Tranny whine and tranny coolers

[Lincolnmania]

yes i was wondering about the ballooned convertors.....i see quite a bit of them with marks from the flexplate bolts......wonder what my 200,000 mile convertor looks like?

[Archangel]

Pirate, would convertors with the so-called ani-ballooning plates hold up to the AOD-specific wear? Also my converter is about 155kmiles old, how much of an improvement do you think I will notice if I swap it out for a new unit?

[Nathan in MI]

Interesting idea about the swelling converters...but how do you account for the fact that some of 'em make noise and others don't? Neither of my cars has ever made a peep.

[Pirate]

If you are looking for stall-speed increase, and also ditching the stock 3 and 4 locked convertor to get rid of the 2-3 shift bog, then yes, most aftermarket convertors would be an improvement. If you are just trying to ensure that you don't get a ballooned convertor, even the though they puff up, they usually don't cause drastic failures all at once, so at this point, just drive it until the wheels fall off.

[Pirate]

Interesting idea about the swelling converters...but how do you account for the fact that some of 'em make noise and others don't? Neither of my cars has ever made a peep.

I don't know. As I stated previously, the noise source is speculation. Nobody does anything special with these convertors, other than a local company who rebuilds them, I have talked to them, they agreed that the groaning might be coming from the convertor....but nothing ever came of it, since most anyone doing anything hi-performance with an AOD tosses the stock convertor anyway.

[Lincolnmania]

been using supercoupe convertors on wide ratios......so far so good.....brian does nice work

[Pirate]

been using supercoupe convertors on wide ratios......so far so good.....brian does nice work

I have never had access to one. I have had 2 in the shop for rebuilds...but neither came with a convertor.

[Blaze86Vic]

The only tranny whine I ever had was simply a hydraulic whine through some passage in valve body. I could make it go away by running a lower TV adjustment, or by going higher. It eventually went away after a few months. This was a new tranny with a new converter.

[85MercPark]

I will bump mine up a bit and see what that does.

[gadget73]

Exactly. The only way I have ever gotten rid of the noise was after a convertor swap. The only correlation between the noise and convertor I can think of is the ever-present AOD stock convertor swelling problem loosening up clearances where the stator rides inside the convertor, causing the whining noise.

Oddly, my original trans was dead silent, the new one with the new converter is the one that makes the noise. Its not much, but its there. Its a stock replacement unit for a Supercoupe instead of a normal AOD. I'm not sure the specifics but apparently the stall is marginally higher without it being expensive like an aftermarket high stall converter, and I retain lockup.

I've never honestly tried fooling with the pressure, the noise comes and goes though. It usually will do it when sitting at a drive-through or something, get louder to a point then suddenly vanish. I dont pay much attention to it, its not that loud or annoying and I can just blame it on the typical ford power steering pump noise if anyone asks. Oddly, the PS pump on my car is quiet. Both times I thought it was bad, it was something else. Once the alternator was humming badly, and the other noise is the tranny.

[Archangel]

mentioning the TV pressure - when I was going from stock to almost maxed out every 1/16" I tightened the cable made a noticeable difference in the way the car shifted, now that I'm going the other way I've loosened it between 1/16 and 1/8 and there's absolutely no difference in shifting, car still acts like the pressure is maxed out. It does obviously feel when I let off the gas as it upshifts immediately, and also knows it when I keep increasing the throttle angle to keep the lower gear without actually going WOT, but it's like it just don't care how loose the cable is compared to the max TV setting...

[P72Ford]

My car whines in drive, and it whines really loud in reverse. Sounds almost like a PS pump.

My '88 CVPI w/ cooler made no such noises. Not in the first trans (which was destroyed in a neutral slam operation) or in the second.

I think my car could use a converter. She is unreasonably doggy from a stand still.