TCI Transmission is bad

J.L.Stubbs said
I'm a little late to the party,but TCI has been a problem for me also.I purchased a big block 727 from them early in 2012 for my 1965 383 Coronet rebuild project.I've owned the car since 1983.I had upgraded to the 1966 and later trans years ago.I started a total vehicle rebuild in Feb. of 2012.I got the car running and drivable Thanksgiving 2012.Took it out for alignment and State Inspection sticker...about a 6 mile in town round trip...and it wouldn't shift into drive.First,second and reverse operated correctly but no third.I tried all the usual adjustments.I have the whole Lokar cable setup.No luck.I bought the trans directly from TCI and contacted them about the problem.They told me it was a stuck governor,informed me it was out of warranty and e-mailed me a page from Mopar Muscle magazine showing how to remove the tailshaft.I have rebuilt several Torqueflites in the past.The reason I bought this one from them is because I am now 64 years old and I didn't want to rebuild one again.I figured that buying a pro built transmission would be better at this stage of my life.Not so.I should have done it myself this time.I pulled the tailshaft housing and checked the governor.It was fine.I reassembled it all and no difference.I drove it last week and still no drive.I contacted TCI and now say they will warranty it if I put it on a pallet and ship it back to them.I am growing weary of crawling under the car.Could the problem be in the valve body?If so I would just bite the bullet and install a new one.

If 1st, 2nd and reverse all work good that tells me all the major components are working so it's a good possibility it is a valve body problem. My guess would be a piece of trash has the 2-3 shift valve lodged. Even though you inspected the governor I'd do a governor hydraulic pressure test to see what it shows. Generally if the governor pressure goes up to 12-16 psi with the throttle pressure linkage unhooked and at rest it'll shift into 3rd gear. With the throttle pressure linkage at maximum it may take upwards of 60-70 psi for it to go into 3rd gear.

As for buying a new valve body, why don't you just disassemble and repair yours if it turns out to be the problem? Their not that hard to do.

If you do get to the step of dropping the valve body I'd definitely do the air pressure tests Dave mentioned just to verify things. I have that page of the factory manual scanned and can post it if you need it.