Tranny shop can,t get my tranny fixed!!

[Tim Cucci]

1 month ago I took my car to a local tranny shop with good reputation. They did a complete heavy duty rebuild. Blue cluthes, Kevlar band,shift kit,new servo, etc. In the shop one week. Picked up the car and it had a soft 1-2 shift and solid 2-3 and 3-4. I drove the car hard for a couple of days and it would not shift out of 1st until above 5600 rpm. Tranny started slipping. Took it back. They said the convertor that I had ordered (2800) caused the problem they said it had slag in it. They still did the repair and rebuilt it again. Took 2 weeks this time. Every time they put it together and tested it they had to do rework(something different each time). Now I picked it up 2 days ago and it is slipping again. It gets to the top of first or second and takes forever to slip/shift into the next gear. Anybody got suggestions about what to do hear? They are reworking for free but not repairing. They are confused as to what or how to repair. Now they are saying the car has to much power . I have not had any dyno test but I don't think I am making 375-400 HP.
Need Help
Tim

[squeeze87]

What a bunch of BS! Too much power, my a$$. There are plenty of 700+ hp cars running a 200 4r. I know this doesn't solve your problem but dont let them tell you that crap.

[HOTTOGO]

Too much power for the way they rebuilt it is the only problem.

Upshifting taking too long is govenor pressure related or gov. itself. Soft 1-2 shift is band or band adjustment related. Slipping may be too much clearance in the direct drum clutch.

What are the pressures?

What was the reason for a rebuild in first place?

[2quiktocare]

You have it right squeeze: "too much power for how they built it" maybe. Would be interesting to see how they handled fluid delivery among other things. When are you having the shift problem? All the time? WOT? Or what? Have you continued to have the same problems or is it always something different? It could be many things, but we would need much more info to start talking specifics. We have car's running in the nines and tens all the time. Bruce personally has a daily driver with over 120k on the trans (and everyone knows how Bruce drives). It's putting out over 450hp. His race car has a 200 4R that is handling over 1,000 HP on nitrous and it works fine. So, too much power? I don't think it is an issue here. Give us some more info. The guys here can tell you whats up. Sorry to see you had to get a hard lesson on this thing Tim. thanks, Mark

[chris718]

tim ,the problem is lo pressure .i guess they feel stupid now about blaming it on the convertor you purchased from me at ckperformance.now lets get to the point .pointing fingers only makes the person who is responsible for not doing the right job feel better by not accepting responsibility for repairing something they dont fully understand or have the ability to repair properly.pointing fingers doesnt correct the problem . it only makes us focus on things other than the fact that the trans aint right because we are not focused enough to find the problem., or are not knowledgeable enough to seek a remedy.in a hospital when a patient is dying of a wound it doesnt matter who did it ,why they did it ,what they did to deserve it etc the doctors main purpose is to correct the problem based on his knowledge of a particular wound /situation. this is very similar to where we are now.the shop must now follow a series of diagnostic tests to come up with an answer and by switching transmissions they will not learn anything exept how much money and time they are losing by not installing a pressure gage. if they want to fix it tell them to come to the board and ask,we will help.if they dont want to ,tell them to call me.i ask questions everyday ,and by doing this i have more stored information to review when i have a problem making the solution easier to find .and remember ,in the land of the blind one eye rules.

[Tim Cucci]

Yes, Yes and Yes I agree with you guys and as I said before they seem to be dazed and confused about this tranny.
Chris, I agree with you on the finger point thing at the convertor. Good conv. and not a problem. If they thought the conv. was really the problem why would they keep putting it back in ???
I don't really know about the pressures because they are not informative at all. Everytime I ask a question they come up with a different problem. They did also put a new TV cable on and said it is a GM cable.
1. Convertor problem (BS)
2. Pump relief valve sticking
3.Needs better servo
4. Needs shift kit
These are the 4 different encounters when the car was taken to the for the second time. They are calling the tranny a nightmare.

Now for what is happening with the car since getting it back the 2nd time.
1. Drove home with firm shifts (all gears) No WOT driving
2. Took car for test. Ran hard WOT a few times from a dead stop(no foot
break) car did ok.
3. Foot braked and the car absolutely
blew the tires away with the new convertor. I am happy now!!!
4. Went to Wal-Mart with daughter and tranny did not want to shift out of first at WOT over 5600 rpm. Tried again and had sme problem.
Tried to adjust TV cable. Now the 1-2
shift is slipping and also in 2nd gear it slips. I have tried several adjustments on the TV cable.
Am I screwing it up with the cable????
I used to adjust it for years before with no problem.

I am taking the car back on Tuesday. If they don't get it right this time I am probably going to just bite the bullet, learn an expensive lesson, and get another tranny. Chalk it up as a lesson learned. I really had confidence in these guys when I took the car there.
Hell, I could a done this good myself.
Chris, I may have them call you for advice if they will do it but I bet they would not do so.

Thanks Guys

[6PacktoGo]

I doubt very seriously that you need an entirely different transmission. More likely you need an entirely different transmission BUILDER. They may have possibly ruined the valvebody if they've done a bunch of drilling.

By the way, have them take the Kevlar band out. The 200 4R direct drum is relatively soft, and Kevlar bands eat them alive. Get an Alto Red lined PowerBand.

It sounds a lot like some jackleg has been messing with the pressure regulator circuit or possibly the TV circuit, and doesn't have a clue as to what he is doing. They may have screwed up the governor too.

Rather than take it back and see how bad they can screw it up this time, just get it to a competent high performance builder and get it fixed.