swapping valve body

[bacernate]

I finally got around to buying and replacing my valve body. Had a p1744 code before the tuner but not now. Even with the tuner wouldn't lock over 65mph.
As I pulled the vb off I noticed that 1 teflon ring around the pump shaft was gone. Vb scored inside the pump area, so I was looking at a pump failure soon I think. So I'm happy as **** that this might actually fix my car for 130 bucks instead of 1300. :woo-hoo:
Now my only problem is my local trans shop and local stealership don't have the teflon seals. :banghd:
So I'll keep you posted with a couple pics after I get some seals and put it back together.
I may order an updated pump shaft from sonnax if I have to get the seals online.

 

[mrbamcclain]

Where did you find the valve body? I've been thinking about replacing mine with the problems I've been having lately as well.
Can the valve body be replaced with the tranny still in the car?

 

[bacernate]

I ordered a rebuilt vb on flea bay. Got the car put back today and all is well. It locks up at 85 mph, it hasn't done that in 2 years. The only issues I had were missing teflon sealing rings on the pump shaft and the vb I ordered had the high ohm tcc solenoid in it instead of the low ohm.
As for doing it in the car that's what I did although I have a lift and air tools at work. A royal pia if all you had were hand tools and jack stands. But yes it can be done. There is a nice write up on v-8 sho.com. Something from the tcca forum I believe.
I'll see if I can take some pics of the damaged vb and maybe disassemble it this week.
Life is good when you save 1200 dollars and 5 more hours of work.

 

[slowshow]

How often would you get the P1744 code? Mine has come on and off twice since I had the tranny rebuilt. Every time I get ready to take it back to the shop, it goes off. It comes on, stays on for about 5 days, then shuts off. The next time it comes on, I will try and take it in within a couple days. Did replacing the vb take care of the trouble code? If I can fix this myself, I would rather do that than take it back to the shop that did the rebuild.

ALso, the car drives fine while the check engine light is off. When the light is on, it seems as though it has a hard time locking at above 75 mph. I noticed that when the light is off, my rpms are quite a bit lower. When th elight was on, as I approched 80, rpms would be right around 3400. That is very annoying due to the fact that I have an aftermarket intake and those secondaries howl like warewolves at that speed. It is constantly going back and forth between opening and closing, again this is when the light is on. This morning, it drove wonderfuly. I could tell that it was locking very son after the gear changes. I did 85 for almost 10 miles and the tach stayed below 3K the whole time.

I LOVE everything about this car, except the transmission. It rides great, sounds great, pretty quick for such a big car, very comfortable inside, pretty roomy, stops very well, but that dang transmission is becoming a staple in my backside. Not to mention I have already spent almost $2K on tranny work.

 

[slowshow]

That post was not supposed to be so long. Sorry, once I get going, it's difficult to quit...!

 

[bacernate]

It's been back together for 2 weeks and so far so good. Do you have a cooler on your car? What about synthetic fluid, really helps keeps temps down. I would look into getting a tuner for your car it will help the tc lock much better also.
Problem is if you return to the trans shop and it's working normally there's not alot they can test for this problem.
What year is your car? The only thing that really comes to mind is maybe they put the wrong tcc solenoid in it. 96-97 are low ohm and 98-99 are high ohm.
I was ready to shell out the dough for a rebuild but was having trouble finding a shop that knew their head from their azz. And didn't really want to shell out 2k for a Motorcraft or a Jasper unit. So I figured what the **** it's only 120 bucks and 3 hours of work to put the valve body in, And I could also tell the shop that it was already rebuilt if the trans had to come out.

 

[slowshow]

No. I do no thave a cooler on my car. The way I see it, is that the tranny is still not right. I'm not modifying or upgrading anything until I know it is back to how it was supposed to be. I do plan on adding a cooler and purchasing a tuner with custom tune from Nimz, but I have to make sure the car is like its supposed to be before I mess with anyhting. The tune may indeed help it to lock better, but nevertheless, you should not have to have a tune to lock a tq on a new tranny, right?

The question I have had, that has not been fully answered, is lets just say the shop did use wrong parts; ie. wrong torque converter, solenoid, etc. What are the symptoms of those parts being incorrect? And will it be a continuous problem, or intermitent? I am NOT taking it back to the shop, and will be fixing this issue myself.

