torque converter street/strip

[Rick_L]

Blocking the cooler line ports does not decrease line pressure at all. I don't recommend doing it because you do need a cooler. And a cooler is a must with 3200 or so stall speed, if driven on the street. Running a cooler is essentially a loop unless the lines are too small - it's just a longer loop. There is a bypass valve in the pump that internally connects the "cooler out" and "cooler in" fittings. It opens at less than 10 psi. But that's cooling circuit pressure not line pressure. Cooling circuit pressure is usually very low unless you stall the converter against the brakes (or a transbrake). The pressure goes very high when the converter is stalled and the output shaft is stationary or very slow. But it still doesn't go to line pressure, and line pressure never changes unless the pump is oil starved.

You did make one correct point. The seal at the lower end of the pickup tube doesn't need to be a good one, except that you lose any filtering. One thing that could go wrong though is that if the filter (or whatever you use) isn't correctly attached to the pickup tube, it could block the pickup tube, and that would be a problem - as you said.

[55 Tony]

I don't know why I didn't do this right away, but I put a gauge on it.
Park 70
Reverse 115
N 70
D 75
2 150
1 150
And this is with a high pressure shift kit spring.
Also in 2 and 3 it fluctuates 30 or so psi with 150 being the average.
I suppose I have to drop the pan and double check the O-rings on the pickup tube. I hadn't done that, I just put 2 on when I put the tube in. Luckily I have a drain plug. Oh, and I thought it was shifting pretty soft, these pressure readings tells me why. Cross my fingers that's all it is. I guess I didn't put a gauge on it right away because I thought/read that the oil will have little bubbles/foam that show on the dipstick. This is my old pump and I didn't open it up, just swapped it to this case.

[Rick_L]

Also in 2 and 3 it fluctuates 30 or so psi with 150 being the average.

There's your real problem. I think it's starving for oil as already discussed.

[55 Tony]

I just dropped the pan to check the O rings on the pickup and they were fine, even added a third. Same exact readings. Fluid is full with a deep extra capacity pan. Putting the fluid back in I thought I noticed microscopic (or almost) sparkles. It was new fluid with the case change. The drain plug magnet also had what I'd say was a lot of fine metal for the 20 miles I put on it.

The fluctuation is actually in 1st and 2nd, not drive. the gauge goes up and down probably 2 or 3 sweeps/second.

[chasracer]

I don't know why I didn't do this right away, but I put a gauge on it.
Park 70
Reverse 115
N 70
D 75
2 150
1 150
And this is with a high pressure shift kit spring.
Also in 2 and 3 it fluctuates 30 or so psi with 150 being the average.
I suppose I have to drop the pan and double check the O-rings on the pickup tube. I hadn't done that, I just put 2 on when I put the tube in. Luckily I have a drain plug. Oh, and I thought it was shifting pretty soft, these pressure readings tells me why. Cross my fingers that's all it is. I guess I didn't put a gauge on it right away because I thought/read that the oil will have little bubbles/foam that show on the dipstick. This is my old pump and I didn't open it up, just swapped it to this case.

All of your readings are at minimal values or just slightly above on the 3rd (D) one. So I think maybe you can rule out a crack in the case somewhere but I would check the valve body/case for flatness and make sure you're not leaking there. And I said loop the cooler lines at the trans, not block them and only do it as a quick test to see the noise changed or went away.

[markm]

Tony how many quarts did it take to fill your TH400, I just had my convertor serviced and did a filter change and put 10 quarts of Type F in and ended up draining 2 out and adding a pint. I figured the 8 inch convertor was offset by deep pan.

[55 Tony]

Tell me, if before the tranny case swap there was no metal larger than fuzz, now there is metal of considerable size in the pan and the pump pressure is low (for the high pressure spring in the shift kit), what could I have done wrong? Or would you suspect the converter? Does all fluid coming out of the converter have to travel through the filter before getting to the pump? I just pulled the pump and opened it up, the gears have what looks like scrapes in the worn part, but fine enough that I can't feel them. Shaking the converter upside down yielded no metal. What did I F U ?

[Rick_L]

All the oil, no matter where it goes originally, dumps back into the pan. The oil that goes inoto the converter comes back out of it and into the cooler lines. The return cooler line feed lubrication oil to the front part of the rotating assembly and then drains into the pan. The only filtering is on the suction side of the pump.

Is the stuff in the oil steel (pick it out with a magnet)? Metallic but not steel? Not metal? You need to find that out before any internet diagnosis. But even at that, an internet diagnosis is just a WAG.

[55 Tony]

It sticks to a magnet. What is in the picture is from about 10 miles driving. No noise except the whine and it does that when or when not moving.

[Rick_L]

Looks like a tear down is in order.