DRACO911

I had a TCI 3500 SSF put in a brand new tranny last August, it ran fine for about 7000 miles then it wouldn't lock up. The next day I lost 4 gear and later that day I lost all of my gears.
I got a new tranny and the guy who looked at my old one said that my sun gears were melted and the bottom end was fried. It wasn't getting enough fluid and there was too much heat. He checked out my B&M cooler and it was only flowing .7gpm as opposed to the stock 1.2 gpm there was so much blockage from the particles from the clutches.
Then I had him take apart the TC and take a look at it. The TC was fried. It looked like something had blown up in the inside. He said that when the TC came apart and it wouldn't lock up that there wasn't enough fluid flow to cool everything else. He said some other things but I don't want to mis-quote him. But basically he said that the TC killed the tranny.
He used to build trannys for a pro racing team for ten years and said I should have asked him before I went and bought anything TCI. He said you couldn't give him a TCI for free, stick to Yank or VIG. So next one I get is going to be a 2800 yank.
I did some searching, and there seems to be a lot of guys that have sent thier TCI TC's back to get them fixed, or have had problems with them at around 7000-10,000 miles. I was wondering how many guys here have had problems with them.

94bamf

Much better........

Sorry bout your tranny......

DRACO911

Thanks

Ryan1985

that makes me nervous!!!!!!!

sleeperstyle

iTrader: (4)

honestly

had a problem (sounds similar but not as extreme) w/ a tci. got it fixed and all is good now. seems like tci may/may not have had a bad batch of lockup clutches. that is the only thing i've seen go wrong on tci converters, and usually it doesn't ruin anything, at least in my trans so far...

yank/vig/tci, all good and all have complaints. do a search and i bet yank/vig have had the same problems at some point in time (hence my theory of a bad batch of tc clutches).

good luck...

MontereyLS1

iTrader: (4)

odds are the convertor had nothing to do with killing your tranny......it was probably your tuning (or lack of) that killed it. You have to tune your car for a bigger stall convertor or it will not lock up properly, causing more heat and killing the tranny.

I ran a TCI SSF 3500 for over a year and 20k miles. I killed a few trannies, but that was cause I BROKE THEM racing the car. The convertor itself was GREAT, always performed the way i wanted it to and done the job it was supposed to.

Just my $.02 Sorry bout your tranny either way tho man!

boomcase

[QUOTE=MontereyLS1]odds are the convertor had nothing to do with killing your tranny......it was probably your tuning (or lack of) that killed it. You have to tune your car for a bigger stall convertor or it will not lock up properly, causing more heat and killing the tranny.


Kinda agree , a tune is definetly the right way to go after converter install , but many have gotten away witout doing it, I have had 2 different TCI converters in my F bodys and have had no problems at all , but I will say this call kevin winstead at TCI for some help , his customer service is top notch . Just like all converter companys there are horror stories for them all , just do a search on Yank and Vig you will find a few..

Sorry to here about your tranny , but we all pay a price sometimes when we want to go faster..

Good luck , also did it every occur to you that maybe your NEW TRANNY had some issues / probems was maybe built wrong to start with.. you may never know.

Smitty

Does'nt sound like the converter to me.

slow3hoe2

iTrader: (3)

i agree with the clutch dust being in there...but wouldnt the filter catch that from going into the tranny? i just had my tci fixed for the same problem...and i also pulled the pan to clean it out and changed the filter. TONS of clutch dust in the pan and in the fluid i drained out of the pan...but i didnt see any signs of dust in the fluid when i cleaned out my trans cooler. My trans operated fine even when the lockup was burnt out. now that i have it fixed everything operates fine. Is it possible that the clutch dust in the trans cooler is not from the lockup clutches? Btw, i drove my car with the lockup burnt out for a few hundred miles. I know a guy that had his tci clutches burn out and he drove his car that way for a year without any problems.

MNR-0

It is often overlooked that when you add a smaller diameter converter you reduce the clutch surface area. To compensate you have to increase the TCC duty cycle. If you don't you risk slipping the converter under light load during lockup - not that you would necessarily feel it. Unchecked and over time the clutch material clogs the valves and overheats the tranny causing other mishaps.

You should also change your tranny fluid every 10K kms/6K miles. You can gauge the health of your tranny by examining the fluid. Easy insurance.

MNR-0

The same applies for increasing the HP output

DRACO911

I talked to the Tranny guy yesterday to get a little bit of clarification. I didn't know that you only get a minmal amount of flow through you coolers when you TCC is not locked up. Only when the TC locks up do you get any kind of flow. Something to the effect of 1-5 psi on non-lock-up to 48 upon lock-up. Which is why it burned it up. Trying to get home with no lock up, there was no flow through the cooler.

I did have the car tuned after the install by the way.

family sedan

iTrader: (3)

I had this problem last year. Supposedly there was a bad batch of lockup clutches. I first noticed there was a problem when it was shifting too late, I had to keep lowering the shift rpm. I ended up calling up Kevin Winstead and he made everything right. He is top notch. Anyways, if you ask me the SSF3500 is the best converter for the street on a slightly modified LS1.

sleeperstyle

iTrader: (4)

is that right? i have heard similar but logging via hptuners my trans temps actually dropped cruising in the city unlocked and they stayed dead on and didn't move when the converter was locked up on the highway. i would like to hear some more opinions on this.

the only time i see trans temps rise alot is during a wot run, any other time they either stay at my max 180-190*- i know a little hot but...,, or they drop slowly and only rise to 190* or less during a wot run. it isn't dead yet!! - knock on wood-

Ragtop 99

iTrader: (7)

If you think that the tranny isn't pumping fluid through the cooler when it is unlocked, park your car and turn the engine on and let it idle. Now pull one of your cooler lines and see if any squirts out.

I'm sure the guys running non-lockup TH400 converters will be glad to know they do not need coolers.

DRACO911

The guys that are running Non Lock-up converters probably have the soledoid that controls the flow open all the time.