What is a locking torque converter on the 3-speed autobox, and how does it work ?

What would happen if it stops working, and how can I tell, by looking at the box from under the car, if it has this or not ? Are there wires or something coming from the box itself ?

cheers !

 

Anyone.... ? Basically , the reason I'm asking is because at the side of the gearbox (driver side) , there is a plug with a wire coming from it, which appears to have been cut/broken , and am wondering incase this has been done to disable the lock-up converter - not being too familiar with these cars (82 TransAm 3-speed autobox 5.0 litre injection ) , it's the only thing I can think of.

If I wanted to reconnect this wire, where would I run it too - the ecu ?

thanks

 

Put in twice inadvertantly - sorry - 1st entry didn't show up on site .... for a while !

[This message has been edited by scotia (edited July 11, 2001).]

 

Sounds to me like you have the lock-up feature on your T/A. If your ECM wires are still intact you can figure out which one it was cut off and then re-wire it up. How many wires were coming out of the connector? I think there should be about 3 of them....there is on mine, but it is a overdrive 4 speed. I am not to familiar with the 3-speed trannys with the lock-up feature. I think you can rewire it up fairly easy though to the harness coming out of the firewall from the computer itself. Anyone else have anything?

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1985 Iroc-Z, 5.0 liter H.O. Black cloth interior, Hard Top!! [ no LEAKING T-tops...YES!!! ]Upgrades: Edelbrock Performer Rpm Intake, Holley 650cfm Zinc-plated carb, Flowmaster exhaust,Accel 8.5 spiral core wires, 700-R4 w/shift kit [ I think it is broken...NO!!!! ], 3.08 rear[ can you say slow!! ]

Soon to have:

A paint job!!! White w/ black sripes, Headers and y-pipe and 3" I-pipe, World-Class 5-speed swap, 3.42 gears, Lots More!!!!! If the funds are available!!

 

Thanks for that - I think it's just the one wire coming from it - may be a tan colour , but it's been cut right in, you can't really tell what colour it was.

One niggle I have though, is could the converter lock-up have been deliberatley disabled by someone - and if so, why ? (first reason that springs to mind is because it wasn't working - ie "locking" ?!)

Other than that, the car drives great through the gears - 1,2 and 3 , kicks down ok etc etc , trans fluid is clear red etc.

What does this lock-up facility actually do , though - I gather it knocks a couple hundred rpm's off the cruising speed in whatever gear you happen to be in - is that right ?

thanks again

 

You have a th200C. The C means it will lock-up. All it does is prevent the converter from slipping, which makes the engine's power more efficiently transferred through the tranny--lowering rpm and reducing heat in the tranny. It could be that somebody disabled the computer. If you want to use the lock-up, look around underneath for the rest of the wires and reconnect if you can find them. Or ask around here and find out which wire needs to be 12V and which wire should be grounded. The wire up a switch to the ground side and lock/unlock the converter when ever you want to.

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350 with stealth intake, holley carb, 470 lift cam. 700r4 with .5 boost valve, vette servo, tci lock-up kit, B&M megashifter. Richmond 3.73 gears, powertrax locker, timkin bearings, synthetic lube. Custom 3 inch single into 2 2.5 pipes. 1 1/2 drop springs, 1 5/16 solid front sway bar, 1 inch rear bar, custom subframe connectors, custom LCA relocation brackets. Kobel ground FX, current red metallic paint. Lots of other stuff...
82camaro

 

Thanks alot for that - that makes things a lot clearer . I'll get underneath the car at the weekend and see what's what .

As long as not using the lock-up is not going to cause any ill-effects to the tranny, that was my main worry.

I like the idea of the manual switch controlling the lock-up, so that's what I'm going to do - i'll check through the wiring diagram and see what wires there should be, compared with what's on the tranny itself.

thanks again !