A word of warning to the FI crowd. It looks like some of our vendors aren't what they appear to be. I bought a Level V auto tranny from a vendor on this site. It was supposed to MORE than handle the 600hp that my 98 vette would put out after the supercharger was installed. Well, with less than 5,000 miles on the tranny, it has failed again. The last time, I returned it to the manufacturer, paid their rebuild charge and reinstalled it. Now after about 1,000 mile on the rebuilt tranny, it has failed again. This time I had a local shop (that specializes in high performance cars) rebuild it. Imagine my surprize when they called me and asked me to come and look at what they found. Virtually NO RACE HARDNED PARTS AT ALL were installed. The vendor returned me a stock tranny that naturally couldn't hold the power from the engine. We all spend a lot of hard earned dollars to have our toys. And we buy them with the knowledge that as racing parts, they could break at anytime. However, when you pay a premium to get a top line product, and get junk instead, let's just say I will never use an online vendor again. I will stick to using local shops with reputations for doing honest work.

Buyer Beware

 

That totally sucks and you got PM

 

Beware of what exactly? You don't reveal who the vendor is, so what should I be concerned about? What is the alternative if I don't know who built your tranny? Should I tear apart a new Level V transmission after receiving it to ensure the parts were installed?

By the way...sorry for your misfortune...what happened is unacceptable.

 

Oh hell yeh! I'd like to know who too.

Shahram

 

You know, everyone loves to sue everyone these days. So I am hesitant to use their name, but lets just say they are supposed to get you to other end of the "Starting Point"

 

Thats not to obvious..

Well, it is unfortunate that you had such an issue. Did you take these findings up with the vendor? Or possibly shoot him some pictures?

Also, was this a used tranny that they were "Assuming" it still had all of the parts they previously installed? Or was this tranny gone through by them prior to?

Finally, do you know exactly what is installed in their Level V transmissions?

Just dont lump ALL internet vendors into one catagory. There are ALOT of vendors on this site that go the extra mile 7 days a weeks, to include their own personal holidays. I'd hate for those vendors to loose out due to a circumstance they had nothing to do with..

FWIW, buy an RPM transmission and you'll never have to look back.

 

Any comments from build vendor?

 

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

Like Jeff said though, there are plenty of forum vendors that are not in your home town that will take care of you. In fact I'm sure the original vendor just made a mistake in the tranny they sent you.

Hope you get it all resolved quickly and easily.

 

I find this post a little confusing. In the defence of the builder I will ask a few questions. I was reading in the FI archives and read your posts of the electrical problems (fire) that you were having. You stated that the previous tuner in Texas burnt up your transmission because of the wiring issues and that the trans was driven in limp mode. Have these problems been corrected. I would think for the transmission troubles you were having (two in a row) that you might look outside the transmission. When we sell a transmission (or the other vendors) we are selling an incomplete product that requires a lot from the end user, if anything is causing a pronblem (tuning,wiring,cooler restrictions,converter failure,etc.....) the end result is always the same. "Transmission Failure" I find it hard to believe that the transmission that was sent to you did not contain the following parts plus more.

Sleved input drum
Sleved Beast sunshell
Borg Warner input sprag
Wide Band
4L65E low roller
8 Hi energy 3-4 frictions
Sonnax billet booster valve
Trans-go HD2 shift kit
Wide sungear bushing
Wide stator bushing
Sonnax bearing between sunshell and low roller
D-rings on servo
HD pump slide spring
etc......

These are just some of the parts that are used by me and the builder of your transmission. I understand your frustrations and have dealt with upset customers like yourself but do not feel this was the only way to handle your situation. I am not taking sides and don't mean to come off wrong but I personally think that the accused builds a fantastic transmission. I do realize you have repaired your transmission locally but think you should call the vendor and maybe he and the local builder could talk. They could go over the parts together that were replaced and talk about the upgrades. If nothing else this could make you feel better and that you did not get ripped off. I will assure you that if nothing in the transmission "system" was changed or repaired other than the burnt transmission parts that you will be seeing your new builder again. The transmission failure you are having is more of a result and probably not the cause of the failure. I really really really wanted to stay out of this thread.

