I wasnt bringing up any instance in particular.And Im not aware of any problem you have if you want firmer shifts just give me a call .But this issue has come up as mentioned a few times and it does cost us heavily, But the part thats more distrubing is that when it does we are forced to pass that cost to other customers ultimatley. Many times a transmission is replaced due to some other issue in the car or the original trans failed due to some issue with the car and once replaced the issue must still be solved. While this is not so true with the 700r4 it is very true with the 4l60e. At one point when a customer got a trans and it didnt seem to work right in there car we would just take there word and send another even at a cost of average 1000 dollars to do that. But after having this type issue show up several times we started to be a bit more carefull about it and asking more questions and doing more test before we would do that. Because while yes it cost us ultimatley it cost all our customers. If you figured that 1 in 20 had this type issue and many times they do seting codes . Bad TPS,Faulty MAF,Bad VSS, even bad tuning and or a bad alternator have been the culprit and we did just replace the trans that means the other 40 customers would have to pay 40 dollars extra for this non trans related issue. So yes we do have to be thorough in finding out whats wrong when something happens for both us and our customers, Unfortunalty in this day of electronic transmissions the days of you put the trans in and it either works or dosent just dont exsist anymore there are so many variables and other things that come into play. A good example would be the gentleman in the video in our sig , He got our trans and he put it in along with some other engine mods, The first thing that happened is that when floored the trans would shift directly to 4th gear. It took a month for him to get that figured out and luckily he did understand how the electronics interact and did pursue the answer , It was in fact a tuning issue having to do with engine tuning not transmission. But he got it figured out and all is good. But we have also had customers who absolutley would not look for and issue because they didnt understand how all these thing interact and spent lage sums of money trying to get it solve to the ultimate end of them finally going to a tuner and getting it resolved and we paid for it. In todays cars there is no definate separation of trans/engine tuning but they are interelated so you have to look into every thing before you blame the trans and I dont mind at all helping but at the same time I do have to keep the companies interest in mind too and meter that with whats good for the customer because ultimatley yes we serve the customer but if we are not profitable in doing that then we would not long be here to do that because we would either loose to much money and go out of business or we would have to raise prices to such a degree as to no longer be competitive with the same end result. I personally think we have the best customer service in the industry and definatley and I have read them all the best warranty. But we do have to set limits when it come to replacing transmissions that do not have a problem. As my uppers told me and they are right we either have to make absolutley sure there really is a transmission problem before we warranty it or replace the unit or we have to build the frivilous replacements into the price tag to the retail customer. Now I am sure that for the occasional person who has some issue that turns out not to be the trans for them it comes out to there advantage but Im also just as sure that the other customers if they were aware would not like the fact they are ultimatley paying for it because we were being negligent in our investigations into what went wrong. To give a few examples.
1-Sent guy a trans, Trans failed in a couple weeks. Replaced trans our expense shipping and all , Had bad trans picked up got it to shop , Pepto pink trans fluid, Answer coolant was leaking from radiator into the trans, Problem our cost 1000 dollars.
2-Sent guy trans would not shift,Replaced trans still would not shift. Had first trans picked up bought back put in car perfect, Talked and worked with customer he had in this instance a bad TPS no code took a bit to find it , replaced and all was fine, Problem again our cost 1000 dollars,
3-Sent guy a trans 700R4 he didnt ajust the TV cable called and said trans slipped badly. He had allready removed it , Sent another trans he installed still slipped then he called and we did some checks TV was fully released, Ajusted and was fixed but again our loss 1000 dollars.
4-customer calls says trans dosent work we send trans and never hear from them again cant get old trans picked up, ? problem unknown. Bigger problem 2000 dollars lost.
5- We have had several customers fail to properly install converter and break pump. (we do provide instructions) Post trans dosent work, We do some checks and send them a pump , get old pump back you can see where the converter hub slid off the tabs in the pump when the car started. Problem a bad post and 250 dollars lost.
I have more instances like this we keep carefull records of all issues.But I think you can see what the result is we have to pass that loss on.
When a customer calls we do everything we can to help them and I know this because I am the one they call. But because of instances like these we have to be more carefull and ask more questions and do more test before we simply replace a trans which Im sure anyone can understand. We work to provide the best quality unit and the best customer service possible. But at the same time there do have to be some limitations when it comes to giving the customer what they ask for because at times what they want us to do and what they need us to do are two different things. It always serves us and our customer best to make sure before we make any move to carefully diagnous the problem, So thats what we do first now. Even when someone does post in a forum that a trans is bad even before this is done, And my only pont is that it would seem fair if everyone posted the resolution too , Rather than just going on there way.Which is what ussually happens.
Yes we are here to make money because much like anyone reading this if the company you worked for didnt make money you wouldnt have a job. Our goal is to make that money by providing the best service and product possible period and thats what we strive to do.With everyone to the best of our abilites.
PerformaBuilt

 

performabuilt:
I wasn't saying you were stiffing him, I was just defending the right to use the internet as a way fight back if you "think" your getting screwed. I do believe the transmissions crapped out on'em, but I also believe your doing your best to rectify the situation. I guess when your turnin out over 600 transmissions a year, you expect a few to **** the bed.

