JunkHead84

everytime i start to drive and i get into second the car starts running crappy. i still hear it reving but the car doesnt move past 50mph. the sound of the exhaust changes and gets lower and sounds horrible. and on hills it revs then it stops then it revs then it stops. can somebody tell me what could be the cause of this. the car is an 87 camaro with a carbed 350 and turbo 350 tranny stock converter.

JunkHead84

i forgot to mention that i took out the computer and i dont have any sort of lockup and i dont even know if im supposed to have it.

transfixleo

Does it seam as if the car can't go any faster or does the tranny feel like it is slipping and and it just can't go any faster? If it is the former then you could have a frozen Sprag in the converter. It is supposed to frewheel at around that speed and if it doesn't it limits the speed of the car.

JunkHead84

the tranny doesnt feel like its slipping the car runs alright but then all of the sudden it bogs down and looses power until i throw it back in park and start over. its everytime the car hits second gear.

transfixleo

Hmmm, what happens when you hit 3rd? Does the problem go away or it just stays that way from 2nd on?

kream-

kinda sounds like the torque converter is stuck in the LOCKED position?

JunkHead84

i was never able to make it to third. while its in second and i step on the gas the sound of the car changes and almost stalls. the exhaust get lower, not a good deep lower, a crappy exhaust leak on a chevette lower, if you know what i mean.

powermite

Those are the exact symptoms of a locked convertor.As someone else has said make sure your convertor is not locked without you knowing

pm

transfixleo

I agree that it does sound like a bad L/U Solenoid, activating L/U as soon as the 2nd gear circuit is charged, as that is where the oil that operates L/U comes from.

JunkHead84

what do i do. i didnt think i had a lockup at all because of the car not having a computer. on the tranny there is a plug that has 3 wires coming off of it not sure what colors but thats the tcc lockup right ? either way i dont know where those hook up.

transfixleo

OK, OK, OK! Let me get back on track here. I respond to a lot of posts and I forgot you don't have the 700 anymore. You apparently have a 350C in it then (are you sure about the tranny?) and it too controls L/U from 2nd on, depending on calibration. Try it with the harness unplugged, just in case you are somehow getting power and ground to it all the time (don't know how, just eliminating things). If that doesn't do it then you could also possibly have a stuck valve or bad solenoid in the tranny, if indeed this is what is occuring. If it is the 350C then you will see a solenoid on a separate, small VB section that houses the L/U valve.

82z

The stator clutch is frozen. A new convertor will fix the problem. Whether or not the convertor is a lock up type or not is not important to the problem at hand.

transfixleo

I suggested that idea but it doesn't explain why it would occur on the 1-2 shift and in fact since the RPM's drop on the shift it would likely feel better.

MattW

iTrader: (1)

what about a clogged catalytic converter
would that do it??

transfixleo

Absolutely! Anything that will affect the engines ability to perform at WOT.

82z

I hadn't considered a clogged cat. Matt may be on the right track!

JunkHead84

no it cant be a clogged cat, i just got a brand new exhaust put on last week, and i had the same problem with open headers driving it to the muffler shop.

JunkHead84

ok i just jacked the car up and went through the gears. manually i never heard it shift from first to second, but from second to third i heard it. when i put it in drive i also only heard it shift only once which seemed like first to second. the speedometer was somewhere past 80 and all i heard was the engine reving higher and higher so i let off. the car never bogged down like it did when i drove it on the road, i guess it only does it under load. i have no tach and my speedo only goes up to 80 cuz this was a base model camaro. could the vacuum modulator be the problem, i only figured that because of the shifting? damnit i liked the days of november when my car had all 3 gears.

transfixleo

I don't see it causing the engine to bog down. You could get very late shifts with a bad modulator since the tranny would think you were at WOT but it would still shift once you reached the apropriate speed. How about getting a vacuum gauge on it and reporting the idle and 3000 RPM readings, including whether they are steady or not. Also record the resonse when you snap the throttle, if in instantly drops and then goes above the starting idle and quickly settles back to the starting point.

JunkHead84

thanx for everybodies replies. it ended up being a stuck valve in the tranny. i think it was the detent valve. i fiddled with the tranny and some of the valve body was alittle rusty, cuz i did get it from the junkyard. i soaked it in atf and while taking the valve out i had to wrap it in a few shop towels and bang it flat on the bench. it freed itself.