ATTENTION: Inconsistant and/or pulsating lock -up problem brought to our attention!!

[WE4]

This was sent to me today. Somebody recently had this problem and I cannot remember who it was. Well this way , all will have a heads up.

Bruce: I have had a rather interesting problem arise that may be of interest to you since you sell your TC's with a one year warranty.

Last summer I purchased a street chip and a race chip for my 87GN from a well known Turbo Buick chipmaker. The chips really turned the car on but did not have enough fuel curve to let me run more than a 1/8 mile until the EGT was off the map. These chips were sent back and reworked and returned to me. In fact, I received 2 race chips, 1 which really added lots fuel and my car seemed to like it quite well. A club member used my other chip and he has recently acquired Directscan after losing a brand new convertor. After analyzing run data, it was noted that the TCC would lock the convertor and then immediately a signal was sent to unlock the convertor. This would happen repeatedly several times per frame.

I am concerned that this could cause convertor damage and additional damage to other driveline components as this pulsation of power would put an extraordinary and irregular stress upon the drive line. I lost a very good 38,000 mile motor, the thrust bearing cut a groove into a crank filet, and the tranny was damaged. I was assured that the convertor did not balloon but it grenaded after 530 miles of street driving in break in mode. It has gone back to the manufacturer and I will see what they have to say about this. About 1000 miles on the convertor.

I have notified the chip make of this problem and have yet to receive a response from him. We do know how to correct the chips so this doesn't happen again.

Wanted to get your input on this matter since I felt you would have the knowledge to tell me if this is real problem. It also could affect your warranty claims and your were quite helpful in locating another vendor in your area last summer that I was having problems with so I owe you one. A good one , of course.<G>

I can get you specifics if you need more info about the problem.

Thanks.

Phil Engle
pengle@mmcable.com

__________________
P.S. This was not meant to be a flame in anyway shape or form. It was meant for the guy chasing a problem and not to place blame unto anyone. As I have found , you are so happy to just be able to solve problem that you are relieved to have found it. No specific person or persons are referred to and are not being blamed in anyway.

This is for the poor guy chasing a ghost that all else seemed to be fine.

Thank You all for understanding and appreciate that other members, share there hard learned knowledge with us

WE4
Bruce

 

[turbov6joe]

Bruce,
I also posted a thread about my 9/11 converter having odd lock-up tendencies. Seems that when I throw the manual TCC L/U switch, it has a noticable delay before it locks. Appears sometimes it does not lock at all, or other times it locks and doesn't want to unlock immediately like it should??? I have a new TCC solenoid that worked great with my old PI 9" converter, so I would not think that's the problem. Yesterday at the track I again noticed that when I threw the L/U switch at WOT, there was a really noticable delay before full L/U (felt like it was sliding into L/U). At first I was dismissing this due to it being new and me not being used to it, but now I'm beginning to wonder??? Any comments Bruce?
BTW, what is the torque multiplication of these converters?

 

[WE4]

hrmmm...

Joe,
This scenario was NOT a 9X11. It was meant to chase down a chip problem and not even one of our jobs. Just a gentlemen who ran across this and wanted to let his buddies know.

As far as your deal, I do not disbelieve you, as over years I have seen some odd stuff. I will say that out of 5 hundred or so sold,
only one has been returned for a lock up problem . If you feel it is the converter I will gladly take care of. I will ck and repair or replace if necessary.
How exactly are you hot wiring the switch? Does Dads do it too? Let me know as I would like to know what you discover.

 

[PowerV6]

I have something SIMILAR to this, kinda surprised but as of yet i have not seen any damage only a HESITATION..yeah i guess damage already done, ok heres where the chip came from, its a jay carter 100 octane chip, the chip originally in the car has a blue...i think.. sticker on it, thats it, anyhow when i put the jay carter in my car and FLOOR it, makes a JERKING feeling like 3 or 4 times, before FINALLY shifting into gear, like catching and SLIPPING catching and SLIPPING, its hard to describe but it FEELS absolutely HORRIBLE!! I am unsure what is causing it but when i swapped the chip back its not even CLOSE to before but feels like a slipping feeling sometimes....the convertor has a nine on it and i have no DAMNED clew where it came from, had it on the car when bought, when i bought the car it was painted BLUE, i am HOPING and praying it has something to do with the convertor, ANY THOUGHTS?? I really want to get rid of this convertor because i just bolted a pte-53 into my car and now LAG....also got the chip in the same time frame...could it be the chip causing this, if so can i solve this problem with a 9/11 convertor or should i just drive it like a slow ass and just act like its fast..

 

[RDavis]

worn crankshaft thrust

I had a worn thrust on a crank also. Crankshaft Specialists submerge heliarc welded it $180.

Email me and I will give their address.
rodldavis@comcast.net

A note: alignment of engine to trans can do this also. The way to check this is with to mount a dial indicator on the crankshaft
and run it against the pump area surface (with pump out).

 

[ULYCYC]

I had that lock/unlock problem. I checked everything and found no problem. When I locked it with a manual switch it was fine. I swapped ECM with a know good one and with the same chip and calmap the problem was solved. Maybe something is wrong in the ECM drivers who knows??? It working now.