Well I had my current trans drained and the filter replaced. The dealership said it had really fine grey dust which was normal, but it also had some tiny flake like shavings that were brass. So now I'm worried that I'll need this B&M trans sooner than later.
What do you guys think about the TCI ratchet shifter? The seller also has one of these on the trans currently that he will sell me for a great price
I had several brand new TCI ratchet shifters..and the entire ordeal was a gong show. Also swapped in several new SJB's. ( smart junction box). The problem is /was..... once in a while the tci ratchet shifter will output some spike /transient /surge..to the SJB...and lock it up. What then happens is..... I come out of 711..and start the car..... and the damn thing will not come out of park ! The quick fix is to pop off the tiny cover... and insert a spare key, poker, etc, down inside onto the nylon tab. Then you can get it out of park....and the shifter works as normal....... until u stuff it into park. Then u have to do a manual over ride.
That feature in on the tci ratchet shifter..and also oem shifter...so the tow truck guy can get ur car out of park, and into neutral, etc.
When it 1st happened, I got another tci shifter shipped asap from AM. Installed..and now it all works, no problem getting out of park. Then 3 weeks later, problem is back. This time, we swap a new SJB in there..and again, all is well. Then 3 weeks later, problem back again.
Local ford dealer had the whiz bang come over from the next town, and they did a master re-set on the SJB.... problem solved......for about another week. This time they put a scope on the board, and verified that the TCI ratchet shifter is the cause of the SJB locking up.
Gave up on the tci. and re-installed the oem shifter. Zero problems for 2 years now. (never had a problem b4, with oem shifter either).
Even when the tci is working good, it buys u nothing..except for the ability to manually shift between 1-2-3-Drive. The oem shifter will allow u to manually shift from 1-2-3. (Once u manually shift into drive, it's locked into Drive).
The other problem with the TCI is..... to manually get from say 1st to park, u 1st have to manually ratchet several times..from 1-2... then 2-3, then 3-D..... then pull the 2nd lever, and manually shift to park ( or neutral or rvs).
IF u are manually in say 2nd gear... and mash the gas...once up to say 4 krpm... then stuff it into 3rd..... what happens is, it won't shift into 3rd. It will wind up to 6 krpm ( which is where my shift points are)... THEN shift into the next higher gear....... this is all normal.
I can manipulate the oem shifter a lot quicker than the tci... u don't need to press the rls button on the side either, when manually shifting.
This is on my 2010 auto with the same 5r55. The tci may look cool, but it really buys u nothing but grief. As is, I can take my pinky and manually shift from 1-D. You can't do that with the tci.
Don't waste ur time with it.
