So friday my converter stopped locking up. Not a big surprise now that I'm force fed and the tranny has 70,000 miles on it. I could trick it into locking up saturday by playing with the throttle a little and using the tow/haul button. But now, nothing. It shifts great still (knock on wood), and it'll spin them going into 2nd at 75% throttle. It's just the TC won't lock up.

Here's the details: TCI SF stall, Transgo HD shift kit and vette servo. It managed to throw the P1870 (tranny slipping) code on the way home from work today. I did a search and it seems as though the transgo kit IS the fix for my problems. But I already have the transgo kit and their TCC valve.

Do you guys think the valve body is just worn? I heard there's a kit out there that reams out the valve body and allows the use of a larger valve. Does anyone know what kit this is? I don't want to put too much money into this thing if I don't have to, because it's a high mileage 60e, but I do need to get A to B until I can build another tranny. Good thing gas prices came down.

I don't think its anything to do with the solenoids, because I didn't get any trouble codes on them. I hope its the the TCC itself. What do ya'll think?

 

Get rid of the pulse-width modulation of the converter clutch apply circuit. This should be done for aftermarket converters anyway. PWM is only compatible with OEM-type carbon fiber lockup frictions.

Take out the pulse valve and put in a spring as heavy and stiff as you can jam in there. There should be a nice one left over from the shift kit that will work. The idea is to completely prevent the valve from moving.

Here's a picture for reference:


oh, and that picture in your sig is creeping me out...

 

That's the idea!


So that's all I have to do? Do I elimate the solenoid? Do I take it off, or unplug it or what? Either way, won't it throw a code? Could I use a piece of tubing instead of a spring, so it REALLY won't move? If this works, then I seriously owe you one.

 

Yeah, that's it. To get the plug out of the valvebody bore that contains the pulse valve you have to pull the whole valvebody since the clip holding the plug can only be pulled from the topside. Better to use a spring. I think a piece of tubing in there might chaff and shred little bits of aluminum.

It will not throw a code.

This can also be accomplished through programming if you have access to someone that can do it. I thought I'd mention this and save someone else the trouble of posting it. The way I see it, if programming was the answer to everything for an electronically-controlled transmission, there would be no shift kits. Go figure...

 

This shouldn't be too bad, since I did my own Trango install. It's just a matter of getting motivated to crawl under it now.

So do I leave the solenoid in there hooked up, with wiring and all? Forgive me if I sound stupid, but I know its on its last leg and I don't want to screw this up.

 

All other things, including the wiring harness and the programming, stay the same.

Let this thread live a little longer to get some more feedback if it would ease your mind a bit.

 

The Wood Hauler's truck did the same and I installed the Transgo HD-2 and the TCI sf 3000 at the same time. The instructions in the Transgo did say in his that reprogramming what probably nessecary. His threw the code a few times, but it has been fine ever since he got his custom tune from Jesse. If I would have known about the mod mentioned above, I would have done it to begin with.

 

yep, my TCI lockup clutch went south on me 3 months after i installed it, i dont even lock it up at WOT. it had a very soft lockup from the day i had it installed. they sent me a replacement and this time i firmed it up with HPT and now its nice and firm.

did you call TCI yet?

 

No I didn't. I've had it in there for over a year now and I'm sure its well out of warranty. I never had a problem with it before. It was never soft at all. In fact, when it would lock up, it almost felt like it shift into another gear. Then all of the sudden one day, it decided not to lock up.

 

If you command it to lock with HPT does it lock?

Im sure you know there are a couple of se codes that when set it wont allow the tcc to lock