I have checked local parts stores and the part that I assume is the tcc, they are calling the "transmission control solenoid." Is that the same as the "TCC" that every one on here refers to? They do show different part numbers between a 1997 model and a 1999 model, so am I to assume that this is correct? It's only about $30 and I thought a tcc would be more than that. I just want to make sure that it is a tcc and not something else.

As for fluid, I slacked on that one. I had a 5 gallon drum of Royal Purple ATF and was supposed to let the shop add some to the build. When the job was done he said they put Castrol Mercon something or other. Which I am not as concerend about fluid types causing my tq to lock up sometimes, and not others. I still have about 3 gallons left nd if the pan ever comes off, I will fill it RP ATF.

Once the car is driving like it should, I will add the cooler, and tune. But not a day sooner. Not sure where else to go from here. Craigslist or ebay listing is sounding pretty good so far......

 

[bacernate]

So you still didn't say what year your car is? I have an extra tcc for a 98or99. The real problem your gonna run into is there is no 1 thing that can cause a tc lock up problem. And almost all diagnostics of the tc circuit has to be done with the trans on a bench.
So you really should let the trans shop try to make it right. It sounds like you have the same problem that I started with 2 years ago.
My car was fine for about 30 minutes of driving and then it would unlock until the next day and all started over again. It progressively got worse, until I bought the tuner.
Even with the tuner my car would not lock above 65-70 mph, it takes more pressure to lock the faster you go.
So I would say that you probably have a valve sticking in the valve body or something letting fluid go where it doesn't belong, bypassing the correct circuits with fluid. That's what was wrong with mine, there are 4 sealing rings on the pump shaft and I was missing 1 and the other was about 1/2 the size of the new one. The guy I got them from told me it was from lack of lubrication at some time it got hot and ripped the seal off the shaft.
So if you can get the trans shop to pull it back out for gods sake have them put a shift kit in it. The shift kit will improve lubrication to failure prone areas. The tuner will help with this also as the line pressure is increased which is why my tc would work with it but not without.

 

[slowshow]

Sorry. The car is a 1997 model. Where can I get a shift kit for this tranny? I am not leaving it up to the trans shop to find one and put it in. If I do it, I will buy the part and bring it to them to install. By what you are saying, a tuner still will not compensate for the wrong tcc? Which I figured it wouldn't, so that's not something I am even worried about at this point. I don't believe a tuner should have to make a car function "properly" It should function as it should and then be upgraded to perform better than stock. Right now, the car us "sub-stock" standard. The light came back on yesterday. I called the shop and all he said was bring it back. You could tell that he was ****** just to hear my voice again. I hate arguing with this guy. I cannot stand to argue with anyone that believes that they are right no matter what, to their very core. He always says to me if I know so much about my car, then why don't you work on it yourself? My response to that is it doesn't matter if i invented the damn car, you are a transmission shop and I have a transmission problem. His response is, thats right, I am a transmission shop, and I told you that I am doing this job right. The I say, no, you are not. He says, yes I am. See where I am going with this...?

How difficult is a shift kit to install? LEt me rephrase... How difficult is a shift kit to install for someone with limited experience on automatic transmissions? I have seen it done a few times, and really doesn't look that bad, but the tranny was C-4 and C6 Fords with full instructions. Nevermind, I'm not that interested in a shift kit at this point. I want my tc to lock and unlock when it is supposed to. And I want my stupid CEL light to stay off.

Does this answer your question? Is it normal to have these kinds of issues after a tranny overhaul?

 

[bacernate]

Is it normal? No but not unheard of in a ax4n. The shift kit needs to be installed during an overhaul as there are ports you must drill[etc.] So in a word put your foot down and make them fix it or get your money back and get a Motorcraft or Jasper rebuilt.
Better yet make them ******** buy you one and install it!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slowshow]

Don't know if you saw in another thread, but the car is down... again... This time it's my fault, though. Soon as I get it up and running again, I will take it back up there to the shop. I didn't have any luck having them reimburse me for the damage they caused during the overhaul. I will definitely not get anything like a refund on a tranny rebuild, much less an off the shelf unit...

 

[slowshow]

ANother thing I noticed about the trans, is that at WOT it stays at red line for about 2 seconds before it shifts. Never noticed that before. It does it from 1-2 and from 2-3. 3-4 never gets to red line, if I remmeber correctly...