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tranny issues (surprised?)

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Old 10-31-2011, 03:33 PM
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Default tranny issues (surprised?)

Well here we go, ls1 add me to the list. I was having similar problems to davidgxp and others where I was getting the 4th gear shudder(surge or whatever) at low rpm cruise for a couple of days.

Then today it just gave out. Engine running but wouldn't go into any gear. Had to tow her home.

Anybody run into this where I'm assuming the TC gave out. Tranny cable is fine btw.

I just washed it timmys store it for winter,so it died on the last day.
I have lots of time to deal with this so I'm looking for any suggestions on which route to go.
Old 10-31-2011, 03:39 PM
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pump failure?
Old 10-31-2011, 04:52 PM
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Could be a lot of things. Suck, though.

Looks like it's time to give Dave @TEP a call!
Old 10-31-2011, 08:28 PM
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Anyone deal with cartuning up here in Toronto ?
Old 10-31-2011, 08:45 PM
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I have his turbo kit and I like it a lot. I broke a stock input shaft and although I haven't taken the tranny apart yet, I'm pretty sure that I've broken a 300m input shaft too. I'm looking at his tranny build now. Nice guy.
Old 11-01-2011, 05:21 AM
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Mine has been doing the same thing for months now, I am just waiting for it to die totally. Under a load at 52mph-63mph it will shudder and act funny; it really doesn't do it much at higher RPMs or in the lower gears.

From reading around, I would guess your torque converted died, first thing I would do it pull your pan, if it is full of metal and crap more than likely it was the tc that went out. Thus the debris went through your valve body causing more damage.

I might just be proactive and pull my tranny and do a shift kit valve body rebuild, then get a new tc at the same time and call it good before anything major happens.
Old 11-01-2011, 02:10 PM
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The car is parked now for winter in my garage . I'm pretty handy, but never pulled a tyranny before. Is it difficult to do ? If the tranny is out I would probably look into tep or cartuning.

I just need to decide how much I want to spend.
Do you guys think I should stockpile some parts in the next few months?
Old 11-02-2011, 08:26 AM
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yeah if its out of warranty which i am assuming it is, rebuild it to a bulletproof transmission. if it were me i would pull it out and get it rebuilt or do it myself using hd parts. either way you look at it replacing it outright with a used transmission is going to cost you around $1000 with shipping and its most likely to fail down the road.
Old 11-02-2011, 01:26 PM
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Ya, no matter what I'll be building it up. But last night after having it towed home I thought about starting it up in the driveway. Damn if it didn't move. Wtf. I moved it a few inches back and forth.

What would cause it to not engage one day but then work the next. I wont be moving it though.

I will be making some calls before I figure out how to pull it. (Calls to cartuning and tep)
Old 11-02-2011, 02:38 PM
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Well I thought my converter was going out too. When the trans shop inspected the trans, they found the TCC relief valve was worn in the channel plate. The part costs less the 50.00, and everything else looked really good from what I was told. The PI converter that I got was machined wrong so we ended up re-using the stock converter (Scary I know) and everything is working pretty good now.
My only issue.. is that when the converter locks up under light throttle, it is real rough.
This is due to my gearing and lack of throttle posistion. When I am above 20% throttle the lock up is as smooth as glass.

I can lauch in 2nd gear (manual) and pull like a frieght train with my 3.69's.
Old 11-03-2011, 01:06 AM
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Dave I will have to look into that, is the relief valve something you can replace with the tranny in the car? Or do you have to remove it?
Old 11-07-2011, 11:44 PM
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Ok, so the car has been parked for 5 days and I try it again. It moved forward and in reverse. But when I let the car warm up for 10 mins, I put it in gear and it wouldn't move.

Any ideas what would cause it not to engage when its at operating temperature ??
Old 11-08-2011, 09:20 AM
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Originally Posted by higsy
Anyone deal with cartuning up here in Toronto ?
Yes, Kevin does great trans work and very thorough!
Old 11-08-2011, 12:14 PM
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Originally Posted by higsy
Ok, so the car has been parked for 5 days and I try it again. It moved forward and in reverse. But when I let the car warm up for 10 mins, I put it in gear and it wouldn't move.

Any ideas what would cause it not to engage when its at operating temperature ??
My guess is that you've got seal leakage in the valvebody. It may be that when the fluid is cold and thick, it doesn't leak past the seals enough to cause a problem. Once it has heated up and thinned out, it causes the problem you're seeing.

Only a guess, though.




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