i have an 83 t/a which was gutted of all electronics... i don't know what locking up the tc is supposed to accomplish...
help, can some1 explain it to me...and what should i do to facilitate lockup... tnx

 

i guess i'm not the only one who doesn't know the answer... oh well

 

The lockup is a function accoplished by a valve in the VB getting a charge from the ECM then sending extra fluid to the tq converter. This Fluid pushes the clutches "very similar to a standard transmission"
to a lock posistion eliminating slippage associated with early tq converters. Basicly it improves highway mileage by reducing engine RPM by 400-500 RPM and also reduces damaging heat due to converter slipage.

 

Torque Convertor lockup is pretty straight forward if you think about it. A torque convertor consists of three basic elements: the impeller, the turbine, and the stator.The impeller is joined to the convertor case, which in turn, is joined to the flexplate on the back of the engine(the crankshaft). The impeller creates fluid pressure inside the convertor.The impeller has little blades that direct the fluid away from it and toward the turbine, which is splined to the input shaft of your trans. When the impeller throws the fluid away from itself, it strikes the turbine and forces it to move. When the car is in gear this causes movement. As you can imagine, there is a great amount of slippage(heat) generated by this process. A lockup convertor has a clutch disk that is controlled by a solenoid that basically locks the halfs of the convertor together to eliminate this slippage. This is why, in an car with overdrive, after all shifts are made, 2 through 4, there is another slight rpm drop, usually 200-500 rpms, this is lockup. Less rpms mean less fuel usage and less pollution. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah, that too.

 

Had tranny rebuilt, my transmission doesn't have the tc lockup valve in it, but alot of the time if i give it a little gas it shifts up to 3rd gear before i reach 20mph. Mechanic says it could be the computer. Adjusted the Throttle Valve Cable and it helps a little. Bad Computer? Does the computer control the Lockup?
Any suggestions??

 

thanks for the info guys,

when does it need to lock up? od?