greco9885

iTrader: (1)

im convinced the problem i am having (very slow 1st gear start,5at) is because of a failing torque converter and i want to fix it asap

im thinking about trying to dealer but they might say my mods cause it. what do you think?

UR pulley, intake, precat deletes, j pipe, 3rd cat, greddy evo2

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

alittle detail on my problem. when i floor it, it revs to about 2grand and doesnt really go anywhere. it slowly climbs and completely takes off at around 5grand

I hate cars

It's very possible. If the stator goes bad or is not being held stationary it can lower the stall speed and efficiency of the convertor. Believe it or not I had one fail in my GN and with 600hp on tap it would not spin the tires until I was at 50mph, that's how bad it can kill the low end. I remember flooring it in the rain and not being able to spin the tires in first gear.

I don't really know of a test. Low power and a bad convertor can both cause a lower stall speed so the troubleshooting is difficult. For what it's worth, my TL goes to 2,400rpm when powerbraking so there's definately something wrong with yours.

I would think worse gas mileage in city driving would point more toward a bad convertor than a non obvious engine problem.

One thing is for sure, if you go to the trouble of pulling it out, send it or the new one off to a race convertor shop and have them bring the stall speed up by 500rpm. You won't believe the difference it will make off the line.

Are you sure it's starting in first and not second?

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

100% positive cause i put it in SS mode and made sure it was in 1st and still the same problem

before i took it too the track i tried the brake stall, and im convinced i fucked something up while trying to figure out how to launch it...every since then its been different, i cant even spin the tires from a stop

I hate cars

I'm interested in seeing what you find. Did the car wheelhop at the track? It's rare that it would cause damage to the convertor before it killed everything else like the axles and mounts but it's possible. Have you checked the trans fluid to see if there's any metal floating around, especially for aluminum?

Did it stall higher before this happened?

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

actually the car did not spin or wheel hop at the track, just the usually slow start, with a 60' of 2.8

havent checked the trans fluid, should i do a 3x3 flush?

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

mods: the intent of this thread was to see what the dealer would say about my modded cars and how my mods could POSSIBLY affect my warranty. im 90% sure its the torque converter...it just makes sense

so its not really a "problem and fixes"

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

when i was doing this, i would let go of the brake and floor it, not powerbraking.

and to comment further on my short response.

its definitely it first gear, but it takes off like its in 2nd, up untill ~5k then it spins the tires and takes off and torque steers like a bitch....its really weird, i know its not shifting because the rpms never decrease untill redline shift, and i counted the gears, it shifted all the way up to 5th, i was only able to do that once though since its not really that safe

Opel

the dealer could turn around and say...all ur power upgrades made the tranny fail because its not designed to handle any more torque than in stock form, and blah blah blah...which we know its bullshit, but ur argument is..autos are failing on stock cars just like always.

i know IHC is already helping u on this, and hes more knownledgable on auto trans (i hate them lol)

but, have u tried brake reving now with the problem, and see if the TC locks up higher than it normally does? for example, IHC said he could break rev his up to 2400 rpm... ive tried doing that to autos and u really can't go higher than around mid 2k

Majofo

Greco.. put it in stock form and skip any bs they would try to throw at you.. I hope you kept your stock exhaust components. If not I'm sure someone in your area has them. Otherwise a higher stall converter would be an awesome upgrade.

I hate cars

Convertors can fail with too high of a stall speed or too low. The only thing that concerns me is that the car runs completely normal above 5K. Normally when the stator is going, producing the low stall, the car will feel a little slower even at high rpms. Keep in mind if this is the case you're generating a lot more heat than normal in the fluid. Your efficiency dropped by 50% or more and that drop turns into heat. This is one of those scenarios where a top of the line synthetic might save the rest of the trans. Regardless I would get it into the shop asap.

This could still be an engine problem.

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

thought about it, but its such a pain in the ass...if i go that route, im leaving it stock....but i want to avoid that route

have everything except stock precats. but its all at my friends shops and he burned bridges and i havent talked to him in over a month

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

any other gear, it feels perfect. its just first gear. i dont get it. when it downshifts, it doesnt miss a beat. its only from the initial start

I hate cars

A good test might be to manually upshift into a higher gear that brings the rpms down to the stall speed of the convertor with it floored. Don't do this over and over because it creates heat but floor it in this higher gear and see if it feels slower than normal like when you take off from a dead stop.

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

ok so go manual mode 2nd gear from a dead stop right?

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

im going to try a flush of the trans fluid. that could be it, no?

what do you recommend

I hate cars

Doubtful. Even if the fluid thickened 2 or 3 times it's original weight it would be hard to make a difference in stall speed.

I'm wondering if the electronics are preventing the car from going wide open from a stoplight.

Does it drive normally at 1/4 or 1/3 throttle?

Try that test mentioned earlier with the car moving. I would accelerate in manual slowly while bumping the shifter to a higher gear until you see 3rd show up. At the lowest speed it will show third gear manually, floor it and see what happens. It will be pretty slow anyway like this but if the stator is going out it's going to take forever to pull third this way.

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

alright im heading out now. ill give that a shot aswell as checking the stall speed.

thanks for all your help, i really appreciate it. ill post back in about an hour

greco9885

iTrader: (1)

stall is at 1900

drives normal at 1/4-1/3 throttle

car drove fine, no hesitation at all.

on 3rd gear pull, pulled slow till 3k then took off. another time i tried start at 3k and completely took off

I hate cars

I'll go and verify mine when I go to lunch just to make sure I'm not remembering wrong.

While I'm not completely convinced it's not an engine problem it's sounding more and more like a convertor problem.