blkZ28spt

A little background:

I have a TCI SSF4000 and Dr Evil's "Maximum Evil" 4L60E with vacuum modulation. The flex plate cracked and was replaced last year. The converter was originally a SSF3500 that I had restalled when the rebuilt tranny went in (thanks to fried clutch packs), and stopped locking up while on the way to get the tranny in. Kevin at TCI said the converter broke while I was on the way there...but I have no idea what it was.

Every once in a while, not very often, the car would do something funny. Either I would be accelerating briskly and notice it would shift up earlier than normal, never exceeding roughly 4k rpm no matter how much gas I gave it, then lock up early. Once locked up it would stay locked and not downshift when I hit the gas, even WOT. Or if this began wihle cruising at speed it would simply not unlock unless I went slow enough that it had to downshift. After a short while, maybe few miles or so but not always exactly the same, it would go back to normal.

Today I gave it 1/2 throttle, maybe a little more, running up to maybe 4,500 in second gear while leaving a stoplight. While in second gear I heard a lovely snapping/whack type of noise that sounded like it more or less came from directly under my right arm. In other words, above the transmission...

Converter no longer locks up.


I already asked Larry at LS1 speed (they did the tranny work, I have done all other work myself) and Louis G. but neither one knows, or at least neither one was sure enough to offer an explanation.


So, WTF broke this time?

blkZ28spt

Update: I made an appointment with Lafayette Transmission at 2:00. Discussed my car, symptoms, all the work was done, etc for a short while then I took him for a short ride so he could witness the non locking converter first hand. Came back, put it on a lift and inspected the underside, I think mostly to see if the source of the noise I heard yesterday could be found. (I somehow forgot to mention the sound till durijng the first drive) Hooked it up to a scanner and there were indeed no codes. Went for a short drive with the scanner hooked up to monitor what it was doing. A couple times it sent the signal to lock but the converter didn't do it, then he had me play with the gas a tiny bit and it did indeed lock and stay locked as it should. Not but a couple hundred yards later it started slipping excessively while accelerating, not but 30 yards later it would not budge. At all. No matter what gear I put it in, it basically spun freely. So there we sat in the left lane on 52. Pushed it to the beginning of a turn lane and waited for a tow back to shop.

Assumption is that the converter just took a ****. It's a TCI that has already been sent back to them once for a problem fix and restall, less than one year ago. Newly rebuilt, supposedly very tough (for a 4L60E) tranny also went in one year ago. I left it inside their shop for the weekend (was going to anyway), they will pull the tranny and take a look at everything Monday


I fully realize the irony behind this happening the day after I said that my car hadn't had a problem that made it undrivable. I am thourghly (sp?) pissed at this. I wonder if it will be the converter, again...........

I wonder if anything in the trans was hurt? Maybe it was the trans? I doubt it though...

Kounsy

if it wouldnt move at all, then it could be a band or the forward clutch pack is gone or the torque went for a ****, does it still have reverse

blkZ28spt

It has nothing. Drive, OD, first, reverse....all may as well be neutral.

01_ram-air

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like the converter might have taken a **** all through your tranny. Gonna have to open her up to find out the real cause though.

blkZ28spt

That's what I figured once it really took a dive. I only hope the converter didn't screw up the transmission. It is coming out and I'll know a lot more on Monday.

Hooper

iTrader: (1)

Your problem sounds like the exact same thing that happened to me last summer. I had a TCI 3500 SSF installed in Spring of last year. It never did lock up properly from the get go. By August my trans started making a funny noise and the next day the car wouldn't move at all. No matter what gear I put it in. Got it towed to my local speed shop and they took it apart. According to them my TC grenaded itself and took out the rest of the tranny. I had it rebuilt and replaced the TCI 3500 with a Vigilante 3200. It locked up like it was supposed to and I've had no trouble ever since.

RamAir02TA77

iTrader: (3)

I had a problem that seems kind of simliar a few months ago with my SSF3500. I had it in for a year so and sometimes it didnt really want to lockup right. And then one night I was driving home and my tranny started slipping out of nowhere and then my car was barely moving I just had enough to get my car to my garage so I could pull the trans out and take it to the trans shop. He said my converter put metal through the tranny and took pretty much of the tranny out. So I needed to get a full rebuild in the end. I also changed the converter to a Yank SS4000. Good luck I hope the problem isnt to serious.

Creed

Any updates on this? Mine recently started slipping to the point where it won't move also, so I'm anxious to hear the result.

blkZ28spt

Took the tranny apart and the converter out. Based on what was found in the transmission they diagnosed it as a converter problem, some clutch went out they think (yeah, I know, real specific there). I have not had the converter taken apart. I am shipping it back to TCI to open up and fix if need be, at cost of shipping only. I havn't shipped it out yet.

Partly due to time constraints, partly due to drivability, and partly due to wanting to change converters I have a Yank SS4000 going in shortly.