Freezing the Slushbox. Torque Converter on-demand lockup switch.

[Christ]

I don't believe you'll have any trouble, Rick. However, if you'd rather be safe about it, brake cleaner will work, so will soap (phosphate free) and warm water.

[orange4boy]

Wow. Good you caught that. Did having the lockup switch make the problem more obvious?

[George Tyler]

I have installed an openguage so I can now see the instantateous change when I lock up the torque converter, it changes from 18 L/100k to 13. when I take my foot off the accelerator I can see the ecu cut fuel totally with it locked, it does not do this at town speeds without it, so it should make a huge difference.

[orange4boy]

That's amazing. What were the conditions when you tested? cruise? accel? I got a big change too esp in the hilly country where I live.

You should start a fuel log.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

Wow. Good you caught that. Did having the lockup switch make the problem more obvious?

It definitely helped identify the problem sooner, but it was clearly not shifting properly -- really soft and delayed shifts, engine-on-coast from N-to-D downshifted to third instead of 4th (never did that), taking a corner it would rev-up and then catch a gear -- just all of the "dying transmission" signs. With the TC switch, you can hear a distinct click of the solenoids, so the wiring was good.

I'm happy to report that after a $7.38 hose, it's fixed and fully functional (plus a bunch of synthetic ATF -- it needed a good flush anyway ) I used a shorter hose and covered any rubbing points with a collar using spliced leftover hose. Solid shifts and TC lockup is such a great feeling. With the mess, I did what I could to collect the fluids using a minimal water rinse following the solvent application (easy to recycle at the high school shop). I ended up taking it to a car wash and used the "engine soap" on the plastic undertray, fan, and rad, then blasted it with rinse water. Even still, it's going to take a while for it all to burn-off over time (it looks like it's overheating at idle).

Overall, crisis averted and Teggy's back on the road.

RH77

[George Tyler]

Remember that change was not overall, just instantaneous, will not make that much difference to a tank.

[orange4boy]

Overall, crisis averted and Teggy's back on the road.

Whew! I hate when that happens. I once drove my last Toyota LE van for a whole day with the Oil light on. How I missed that I don't know. It still ran fine until I retired it.

[comptiger5000]

With an auto, if it had enough fluid in it to stay in gear and move the vehicle, it's probably fine (for now at least). The bit of slip you described definitely shortened its life though, so there's no guarantee of how long it will last (could be another 10k, could be another 100k). Definitely change the fluid (and drop the pan, clean it out, and change the filter) after a couple days of driving.

[abogart]

Has anybody been able to successfully implement a TCL switch with the PWM-style tranny yet? I attempted this on the Corsica today. After finally finding a diagram of the pinout connections for the 4T60-E, I cut the Tan/Blk TCC ENABLE wire and ran a switched +12V to it, leaving the Brn TCC PWM wire intact. That did basically nothing except feed voltage into the ECU with the engine off, probably through the PWM wire I'm guessing. Next I snipped the PWM wire, nothing. So I read a little more on this thread (great stuff, BTW) and tried grounding the PWM wire, still no luck. I guess the only thing I can try now is to reverse the polarity and apply voltage to the PWM wire and ground the TCC ENABLE wire. Has anyone figured this out yet?

[bandit86]

So could this lockup mod be made to my 95 land rover discovery? Also the 2011 grand caravan I drive for work does it to get 6 speeds, fun to watch it at close to redline accelerating. Could a newer ecu be wired in to an older truck or car to fool the engine and tranny?