Is my tranny going bad?

CobraM23 · Dec 4, 2003

I had a PI 3000 Stall put in a couple months ago. When I had it put in, the shop that installed it said they had to sand a little bit of material off the transmission shaft so the converter would go on fully. Well it worked wonders knocking .35-.4 off my 1/4 et. However I would notice sometimes cruising at say 30-40 mph anything more than 1/2 throttle would cause the car to rev up all the way to redline before the converter would lock up and cause the transmission to shift. Lately itd been getting a lot worse. Now from a stop the car takes forever for it to start going, I mean itll rev at like 3k for like 4 or 5 seconds before it catches and starts to roll forward. Once it gets going, it drives just fine. Its just from a stop. What could it be? Ive checked the fluid and its fine. Someone please help.

Premium Speed · Dec 4, 2003

CobraM23 said:
I had a PI 3000 Stall put in a couple months ago. When I had it put in, the shop that installed it said they had to sand a little bit of material off the transmission shaft so the converter would go on fully. Well it worked wonders knocking .35-.4 off my 1/4 et. However I would notice sometimes cruising at say 30-40 mph anything more than 1/2 throttle would cause the car to rev up all the way to redline before the converter would lock up and cause the transmission to shift. Lately itd been getting a lot worse. Now from a stop the car takes forever for it to start going, I mean itll rev at like 3k for like 4 or 5 seconds before it catches and starts to roll forward. Once it gets going, it drives just fine. Its just from a stop. What could it be? Ive checked the fluid and its fine. Someone please help.

either your trans is slipping or your converter is slipping and/or too loose. does it lock up in OD?

CobraM23 · Dec 4, 2003

Premium Speed said:
either your trans is slipping or your converter is slipping and/or too loose. does it lock up in OD?

yes, it locks up fine in OD. like i said it just takes it awhile to lock up in first. it used to work perfectly now it seems like its partially locking, then unlocks, then locks again after 4 or 5 secs.

Dark Knight GT · Dec 4, 2003

If its doing it both when shifting into gears and from a dead stop and go, its probably the torque converter clutch. Either you got a bad one from PI(which I doubt) or the people who installed the converter didnt get it in there right and now the Torque converter clutch is slipping.

Ive never heard of having to sand the transmission input shaft before.

CobraM23 · Dec 4, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
Ive never heard of having to sand the transmission input shaft before.

They said that the torque converter wouldnt go all the way onto the transmission so they had to sand some material off whatever part it slides onto the transmission for it to go on. They said they took .005" off.

Dark Knight GT · Dec 4, 2003

CobraM23 said:
They said that the torque converter wouldnt go all the way onto the transmission so they had to sand some material off whatever part it slides onto the transmission for it to go on. They said they took .005" off.

Well, that doesnt sound like much sanding so hopefully thats not the problem.

If the car is just reving up from a light, not rolling forward, and you have late shifts, then chances are its the converter. Has the o/d light on the dash cluster flashed yet ?

CobraM23 · Dec 4, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
Well, that doesnt sound like much sanding so hopefully thats not the problem.

If the car is just reving up from a light, not rolling forward, and you have late shifts, then chances are its the converter. Has the o/d light on the dash cluster flashed yet ?

nope, not once

Dark Knight GT · Dec 4, 2003

CobraM23 said:
nope, not once

Then its not an electronic problem. I thought maybe your EPC solenoid was screwing up or perhaps the TCC solenoid.

In that case, its a mechanical failure of some sort inside the transmission. My guess is the Torque converter clutch is blowing out. If they would have messed up the transmission input shaft, it woudlnt of worked from the beginning. If was any other type of clutch setup, it would only affect certain gear shifts.

How is your 1-2 shifts ? Are they still ok or are they failing as well ?

CobraM23 · Dec 4, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
How is your 1-2 shifts ? Are they still ok or are they failing as well ?

it seems that it shifts but its still unlocked if that makes sense? so yeah i would say they are failing

Premium Speed · Dec 4, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
Then its not an electronic problem. I thought maybe your EPC solenoid was screwing up or perhaps the TCC solenoid.

In that case, its a mechanical failure of some sort inside the transmission. My guess is the Torque converter clutch is blowing out. If they would have messed up the transmission input shaft, it woudlnt of worked from the beginning. If was any other type of clutch setup, it would only affect certain gear shifts.

How is your 1-2 shifts ? Are they still ok or are they failing as well ?

took the words out of my mouth!

Dark Knight GT · Dec 5, 2003

CobraM23 said:
it seems that it shifts but its still unlocked if that makes sense? so yeah i would say they are failing

Yeah, it makes sense. It sounds to me like your torque converter isnt locking up when it should and the TC clutch is failing. Do you have any shuddering during 2-3 and 3-4 shifts ? Or any shuddering when taking off from a dead stop. By shudder, I mean like the rear wheels kind of jerk like your going over rail road tracks or something of the sort.

CobraM23 · Dec 5, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
Yeah, it makes sense. It sounds to me like your torque converter isnt locking up when it should and the TC clutch is failing. Do you have any shuddering during 2-3 and 3-4 shifts ? Or any shuddering when taking off from a dead stop. By shudder, I mean like the rear wheels kind of jerk like your going over rail road tracks or something of the sort.

there is definitely a shudder especially when the converter starts to slip, then its unlocked, and then it shudders again and goes into gear.

Dark Knight GT · Dec 5, 2003

In that case, the torque converter is definately going bad. Do you have any other transmission mods done to your car ?

CobraM23 · Dec 5, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
In that case, the torque converter is definately going bad. Do you have any other transmission mods done to your car ?

I just had it put in 3 months ago. Ive got a PA street/strip valve body, aluminum driveshaft, thats pretty much it. Can converters be rebuilt?

Dark Knight GT · Dec 5, 2003

CobraM23 said:
I just had it put in 3 months ago. Ive got a PA street/strip valve body, aluminum driveshaft, thats pretty much it. Can converters be rebuilt?

Yeah I remember when you had it put in. You had your put in when my transmission blew and I decided to have my PI stallion converter put in when they were rebuilding the tranny. Yes, a torque converter can be rebuilt. However, if its only been in there for 3 months, it should still be under warranty. Have the sucker pulled and send it back. BTW, it was a PI stallion torque converter right ?

CobraM23 · Dec 6, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
Yeah I remember when you had it put in. You had your put in when my transmission blew and I decided to have my PI stallion converter put in when they were rebuilding the tranny. Yes, a torque converter can be rebuilt. However, if its only been in there for 3 months, it should still be under warranty. Have the sucker pulled and send it back. BTW, it was a PI stallion torque converter right ?

Yup, PI 3000 Stallion is what it is. The thing about the warranty is I bought the converter used from a guy off of here. So im assuming theyre not going to warranty it. Id like to send it back though and maybe get it rebuilt and restalled to say 3200. Got any idea how much im looking at?

Dark Knight GT · Dec 6, 2003

How long did the other guy own this torque converter before selling it to you ? If you got the papers for it, you might be able to get it in under warranty. As for how much it would cost, Im guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-500 dollars.

CobraM23 · Dec 7, 2003

Dark Knight GT said:
How long did the other guy own this torque converter before selling it to you ? If you got the papers for it, you might be able to get it in under warranty. As for how much it would cost, Im guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-500 dollars.

He told me he had it for three months when he sold it to me in may. I dont have any papers on it at all. Of course I didnt ask for anything, I wasnt expecting it to go bad so soon. Lesson learned.

Is my tranny going bad?

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