As some of you know I have been chasing a vibration that occurs around 2k rpm when accelerating since I got my car. I first had some ignition issues to get straight and have done that. I changed all fluids including tranny.Initially I thought the original owner's running it with a leaky FPR might have washed the cylinders with gas and that might be the source.

I also thought mabey it was Tranny related although I figured it might be the TC. I took it to several tranny shops to get opinions including from all accounts the best in the area( Geeze they got over 300 trannys on the wall and handle lots of fleets).I made an appointment for the big cheese to drive my car and took it down. His attitude left much to be desired as he was ranting at one of his employees when I got there and I waited and waited....

Finally he gets in and off we go I told him it is most noticeble around 70 while accelerating(at the time my whole car would shake around that speed while accelerating). He told me he could not go that fast as he has had some tickets but he did get some of the vibration at other speeds and pronounced my tranny good the engine was the source.That was the same thing the other places told me too

I just could not see it myself but I found the problem. I put some Lucas tranny fix it in it and guess what vibration is gone. My guess is some slippage was occuring but whatever the reason it dissappeared right after putting it in. Now I took it to these "professionals" and each of them said they could not see the tranny causing it before that. I was more than willing to send some money thier way but they seemed to care less.Mabey it was the Fear of Vettes(I have some stories on that topic too) but I would think at least one of them would have done a little more than take it down the highway @55mph.They made me feel like I was wasting thier time. Why is it so hard to find good reliable help with our cars?

 

I had the same thing happen in my 87. In my case, it was the main bushing in the case. Classic case of a $2 part that cost $1500 to fix.

 

In a completely different car that had a very strong 5 spd. auto, I had the same issue after putting in a Level 10 torque converter, supposedly "made for my car". Hah! What a piece of dung! It lasted about 25K miles and then this vibration at some speeds, intermittently and not consistenly.
I'm like you; I took it to driveline shops, trans shops, my specialist. And finally, I had to conclude it was the lockup torque converter.

Spoke with the owner dud (that's on purpose; he wasn't a dude, he was a dud) of Level 10 in NJ. He said, oh gee, that's too bad. At your cost, you could take it out and ship it to us. We'll look at it and repair it at your cost, again. And ship it back to you, at your cost. I basically told him in a nice way to do an unnatural act on himself.

Fortunately, I'd saved my original TC and had it reinstalled. It was still going very strong at 175K miles when I sold the car which speaks for changing the fluid rather religiously for its 145K miles that it was in the car!!!!

Wish I had or knew about Lucas oil back then, 3 years ago. Glad yours was solved so easily. (Sorry about my venting there.)

 

Hey Redeasy, Is that fluid actually called Lucas (brand name I know) TRANNY FIX? Where did you buy it, any where you buy Lucas products?

My Silverado pickup exhibits a similar vibration that I can't find elsewhere and think this is worth a try.

 

tee, it probably is the one you mentioned. Lucas Oil is out of Pennsylvania and they've got lots of diff stuff, almost all in white plastic bottles with blue and red lettering. You'll see it at all the stores, Advance, Pep, AutoZone, etc. Friend used something in his manny tranny, not sure which one, but it worked to make it a little smoother. I don't need it for mine tho.

 

our landlord sent their handyman over to fix the outside motion light... replace it actually.

It is mounted, by a central screw, to a weatherproof box, attached to the wall.

As the handyman was up there, I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "oh, this is mounted different, it's got this box thingy, I am going to have to get a new one or something."

I replied, "uh, the center screw... remove the center screw." he said, "that won't work." "Yes, it will, $5.00 says it works."

He refused to bet me and removed the center screw...

Surprise surprise... guess what happened? The lamp came off. Shocking.

 

I have found, thus far in my life, that experts normally aren't and I'm better off spending my time looking at it myself. My dad was right, if you want anything done right, do it yourself.

 

I had a similar encounter at a fairly well-respected Corvette shop in the Bay Area recently... I called the guy to see if I could bring my car by, and I described the symptoms I was encountering. Before I could even finish telling him ALL of the details, circumstances, etc., he literally says, "Yeah, yeah...it's probably your A/C pump. You wanna bring it by?"

Obviously, I was a little put off by being treated so "shortly," but I took the car over to his shop nonetheless. We go for a ride, and he's basically just joyriding. He didn't do a single thing to try and isolate the vibration I had - in fact, he had the A/C *OFF* nearly the whole time! If he thought it was an A/C pump, wouldn't he want to run it??? Needless to say, I didn't feel like I was wasting his time - I felt like HE was wasting MINE.

 

If he can follow your suggestion he won't have to worry about getting a date for Saturday nights.

 

But is the stuff called "TRANNY FIX" or does it have an official name other than that?

 

Actually, I believe teh official product name is "Trans Fix" but yes... more or less.