converter, which understands the process during shifting, and oil temperature information for improving the shift feeling by correcting the hydraulic characteristics due to changes in the physical properties of oil (mainly viscosity) according to the temperature difference are also taken into account. Therefore, more precise shift control is performed. When the terminal of the diagnostic monitor coupler 27 connected to the terminal 13 is short-circuited, the meter panel 29 connected to the terminal 12 is connected.
The lamp 30 is blinked to notify the state.

The blinking of the lamp 30 is performed according to a preset code signal. This code signal is generated, for example, by performing lighting for 0.3 seconds several times at intervals of 0.3 seconds (two times in the example of FIG. 4), waiting for 1 second until the next lighting, and thereafter, at intervals of 0.3 seconds. The number of times the lamp is turned on (once in the example of FIG. 4) is determined in several types, and when one of the signals is emitted (when the lamp 30 blinks), the oil level is measured. "OK" and "NG" for other lighting. Note that the next signal separated for 3 seconds in FIG. 4 is the next signal.

The condition that the measurement of the oil level is "OK" is that the engine 1 is rotating at the idling speed, the vehicle is stopped, and the position of the shift select lever 25 is in the N range or the P range. This is the case when things are complete. If any one of these conditions cannot be satisfied, "NG" is displayed instead of "OK". These code signals are transmitted to the AT controller 3
Previously written in the memory.

At the time of injecting the oil, the temperature of the oil was raised to the value obtained in the graph of FIG. The oil may be used at normal temperature, but after the oil at normal temperature is injected, the vehicle may be run appropriately to increase the temperature, and the temperature may be adjusted to an appropriate temperature according to the graph of FIG. The measurement (detection) of the oil level is performed by inserting an oil level gauge into the hole as in the related art.

The procedure leading to the conditions for measuring the oil level will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When started in step S1, it is determined in step S2 whether there is a failure in the system path. If it is determined that there is no failure, in the next step S3, it is determined whether the shift range is in the N range or the P range. You. When it is determined in step S2 that there is a failure, in step S4, the signal "N
G "is output. This is specifically the meter panel 2
Nine lamps 30 blink in correspondence with "NG" determined in advance.

If it is determined in step S3 that the shift range is in the N range or P range, the next step S
At S5, it is determined whether the vehicle speed V is zero, that is, the vehicle is stopped, and if it is confirmed that the vehicle is stopped, the rotation speed Ne of the engine 1 is between a and b (a is As an example, 600 rpm, b is 1100 rpm,
Is determined depending on the vehicle type). If the result of the determination is within the range, the following step S7
Then, it is determined whether or not the oil temperature A ° C. is between c and d (c is 70 ° C. as an example, d is 80 ° C., which differs somewhat depending on the vehicle type). If this is also within the range, it is determined that the oil level can be checked, and an "OK" signal is output in step S8.

If it is determined in steps S3, S5, S6 and S7 that all of them are not, a "NG" signal is output in step S9. After the output signal is generated in steps S4, S8, and S9,
Returning to step 2, the decision is made again. Step S
If the determination of the oil temperature performed in step 7 is performed in several stages, it is possible to output in several oil temperature ranges, and if the relationship between the oil temperature and the oil level is known, the oil temperature adjustment Can be reduced.

[0022]

The present invention relates to a method for detecting and displaying an oil level of an automatic transmission constructed as described above.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, if an AT controller that is conventionally provided in a vehicle and has an oil temperature sensor is used, the oil level detection conditions can be adjusted using the oil temperature sensor. Can be displayed. Therefore, it is very easy to determine whether or not the oil level detection work can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the engine is rotating at the idling speed, the vehicle is stopped, and the position of the shift select lever is in the N range or the P range. When the oil level is detected, the oil level can be detected.Therefore, it is only necessary to satisfy the oil temperature conditions. In addition, the oil level can be detected. Therefore, even when the AT oil is changed at a dealer or the like who does not have a course for actually traveling, an appropriate amount of oil can be injected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram for implementing the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of an embodiment of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a relationship between an oil temperature and an oil level.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of a code signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 engine 2 AT transmission 3 AT controller 19 ignition coil 20 vehicle speed sensor 22 shift control mechanism 23 oil temperature sensor 25 shift select lever 27 diagnostic monitor coupler 28 special measuring instrument (diag master) 30 lamp

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic transmission in which a failure diagnosis system is mounted on an AT controller, wherein the AT controller generates an output indicating that the oil level detection conditions of the automatic transmission are met. Oil level detection display method. 2. The oil level detection condition of the automatic transmission is that at least the engine is rotating at an idling speed, the vehicle is stopped, and the position of the shift select lever is in the N range or the P range. 2. The method for detecting and displaying an oil level of an automatic transmission according to claim 1, wherein the steps are the same.