I understand why you wouldn't give him a full refund without the units back, but I can also see why Geoff is so frustrated. This "**** sandwich" here is why I'd never consider running my own business, I would go insane.

 

haha, Frank, it seems you have taken the post the wrong way. I love the transmission. My old 4l60e shifted so hard it hurt my neck, the power still stays but the shifts are awesome. I like them being smooth, thanks for the good build.

 

Frank, i have the reciepts for the cost of importing. The free trade agreement does not cover this. As for all the problems your stating im not sure why your bringing all that up. Is this in regards to me? Saying i did something wrong? I did install the first one at my old highschool with the shop teacher and you did say on the phone it must be an "internal issue". When the second one was intalled it was done proffesionally at a very reputable shop. It is just a "simple" 700r4 and both did not work off the initial instalation.

 

No these are just statements concerning some of the other post. And general info as to why things are done in the way they are. And to make the point we have never stiffed anyone in any of our dealings but in fact have been ourselves on multiple occasions. Its seems not to all but to many people the company us or whomever is always the bad buy. But we do go the extra mile to do all we can for our customers and thats the only point I am trying to make.

 

it will be very interesting to see what you find if you gets these trans back ever to your shop!

 

I have to speak up here lol 2 trannies not having reverse is kinda wierd there is no electronics or anything of that nature to run reverse it is all hydraulic based off the manual shaft, Geoff are you sure that the shift cable is adjusted correctly? I have been building these ragged things for about **** I dunno 10 years and never had a damn no reverse unless the shifter was out of adjustment. I just do not believe this is a problem with the tranny same problem 2 times from 2 different builders in a different time frame. just my .02

 

The shift linkage was taken off and shifted "manualy" with the wheels in the air to make sure the problem wasnt with cable/shifter

 

I was always a little worried about the stall. I know that with a large stall due to the higher ratio in reverse that the engine might have to get up to around 2800 to 3000 before the car would try going backwards but from your description you gave me I think you did the revs and it when forward instead if I remember correctly ?

 

Do you work for performabuilt?

 

I'm sure he doesn't but not having reverse in 2 separate units(they were 2 diff. ones right?) Its pretty uncommon for any problem with reverse.

We realy won't know until they get taken apart....Is an odd problem to have it in 2 units

 

No, I have just had a similar problem with a friend I built one for and it kept doing un diagnosbale things and after a freinship and me eating 3 transmissions come to find out there was a problem with the car. During the whole process I was called everything but a white man so no more friendship there. I will tell you this if the 2 trannies dont have reverse and there is a problem with the trannies then it is the biggest coincidence I have seen with a 700

 

Geoff, What's exactly holding you up from sending these trannies back?

 

If you think this is a problem with the car i am all ears. What do you think it could be? As i said the first one was installed with the help of a shop teacher at the highschool i used to go to. The second one i paid to have it intalled proffesionally. I have talked to three different trans' builders who all say it must be the transmissions. If I had been told to take the car to a tranmission shop to get them to diagnose the problem maybe both frank (performabuilt) wouldnt have had to send me two units and would have saved some money and maybe i would have saved some time and money but right now i think i am far passed that. As i said the linkage was disconnected, frank told me on the phone it was an internal issue with the unit. So if you think you know whats wrong please tell me.

One of them is in still in the car, Frank was arranging to pick the first one up which didnt happen. After two weeks of waiting for the first one to be picked up I went on vacation for two weeks and didnt get back until this saturday at 11pm.

 

Hey does anyone know how many quts. of atf were added to this unit?? Jus wondering..how about adding a couple extra just for the hellva it??? and after you do that try pulling the t.v. cable out all the way out..Just grab it and pull it out allll the way...better yet pull the pan down and tighten the screws for the reverse plate ,, or pull the pan and make sure the aux valve body is tight... It seems to me somthing very simple is being over looked here, it usaually is something sooo small...Hope this helps..Dave