 

Quotes taken from earlier threads

"I am posting this here in case any of you have had a similar problem. My 98 A4 with P1SC is being tuned. During the tune, we had a small fire on the left side of the engine. It melted a few wires and shorted out the BCM. After replacing the BCM and reloading the tune, the FLP level 5 tranny is just undriveable. It doesn't want to shift. It just hangs. Has anybody had this problem? Any ideas?? My tuner is stumped.

TIA
Dave

Sorry to all if my original explanation wasn't clear. It is frustrating how a car can run so smoothly, have tremendous power when you punch it, and then just crater for a few minutes after the hard run. However, I think you have come to the same conclusion I did. It is the tune. The car simply runs too strong under boost for it too be having mechanical or wiring issues. I will take it to another tuner this weekend. The last guy had a small fire in my car while on the dyno and shorted out the PCM. After repairing that, he shredded a FLP level IV transmission with less than 20 miles on it by forcing it through the gears when the codes were telling him it was in a safe mode. All in all, this guy had my car for over 6 months and charged me $2k (to repair damage he mainly caused) on top of the $500 for the tune that he didn't finish. BTW, the fire in the engine bay SUPPOSEDLY was caused by oil from the a/c line. The a/c was vacuum purged when we removed the motor and had been open and dry for 5 months before the fire. Unfortunately, you can't recover from sloppy shops. You just pick up your toys, pay the bill, and try to find someone that knows what the heck they're doing.

Live and learn."


Again give the guys a call and I am sure you guys can come to an agreement. When both sides stay civil it is usually pretty easy work things out both for the customer and the vendor.

 

Unresolved disputes

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The Forum allows a factual post on an unresolved dispute with a vendor or another member once all efforts to resolve the issue offline have been exhausted. Then, the post must be factual and cannot be used to bash the vendor or the member. Once the post has been made, it cannot be repeated in other sections or on other days.

Moderators will try to leave such threads open until everybody with direct knowledge of the issue being addressed has had a chance to provide their version of the facts. The thread must not become a running debate on the accuracy of the “facts” and may not deteriorate into an exchange of personal attacks. Neither should be used as an opportunity for speculation by those who do not have direct knowledge of the issue.

Once there has been the opportunity for the facts on all sides to be posted, the thread will be locked. It will remain in the database and will be available for review by those who are researching the topic, vendor or member.

The Forum is not in a position to monitor transactions or to determine the “true facts” in most disputes. Upon request, however, the Forum will try to intervene and mediate a settlement suitable to all parties in a dispute. When issues are resolved in the matter, it will be posted to the original dispute thread so it becomes part of the searchable record. We believe that is a more useful record of performance for potential customers than would be an eBay-style rating system.

As has been our past practice, members or vendors who show a pattern of unresolved issues will be removed from Corvetteforum.com.

 

Thread is open till vendor replies.

 

I have to agree I would like to know in one way or another which vendor to stay away from!

But I must say that not all our Vendors here are hurting us Vette owners, at times it happens from unscrupulous USED SELLERS!

You can PM me and I'll keep it confidential for i will probably need a new tranny soon with the new Forged bottom end and extra B@@ST I'll be putting down in the next week!

This just might sway me to use my tranny shop locally who does fantastic work!

Thanks,Matt

 

w/two tranny failures i would have put a gauge in the second one to verify that the issue wasnt pcm related......10 minutes is all it takes....
stick a oil pressure gauge to the side port on the passenger side and watch gauge. 260 psi and while car starts making decent torque and all is good, if not then start looking at the tune.

done end of story.

 

JUST TO LET U GUYS KNOW IT WASNT RPM.
sure 99.99% of u already knew that but......


over 20 dyno runs with most over 900 to 1000 rwhp with RPM TRANSMISSION.
oh and yeah look at my sig....nice 60ft!

 

No it wasn't RPM and hopefully the vendor was informed by the thread starter so he can reply.

Failure to move the thread forward will cause all non related posts to be deleted.

 

yeah J i would think that it would be unfair for people to assume that, since Rodney replied in defense of the "other vendor"

 

Exactly that's why the thread was unlocked.

 

This should be handled between the customer and the shop, Not on the open Forum, I'm sure if they were to talk man to man this could be over before it got started, JMHO, Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.