Thread: Ats strikes again !!!

ats strikes again !!!
well here's the story..
in march 2010, i am driving down the 67 freeway in el cajon, ca. And exit via the ramp to the i-8 east.
my truck as i am entering the i-8 east from the ramp, shifted 1-2 shift and then 2-3 shift and then as soon as it shifted into 3rd (pow) absolutely nothing...

no transmission power..
i get it towed home and call ats.
let them know exactly what happened, still under warranty, the tech says he will have someone get right on building me a replacement that day and that it will ship in 2 days...

after many more times calling..
i finally get a hold of the woman answering the phones and she helps me out somewhat..

she says that there is no record of any trans being built for me .... Now mind you two weeks has already gone by and i have already spent over $1,500.00 on truck rentals for work..
the lady tells me she will have someone start building a trans & 5-star converter and will ship out in a couple of days after dyno testing.. All i will have to do is pay for shipping since it is still covered under warranty......

within a week or so, i finally get the trans & torque converter.
so i removed the old transmission and torque converter, inspect the flex-plate very closely and install the new transmission and torque converter and torque to specs....
note i am a ford prototype truck mechanic for 16+ years...

fill with fluid, check and top off fluid and start the truck and the converter rattles like crazy..

now instantly i am smoking mad that i have gone through all of this time, money, and misery, also a lot of painful labor...
i instantly get in the forum straight to ats and tell them everything that i just wrote, and as usual, no reply......

so i still have not sent their core trans back until i get some satisfaction...

so i go over to my local turbo shop who i originally purchased the trans from and had installed from..

he says it sounds like the converter is bad.. He heard me coming from the end of the block and when i pulled into his driveway, he knew why i was there...

he said drive it a couple hundred miles and see if it quiets down..(he said that is what ats would tell me to do if i ever managed to get in touch with them)!!!!

so, i put 300 miles on the truck. Very easy miles i might ad..

like rear end pucker easy..

the noise got nothing but worse.....

i pulled the trans today also pulled the flex plate for another close inspection and the flex-plate is in perfect condition.....

spin the torque converter back and forth on the trans, and it sounds like it is full of marbles...

i am so pissed off i am about to lose my job because of this trans and all of the problems..

if i had not been under warranty, i would have went straight to bts for a trans and converter and had no stress, no out of pocket expenses, trans swapped out and perfectly satisfied in a weeks time..

i am going to my dealer tomorrow and getting them to warranty this converter for me so i can get my truck back together and when everything works properly, i will be sending the old ats core trans & converter back to ats..

and if i can't get them to swap out the converter, i am going to sue ats for, not only my time, but all of the money that i spent on rentals, transmission r& r 2 times 2 days of missed work waiting on delivery that was never shipped when i was told.. And the shipping !!!!

carey bojanowski el cajon, ca. 772-643-2100

I'm surprised you didn't go to John Wood. He's a lot closer than CO

Sucks to hear man. If you need any parts or they won't warranty the converter, give John Wood a call. He can get you a TC in no time and you won't have an issue of not being able to get ahold of him and he's less than 2 hours away. Hope you get everything sorted out!

The only reason i went with ats, is the original trans was warrantied by them, so i thought it would be a painless transaction...

i was just at John woods getting mine built. He is a great guy. Answered all my stupid questions, and didnt get annoyed at me looking over his shoulder while he was doing his thing. He loves what he does and does it well. Give him a call. Im sure he can help you out. He should be able to take that ATS apart and fix what needs to be fixed without a problem.

Originally Posted by CAREYBO

The only reason i went with ats, is the original trans was warrantied by them, so i thought it would be a painless transaction...

I definitely wasn't trying to bash on ATS or your choice....just pointing out that John usually stocks quite a few of his converters just for stuff like this. If ATS won't warranty it, then he can get you one pretty quick!

you should bash on them I've installed 2 of them for customers and they were junk from the get go. call john wood and get it fixed right.

Originally Posted by matt@ocdieselshop

you should bash on them I've installed 2 of them for customers and they were junk from the get go. call john wood and get it fixed right.

HAHAHA I do bash 'em, just try not to get the whole who is the best tranny builder crap talking started on people's threads.

Originally Posted by matt@ocdieselshop

you should bash on them I've installed 2 of them for customers and they were junk from the get go. call john wood and get it fixed right.

Yeah, I wasn't real happy with my ATS in my obs.