I've only had the converter in the car a couple of weeks now (TCS 4200). But I've noticed on mornings when it's been belowing freezing that night, the converter doesn't want to lock until the tranny temp is over 100 degrees. (I've got a tranny temp gauge, and she won't lock until that gauge moves, even 2 degrees is enough.) Once she locks the first time she's fine, after that she'll lock and unlock like she's supposed to. When she's not locking, she'll go fine through the gears, no issues there. Even if it's been cold the night before, but not below freezing, she'll lockup fine no matter what temp I'm reading on the tranny gauge. With it being winter...I do let the car warm up..and the car is nice and warm before I leave. She unfortunately sits outside overnight.

Any ideas what's causing this? Is it doing any damage?

 

I can't really give you any facts on GM trans functions, but I can tell you that I work on Ford transmissions for a living, and alot of them do not lockup the TCC when cold either. I believe this is to heat the trans and the engine up faster. This is programed into the PCM, and is more than likely put into effect by readings from and Trans temp sensor. Actually on the alot of the fords they engage the TCC once the trans temp gets to 100 deg.

Not sure if this helps you, but I figure GM and Ford do a few things alike.

 

I drove mine for the first time in 15* temps yesterday and it was locking up just fine. Excess missfires, false or not will cause the pcm to not lockup the converter. Aftermarket converters due to their lighter weight make the pcm think its missfiring at a higher rate. Have you disabled missfire detection or raised the limits. On my missfire table I raised everything below 2000 to 2000. This cured my occasional not locking problem.

 

The converter wont lock when the car is ice cold. It may be able to be changed with tuning but thats the way it is with the stock tune. Thos tcs converters have good lockups so no worries there.

 

Yup, my stocker does the same thing. But she is in a very deep sleep right now...lol

 

My Camaro has to warm up before the trans locks up.

'02 Camaro z28
a4 2.73
Navy Blue
245/50/16 Goodyear RSA

 

Same here, even in 40*. The computer wont let it lock up if the trans is too cold. It's just a saftey precaution. Cold parts arent as strong as hot parts.

Mike

 

hahaha awesome thread, I was going to post the same thing tomorrow.

The past few days have been BRUTAL!!! 2 degrees today
The highway is pretty close to my house, so even though I let the car warm up, by the time I get to the highway I guess its not warm enough and the converter stays unlocked, then at about the same spot on the highway the converter starts unlocking.....talk about consistency!

 

I have only driven mine a few times when it is really cold out (~30° or less) and it does take longer than normal for the converter to lock.

 

I don't have a trans temp guage, but from a cold start mine consistently won't lock until the coolant temp is 141 degrees (reading live data w/a Predator).

 

That's true. The engine temps need to be above 140-150f for the converter to lock up. Just takes a little longer on really cold days, LOL!

 

My old job, I worked right off of an expressway (55 limit). On days with temps below 30, I'd get off work and hop on the highway, it would take a solid 5-7 minutes of driving until my Vig would lock. This has been happening for over two years now, completely normal.

 

Mine does that sometimes when it is really cold out. No worries.....and I think you will love the converter. I do! That was Hawkn's old one right?

 

Thanks for the input guys. It was something I didn't have happen/notice in the ~2 years with various (crappy) stock converters.

Yes Jay...it's Hawn's old tranny and converter. I knew I was taking a chance with that size converter in a car that sees a lot more daily driving than track time...but the only complaints I've had so far is because I don't have her tuned 100% yet. As it is right now I'm loving driving her...even with the tuning issues. It's only going to get better once the tune is right.

 

All GM lockup torque converters do not lockup when cold.

 

141 is the norm for GM cars to lockup. It's completely normal.