fluid didn't look too bad... (just got home and cleaned up). it was a little dark, some blackness on the bottum of the pan and swirling around in what i kept in the pan as i dropped it out. not really burnt or anything but just a little blackness..

im not too worried though, im sure he lockup clutch is burnt a little bit at least (hopefully only a little bit though) and that would attribute to the blackness on the pan. im dropping the v-body off monday to my trans guy to tell me what he thinks.

definetly update on that c5.

 

MY old TCI SSF 3500 started slipping after 1 year, ~7000 miles of use too. I ended up switching to VIG 3200 and all problems are gone. I had a thread a while back.

 

The C5 is back on the road and so far so good with the new Yank SS3600. It is still running a little hotter than you would think it should, about 200 degrees around town. But all the vibration is gone and no other problems at this point.

 

I had a similar problem about a year ago, it ended up being a worn out bore for the lockup valve. I gave my valve body to a buddy of mine who owns a tranny shop, he bored it out and installed a slightly larger valve with a heavier spring, and did away with the PWM. I havent had any TCC problems since. It locks up immediatly instead of gradually. I also added a bottle of LubeGuard friction modifier, it definately helped firm up the shifts a bit.
My problem was so bad that it would give me a DTC for the tranny slipping.

 

it was NOT the valve body- i had already installed the transgo valve when i did the shiftkit (i forgot if i did or not, but apparently...) and the bore was fine. the shop i took it to said it was most likely the converter.

my converter is on it's way back to tci right now via u.s. postal service, getting a re-stall (3800) and a rebuild/lockup clutch. (for free thank god)

it'll be while till i get the car back together (month or so) but i'll try to remember to update this post or start another...

 

yes...please keep us posted. how much are they charging you for the restall? thanks

 

I wouldnt bet on new gears fixing the problem. I've been in cars with 2.73's that lockup just fine. If it slips at 60mph with 2.73's it'll slip with 3.42's

 

free re-stall. i'll update again, but i just learned the c5 mentioned in this thread (ladyredhawk) just lost it's trans. if mine goes- well- that would suck.

damn it, now im not going to be able to sleep till i get the car back together and see if it is good or not.

fock- im having a beer

 

Again......the gears had nothing to do with the trans going. They put in 3.73's and it still heated up and went. Not meant to bash. Just don't want people getting the idea that 2.73's and stall will burn up a trans. Simply not true.

 

That's true, we were hoping that the change from 2.73 gears and a new TC would solve that problem, but the tranny is toast. What ever caused the tranny to go happened before the switch. We would really like to know what it is!

1. Bad Converter?
2. Bad install?
3. Wrong gears?

BTW, the vibration was gone with the new TC...but too late damage was done!

 

probably low line pressure (maybe bad pump internals )= smoked lockup clutch (on the first converter) and eventually= smoked trans.

like i said- i HOPE mine was a defective converter but we'll see.

 

im about to put a TCI 3500 i hope i have better luck. reading this has made me a little nervse.

 

I got another slip code last night (noticed a bit more slip
recently and I guess it just went over the top). This on a
TCI 3000/2.2 converter. It was cold/wet out, dunno if this
rash of complaints has to do with colder weather and the
force motor / temp profile vs actual line pressure needed.

Anyway, last night I jacked up the line pressure yet again
(lowering the low-line% force motor current) and did a
logging run. I can see why there's slip. In fact I can't see
why there isn't. At level cruise, my force motor line % is
always 0%. Doesn't come up off the floor until at least 20%
TPS. My force motor PWM duty was already down at 46%
and still I was getting slip (TCC PWM I have set to all-or-
nothing 98%).

So I cranked down the force motor current table quite severely,
640mA at 0% line and pulling down fast with line%. We'll see
how that does.

 

*decided to pull this thread out of the grave...*

jimmyblue- your fm table CURED my problem for like a week, but ...

well, after all of that waiting (get the converter out, ship it during the holidays = 2 solid weeks, tci fixing it, now it is getting shipped back), i should have my converter back from tci this week. it got a new lockup clutch and re-stalled to 3800- all for free (i had to pay shipping which is a given...).

i'll update this, but TCI has been VERY helpful throught this whole thing. good customer service so far...

expect an update in about 2 weeks for anybody who cares.

jimmy blue- maybe try dropping the pan and inspecting the fluid/pan. my fluid always looked allright from the dipstick, but apon dropping the pan (my lockup clutch completly burnt out) i could rub my finger along the bottum of the pan and it would have black **** on it, and the fluid could be "swirled" around from the lockup clutch dust.

im going to install everything, drive it around the block engaging all gears and lockup, then immediately drop the pan and change the fluid/filter. probably repeat this in about a week. hopefully everything will be fine.

 

update--

FINALLY got the car all together with the rebuilt (for free- thank you very much TCI for the customer support) converter, 3800 stall now. locks up nice and hard (how i have it set) and holds there.

i have only driven the car about 50 miles, then 15" of snow and now 1-2" more, and more to come .

anyway- just wanted to let everybody that followed this saga know, it seems that it WAS the lockup clutch on my particular car.

hopefully this thread could help anybody with this particular problem (tcc slipping).

if there are any problems i will post it in this thread, but if not- well, no news is good news!!

later...

btw- **** SNOW!

 

Glad to hear it's fixed

Now to get rid of that damn snow!

 

hey dude. pulled my converter out this weekend to send in. is there a certian guy you were dealing with at tci? i wanna get the same nice treatment you got. did you tell him how many miles you had on it? and why did you have it tightened? trying to decide if i should have mine tightened. thanks

 

i started having the same problem, i also have the 2.73's, i took it to the shop and got the tranny serviced and the problem went away. just my 2cents

 

I've had a 3500 stall w/2.73 gears for 75000 miles. Total vehicle mileage is over 120,000 miles. I have a 24K cooler, and admittedly mostly highway miles. Even so, my trans temp in town in the summer Florida heat stay in the 160's. FWIW.

Hope you get your tranny problems solved.

 

Do you have any ideas about what they touched, that made
it get better? Did they adjust the mechanical line pressure,
just install a non-crusty filter, or what?