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Torque Converter locks up HARD at light throttle cruise
CircleD triple disc on 4L80.
Is it "safe" to lower the minimum pulse width on the bottom two-thirds of the PWM vs LINE pressure table?
How low can I go ?
I have the left 4 columns at 29 (%) now. Can I reduce these values ?
How about the hgh temperature row: Should I leave that alone ?
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MAX is all 100% ( stock was 99% ) is there any practical difference between 99 and 100 ?
Torque Converter locks up HARD at light throttle cruise
CircleD triple disc on 4L80.
Is it "safe" to lower the minimum pulse width on the bottom two-thirds of the PWM vs LINE pressure table?
How low can I go ?
I have the left 4 columns at 29 (%) now. Can I reduce these values ?
How about the hgh temperature row: Should I leave that alone ?
.
.
MAX is all 100% ( stock was 99% ) is there any practical difference between 99 and 100 ?
I've got my sons (circle d triple disc) set at a minimum of 90%. It helped a **** ton. Try going down a little at a time, the lowest I'd go is 90 though. 99 or 100, same thing.... that never made a difference for me. But I always put max at 100% because it makes me feel better.
I had similar in in 4l60e at lower speed around town being annoying with the triple disc . But was not issue above 45 50 mph so just changed it to 4th gear only above 45 mph solved. Though I still do lock it at WOT above 3800 rpm in 2nd 3rd and 4th as if i would ever actually go that fast in 4th , But in dyno it did gain 40 ft lbs torque locked above that RPM
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your best result will come from limiting it to a higher minimum mph lock up. the friction material in aftermarket/performance applications is not meant for continuous PWM/slip apply. you'll burn the clutch up in a matter of days. This is a single clutch, but they (aftermarket converter builders) all use a similar high energy material as the green BW transmission frictions. The OEM converter friction is a woven carbon thing that initially wasnt made available to the aftermarket so they (performance aftermarket converter hard parts suppliers) ran with what they had on hand
your best result will come from limiting it to a higher minimum mph lock up.
Let's address this some more. I have the LEFT side of my lock up PWM in the 39-50% range, ( low line pressure, presumably LOW Torque area ) Question: are you recommending that I keep my PWM ALL Solid 99% for use with the CircleD triple disc clutch? Really don't want to damage the converter- Daily driving in slow traffic.
Let's address this some more. I have the LEFT side of my lock up PWM in the 39-50% range, ( low line pressure, presumably LOW Torque area ) Question: are you recommending that I keep my PWM ALL Solid 99% for use with the CircleD triple disc clutch? Really don't want to damage the converter- Daily driving in slow traffic.
you know what I did on mine…. I set it to lockup in third gear at a low mph and raised over drive shift mph. I can post my tables if interested. It gets better fuel mileage this way. If you give it more throttle…as you give it more, it locks up later and later. Also at cruise, it comes out of lockup fairly easy with more throttle input. I put alot of time into smoothing it all out and making it drive really nice
kfx: "I put alot of time into smoothing it all out and making it drive really nice"
........... Yes .... I would very much enjoy a view of your trans tune numbers.
I get so lost in the combination of upshift speeds vs TCC lock speeds, TPS vs MPH downshift speeds, UNLock speeds... my head spins, and I go drive something else for a few weeks. Then start over at ground zero, not knowing what I last dicked with... I put the turbo on back in July2024, dialed in the VE, spark dead nuts on, meth ramp in rate, all running VERY good. The transmission shift timing, especially around part throttle cruise, low speed limit, following slow traffic, hills under 50 miles per hour- all this local driving is HARD to tune for.
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ANY comparative reference material is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
kfx: "I put alot of time into smoothing it all out and making it drive really nice"
........... Yes .... I would very much enjoy a view of your trans tune numbers.
I get so lost in the combination of upshift speeds vs TCC lock speeds, TPS vs MPH downshift speeds, UNLock speeds... my head spins, and I go drive something else for a few weeks. Then start over at ground zero, not knowing what I last dicked with... I put the turbo on back in July2024, dialed in the VE, spark dead nuts on, meth ramp in rate, all running VERY good. The transmission shift timing, especially around part throttle cruise, low speed limit, following slow traffic, hills under 50 miles per hour- all this local driving is HARD to tune for.
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ANY comparative reference material is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It's a triple
Its going to be firm
Nature of the beast.
Install an aftermarket exhaust and it's expected to be louder. A triple Disc should be expected to be alot more firm.
That said you do have options
Trying to adjust the pwm table to make it slip and soften it up is going to be bad for it in the long term. Id recommend against that
I'd do what KFX did. Lock it up sooner and at lower load so you don't go from a large difference between engine rpm and input rpm. That's ultimately what feels so agressive is the engine is at 3500 and the input shaft is at 2000 and you lock it up and those 2 numbers have to match.
KFX gave good advice and his tables look nice. Reasonable speeds and loads for everything.
Adjust as needed to fit your gear/tire combo but he's provided a great starting point.
Try Setting the TCC duty cycle minimum to 60%. Never had a problem with doing this on any of the higher stall converter stuff I have tuned, and it softens up the converter lock to where it's still firm but comfortable.
im having trouble with my 4l80e tcc lockup, it's locked up full time and had to drive it home by unhooking the harness to regain torque converter in a non locked state, killing the motor when stopped. i was thinking the transistor in my pcm had fried but understanding what is supposed to be 12 volts and when has been confusing me. i guess tomorrow i will plug the harness back in and idle in park while looking at voltage on the pwm wire, should be 12v potential since the pcm is supposed to have the ground switched off, and will only engage the ground when tcc needs locked up and will drop the potential voltage to near zero. it's a brand new tcc solenoid but maybe i plugged it in backwards or it failed, i dunno. confusing my head on this one, i bought a new tcc solenoid thinking it was that, then thought it was the pcm, now im back to the tcc solenoid.
okay i have a new tcc solenoid here and my old wire harness and its got little plastic block that prevent it from being plugged in backwards. I was thinking the tcc solenoid couldn't be bad since lockup disengages when i unplug the harness and thought the pcm was giving lockup signal wrongly. but maybe the solenoid is bad and just can only impoperly function when given it's power from the harness, the 12 constant power not the pwm grounded in the pcm wire.
so i guess if the pcm is bad i will see 0v on the pwm wire with the harness plugged in and idling in park, and if the pcm is good it should be a 12v potential and is likely a bad solenoid.
O and i will get an ohm reading on the tcc solenoid, supposed to be 10-20 ohms, or anything that's not 0 or infinite.
Last edited by BlackBeard_lives; Dec 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM.
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