I made this circuit to control the Torque Converter lock-up solenoid.
I thought I'd share it as this forum had lots of info that helped me...

Switch locks the torque converter ON.
Green LED indicates the torque converter locked up. (When either the ECC unit turns it on or you turn it on via switch)
Red LED indicates the torque converter locked up but the ECC unit has not locked it up, in other words, switch has locked it up.

Eg drive along, when you hit 60 and slightly relax the throttle ,the green light comes on, red light off. This means ECC has switched on lock-up.
Switch on the switch. No change in LED's, as the switch has not really done anything yet.
Accelerate strongly, or decelerate, and the RED LED will come on, indicating that the ECC has tried to disengage lockup, but switch has overridden it.


I've noticed some interesting things...
Even with 12v on the lock-up solenoid, it WILL NEVER LOCK UP IN 1st or 2ND gear.
So if you switch on lockup while stationary in drive, it does not stall. Then start to drive, TC in 'ON' but it only engages when the engine hits 3rd gear. If you now brake, it stays in 3rd gear and the engine will shudder if you go too slowly as TC is locked up in 3rd gear at low speed, but drop back to 2nd gear, and Torque converter unlocks. the gear box must have soem mechanical way that avoids lock-up in 1st and 2nd gear.



Here's how my circuit works.


Switch in up position = normal driving mode.

There is no change to the car wiring. The green LED comes on to indicate when the torque converter is locked up. It is interesting to watch, the torque converter comes on at 45 k/h when the car is in drive or 3rd gear in economy mode.


Switch in down position = torque converter manual lock-up.

In this position the torque converter relay is is connected to 12V, thus switched on. The green LED comes on to indicate this.

THe red LED only comes on when the ECC module has switched the lock-up off, but the switch is forcing it to be on. This is a reminder that you are over-riding the ECC setting.


ECC connects to the Lock up Solenoid (Solenoid 7) wire. It comes out of pin 96 of the ECC unit which is in the passenger side near their feet. Far better to take the top cover off the ECC and look at what color pin 96 wire is, then break this wire about 1 foot further along where there is more room, under the glove box. On my EL falcon it is a light blue wire, but there are two light blue wires, hence the need to trace it from pin 96.

12 volts power can be found at the wire coming out of pin 71 or pin 97 of the ECC unit.

and the ground can be taken from pins 103 or 76 or 77 or 51.

I mounted the two LED's up on the dash, just above the switch, then ran wires down to below the glove box.

Wayne...

 

 

Attachments:

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wow

dude thats awesome

Very good but excuse my ignorance but when would you need to lock it up other than when the ECU does it?

wheel spin.

have heard its not a great idea as the TC can only handle about 280Nm.

like the idea tho, good on ya for trying it.

btw love the swerly picture

hey wayne, do you need 10w resistors for that or can you use the 1w tiny things?

fiftyone - i thought lock-up is good for towing?

the engine management can tell if its got something too heavy for the TC and will release it. like under full acceleration and such

in the BA if you know it over to sports shift BUT DONT ACTUALLY SHIFT it locks the torque converter giving you that bit more power.

pretty cool really.

Yeah, well done, you must of read this thread: http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23725.
The S7 solenoid has a resistance of 23-45 ohms, you'll need to simulate it for the ECU in manual mode because if you switch back to normal, the ECU will not control it until you switch the engine off and restart it. EBGizmo's idea of including an unlock facility when pressing the brake switch is very handy.

TCC is a good facility but underutilised in the E series BTR autos. If you're in drive, TCC won't engage til 78kmh - you need to be in 3rd to engage around 45-50kmh (EL's that is). In slow driving around 45-70kmh, it really makes a diff performance wise. It's also handy for downhill braking - as soon as you close the throttle, the ECU will unlock TCC, so you may as well be coasting, and cook your brakes along the way, alternatively, back to 3rd, engage lockup, and give your brakes some help.
It's unfortunate that lockup is only in 3rd and 4th, but better than nothing.
And driving like a semi automatic is actually fun, rather than selecting 'D', and that's it.
I've now done around 27000km using this system, I've accidently stalled a few times (this is where the brake switch unlock would be handy), but I've found the transmission to not suffer any noticeable deterioration.

It's personal preference, and it's a mod you wouldn't think makes much difference - until you actually try it.

Thanks Snap0, if you are using it for engine braking then the brake switch may not be such a good idea it may need to be speed sensitive. Perhaps a speedo sendor signal to cut the signal when the speed is down to a predeternimed level.

I dont see how you will get more engine braking. That is controlled internally by the clutches (C1 i believe - which is why you get engine braking in manual first but not auto first)

Yeah isnt that something to do with one way clutches being used in auto 1st but clutch packs being used in manual 1st??

Neat little mod there wazza, ive experimented with manual lockup of the TCC myself.

I think that regarding the lack of TCC lock in 1st/2nd, the circuit must require 3rd/4th gear solenoid pattern to be present before allowing TCC to lock...

actually wazza, i was thinking of a set of quick shift buttons like the B's have. couple of small buttons behind the drivers hand to select gear. wouldn't know where to start. being told its hard too.

anyone want to give it a shot?

Yeah no probs. I suppose it depends on how far you want to develop it - I was quite happy to run an LED to indicate whether ECU or manual control, an on/off button on the autoquad to enable/disable manual control, and use the cruise control on/off switches to switch manual on or off, as it was quicker to do.

This is correct - changing down manually does help braking considerably. I did test 3rd gear manually locked and unlocked downhill, and there was a slightly better braking effort being locked (wasn't earth shattering mind you)- I suppose I should've worded it better. Under ECU control, as soon as the throttle is closed, the ECU will unlock TCC.
Theoretically, I expected braking to be greatly improved further with lockup, but in practice it isn't totally the case.

There is a set sequence for the S7 solenoid, it is listed in a table in the ford manuals IIRC.

This is not true,
with the 100 ohm the ECU still thinks it's controlling the solenoid and continues to operate after i turn it off.

I thought 23 ohms would pull 1/2 amp which is a lot of power, so i went with 100 ohm.
Even tried 50 ohm but it got pretty hot!

Wayne...

1. towing caravan uphill in 3rd gear.

2. downhill braking.

3. Cruising round town at low speed (<80kmh
), in 4th gear, with power mode on, for better fuel economy.

I've been watching the green light, and the TC is always swithing on and off when being controlled by the ECU.