I have a 94 with a stage 4 ATS (biggest piece of crap company in te world) trans. Well i have had nothing but problems with the trans when i first got it. Now its come back for more! i was towing my jeep when i came to a stop sign and it started to kill the engine. Its acting like its still in 3rd gear withe the tq converter locked up. I have a override swicth to the lcok up so i switched it off. Still doing it. Then when i take off i have to floor it and the rpms go all the way down to 300 and i puke out a tone of black smoke sense its so bogged down! Im thinking its the trans ecm.

 

It sounds like its stuck in high gear & OD , stuck in OD will kill the engine , till the TQ is completely burned up , then it can not grab & kill the engine .

 

will it do that even if i put it in 1st on the shifter? will it stay in high gear?

 

Only one way to find out. If you drop it into manual low and it still takes off in third...you have big problems.

 

i did that and it still takes off in higher gear but after moving some it will shift down into a low gear but even then it still bogs down the engine!

 

oh and it does it in reverse too i disconnected all the wires too still does it.

 

pull the tcc plug on the trans, should work then but no OD or l/U should take the electronics out of the loop if it still does the same thing.

 

Sprag could have busted in the transmission. They act like they are locked. Just something to look for.

 

i pulled the plug its still acting the same. Sprag? Or did you mean spring?

 

Thats why I went to Suncoast full billet and triple disc and flex plate, no problems! And I am relly hard on it!

 

Yeah i bought this back about 5 years ago (only has about 20k on it) And it was back when ATS was still doing good work then i bought mine and about a month later everyone including me started to say they were junk. I blew an input on it, overdrive whined when i first got it. I have pulled that tranny twice sense i put it in!

 

Sound very similar to what my tranny did this past December- the TQ clutch died and sent crap through the system, had to limp it home in 1.....

Drop the pan, look for fiber and shavings!

Totally machanical Something like the TQ clutch mechanism died forcing a lockup on all the time and sending finger pieces into the fluid and through the rest of the tranny. Overhaul time! MAY not have anything to do with the rebuilder of the transmission- mine was the fault of the TQ rebuilder who ate the cost of the TQ in the rebuild. Got a HD TQ now- MUCH better

 

Sprag is a one way mechanical part in the convertor. It can break causing an almost mechanical lockup. I've seen it happen. It usually sends junk back into the transmission which means a complete rebuild. Pull the pan and see what kind of parts are laying in it. I may not have this described completely right but it is close. Good luck.

 

Have you called ATS yet? I'm not cheerleading for them or anything, but we have a few guys here that are pretty tight with them and might be able to get you some help... PM John P or Lary Ellis...

 

yeah it feels like its trying to lock up and it shifts threw the gears way to early so im having to manualy shift to get it to be drivalbe.