so like the title says.. what are the chances of two tci torque converters breaking down on me under 12k miles? well the story goes. .... my first rebuild was because my 2nd gear went out on me .. and the shop says it balloned out my drum and wouldnt let my band catch and thats why second gear was out.. so i bought a new stall converter along w/ a complete rebuild w/ better parts in the trans (sunshell) beast and all these other things. and they charged me about 2k for it.. so stall converter number one lasted about 8 tousand miles. then it broke and they chared me 800 for tearing apart my trans and making sure that theres nothing wrong w/ it aside from the converter.. but they flywheel was cracked around the 3 bolts the t/c bolts onto it. .. so im like ok .. whatever.... so thats done and i got a new converter. and so converter number 2 supposibly breaks on me after 4k miles on it... i origionally went back to the shop because my car was shifting like a mini van instead of firm shifts.. so they call me and says that my 3rd gear is going out.. so thye start taking apart and the next day they are like yeh its your t/c that is making it shift funny and doing all these weird things. im like what does a stall converter have anything to do w/ that.. then tey are like because its slipping.. then they go on and say that the stall converter threw out a bunch of metal flakes everywhere and it cloged my filter up so bad that it was loosing line pressure... ok that sound reasonable.. but why didnt they say that at first.. bottom line is that i think this shop is screwing me around and not wanting to do the rebuild for free since it was one of my parts and they dont do labor for customer supplied parts.... but they are saying that it is the t/c that made my tranny go out again.. so to finish it off the mods i have on my 01 ws6 trans am are .. full headers no cats and 3 in pipes all the way back.. ... so im a bit skeptical on this and im sending it back to tci to open it up . and hopefully they say that the t/c shouldnt have failed so i can pin it on the shops dumbasses... leme know what you guys think. any input helps ... thanks

 

First thing I think of is them saying the converter slips more and that will cause damage, thats BS. If anything it should be easier on parts.

3rd going out will put metal in your trans and converter, so it's sounds like BS there too, they should have upgraded the 3-4 the first time.

Now if it's tuned to lock up under load then yes the converter might cause problems. But stock to the best converter will be hard on a trans if it's shifting with the TC locked up.

Just my opinion, customer supplied parts, you're going to lose every time.

In fact when I used to build transmissions on the side I'd tell people I buy the parts or I don't build it.

 

yeh but i hope that it isnt my converter that is failing out on me. i mean its gotten 2 rebuilds already . and i think that the shop is screwing it up somehow along the ways of the rebuild

 

Anythings possible. This is why IMO its better to buy a complete trans or have the shop furnish all. that way theres no doubt about who's responsible for a warranty. When a customer supplies parts all the lines get very blurry about who needs to do what and many time the customer looses. We have found ourselves in similar situations to though historically we have just bit the bullet fixed the trans then told the customer to get there converter company to do the same.

 

Its possible. I had a TCI as my first converter. It broke once and another time it was so far off on stall speed I would have to say something might have been broken in it. They are shitty converters so I would think its possible for them to break twice in a row.

 

what are u using now for a stall converter jordan s?

 

like what do u mean told the converter company to do the same?.. well i mean i guess the fact is that almost 3k dollars on the trans ... its getting kinda ridiculus here u know?

 

Basically what I ment i we tore into the trans found it full of crap but with no obvious place for it to have come from , This would point to the converter. In that particular case we just went through the unit at no cost and then told the customer to tell there converter company to do the same

 

I used to use TCI converters off the shelf with expected results and no failures. BUT these were all non lock up th350/400 converters.
I had one TCI in my car (4L60E) once and it felt like it had a rubber driveshaft. That was removed two days later, and the stock ones been in it since.

 

TCI's have been known to have clutch failures, sending lining material into the trans and causing it to fail. If that were the case, though, your shop would have found clutch material and not metal flakes. It would be good for you to take a look at what's gummed up the tranny, and not just rely on their description.

 

The chances are high. And that's why I always recommend here that guys do their homework before spending their money. It is paramount to the success of the project. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this exact same scenario play out.

Don't take it as a shot at you... I am just saying that there are many, many shops out there that do good work. But, when it comes to these units they struggle. And when they struggle the customer loses every time.

In this case, I would have given you options for converters. I would have given you options for your transmission. I have seen too many converters from a handful of well respected big box brand name companies not survive in these combinations... I see it over and over. And have for several years. There are companies I trust, and companies that have proven to me they cannot be trusted to put a high quality converter in front of one of my units.

If your job were in my shop, I would not absorb the cost of this job. Plain and simple. If it was a company I recommended and trusted, then you bet I would eat it.

g

 

yeh i took a look at the trans a couple of days ago and it had metal flakes in it. . also all over the front pump it chewed away parts of the lining on it i think he pointed out to me .. but there were metal peices all over.. and he said that it shot outa my t/c

 

So where did all the clutch material and metal flakes from the 3-4 going out go?
I think your hack job trans build filled your converter with garbage.

 

you know thats what im thinking too.. and i mean this trans shop even tho they are the best in this dinky *** town has been known to do some shady things

 

i would order long distance from a sponser here who specializes in these trannies before i would let some local jackass touch my car.

 

Get the converter from the shop, and if you don't have anyone locally who can cut it open and inspect it, send it to TCI and get a report from them on the internals.

 

I will say this, The material from the 3-4 clutch set cannot end up in the pump , Heres why all fluid being returned from the moving assemblies in the trans goes back tot he pan and then must travel through the filter it get to the pump , Which of course metal and solids are no likely to do, If you have large amounts of clutch material or metal inside the pump I would say it most certainly had to come from the converter unless theres a hole in the filter.

 

i am sending out my tc to tci. and they will cut it open for me. they are still curious how 2 of thier own converters have failed out.. so they will give me some feedback when it gets cut open .. he did say the filter was clogged thus causing my 1-2 shift shift slow like a mini van due to insufficient line pressure...

 

I had a planetary bearing fail once, the fluid, pan, converter was full of metal flakes. No hole in the filter. How did that get in the converter?

I have a local converter shop and I watched the owner cut it open, it was still like new, just needed the **** flushed out of it. Yea I watched so I didn't get fed bullshit.

But whatever. The OP needs a different trans shop.

 

Well I don't know other than the fluid diagrams. I know all fluid going to the pump and converter has to come through the filter. there is no fluid traveling from the planets and other moving assemblies going to the pump except by returning to the pan and being pulled back through the filter. So I have no answer as to why or how its possible. I do agree the OP should possibly look at other options as far as builders if for no other reason than the fact its appears for all practical purposes he has no warranty the way things are, I know if we were involved in a situation where the converter was suspect but there was question we would ask that it be sent to a third party for inspection. Luckily this hasnt come up because in the few instance we suspected the converter we just fixed the trans anyway or actually cleaned it up. and told them to send therre converter to the manufacturer also, Of course I have personally run into the case where a trans pan was full of clutch material and metal yet there was no obvious source in the trans for it to have come from yet when converter was sent in it was stated the converter was perfect? This is one reason I really prefer to sell our converter/trans combos because then theres never any question of who's responsible when a trans or converter fails, But our general position has been on this to simply go ahead and take care of the trans send it back and tell them to either get another converter or get it redone so we don't have to get involved in the whos whos thing.