TCC solenoid questions

Folks,

A few weeks ago some of you diagnosed my daughter's problem with her '92 Grand Am quad four to be TCC solenoid related. The theories proffered here made good sense (To refresh your memory the car stalls out at exits after coming off the Interstate but will restart in neutral and will then get going again with some deft working of the accelerator and shifter). Around town all is well. The transmission operates just fine.

My questions:

If the TCC solenoid is sticking can it be cleaned or does it simply need replaced?

If the TCC solenoid is not sticking but the ball valve it controls is sticking can the ball and its seat be replaced?

By disconnecting the solenoid will the transmission overheat as was suggested here? If not the most expedient fix would be to unplug the solenoid wiring. What do you think?

Reply to
Silver Surfer
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the best solution is to replace the solenoid. short term wise you can get away with just unhooking the tcc but avoid extended driving.

Reply to
gooch

I can tell you from first hand experience...if you want the quickest, cheapest & least painful way out...simply disconnent the TCC solenoid wire from the transmission! I've been running a 1991 G/A in this mode for 6 years/ 60,000+ miles. Driving conditions have ranged from around town to sustained interstate travel at 70-75 MPH, in all kinds of hot summer weather. Altough I've heard (& read) arguments about overheating the transmission if you operate in this mode...you can't prove it by my experience. After all, whatever did we do before "lock-up" torque converters???!!! Disconnect your your TCC & relax, things will be just fine.

Reply to
MBoom1664

OK. That sounds like a real winner to me. In looking over the service manual, changing this solenoid would be no picnic especially at this time of year.

Thanks much for sharing your experience.

Reply to
Silver Surfer
[snip]

We had bigger transmission coolers in the radiator and fewer plastic parts internal to the transmission/transaxle.

Reply to
Neil Nelson

We had bigger transmission coolers in the radiator and fewer plastic parts internal to the transmission/transaxle.

Not to mention larger engine displacements & heavier vehicles that required larger capacity cooling systems. As we often quote in the scientific community: "One test is worth a thousand opinions."

Reply to
MBoom1664

Torque converters had lower stall speeds in those days, because they were optimized for a good balance of performance knowing they'd never lock up. 20 years ago, there were lots of non-lockup cars running around and it was very easy to compare the two in similar cars (or identical ones). So it's fair to say in practice, more heat is generated in an unlocked converter that's designed to be locked. That's obviously a generalization.

However, I haven't seen any proof that cars today have worse transmission coolers, or that an unlocked converter generates so much heat it'll damage itself.

Reply to
Joe

Don't know about the opinion part, I was merely relaying what was taught to me in GM transmission/transaxle training by John Porter at the Milwaukee GM Training Center...

Reply to
Neil Nelson

This discussion thread has been very enlightening to me. Thanks to all who have joined in. My own knowledge and experience related to this issue are sorely lacking. One observation . . . in reading through the service manual I came across diagnostics for figuring out why the TCC is not applying, however, there is no mention of consequences other than lower fuel economy. Not sure if the non-mention is relevant or just an oversight.

Reply to
Silver Surfer

Theres a name I think I recognize.

Reply to
Bon·ne·ville

Yes, I was going to say that fuel economy might drop as the result of tcc not engaging. I don't know of any overheating issues though.

-- markwb

2001 Bonneville SLE

Reply to
markwb

I have the same problem here. I would like to try the fix of unplugging the Solenoid as the car isn't worth it to be fixed. I was quoted anywhere from

400-600 to get it fixed.

Could someone tell me where I can unplug the solenoid? Pics would be amazing but simply text will do if pics aren't available

Reply to
swalsh19

I have a Sunbird here with the same problem. Its not worth it to have it fixed properly. I hope to only drive it for a couple more months at the most. I would like to try and disconnect the solenoid to see if the problem is resolved, however I don't know where to unplug it. Could you give me some directions as to where to unplug it? If possible also how many wires are in the plug?

Reply to
swalsh19

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