ok. unplugging the lockup clutch does NOT damage anything. it simply removes the thing that seems like a '5th gear' if you could call it that - you should know what i mean. when its engaged the exhaust sounds quite hollow like the engine is under lots of load and its ahrd to get up hills until it drops back to 3rd. if you want to unplug let me know and i'll tell you - its easy to do its just under the car. secondly i replaced the circut on the back of my speedo with one from a speedo i got at the wreckers very cheap and the problem wasnt fixed - it seems the one from the wreckers is bad too as it cuts out ocassionaly (not as much as before) so its obvious that it IS the circut thats causing the problem. try to get a good one from a wrecker or something - soon im going to try 'rebuilding' one of mine - replacing as many electronic parts on it as i can - i have a feeling one of the caps or something is feeling the effects of its age.. hopefully its anything but the little opcical sensor on it.

so if you unplug the lock up clutch does that mean you have no overdrive? if it doesn't do any damage then i'd be interested in doing it and seeing wat its like, and what effect it has on the gears. i don't reckon mine has got anything to do with the sensors or wiring - it happens on a regular basis too often, i reckon its gotta be the lockup clutch thats worn, like my mechanic said. so if it is a worn lockup converter, then if i unplug it will that help it get into overdrive and not get stuck halfway like it is doing at the moment?

the lockup clutch being worn will NOT affect kickdown. they can shudder and i think the car doesnt drive so well when its being used, both our VL's have it unplugged. as i said, until i replaced the circut board in the speedo last week, it was fine until the evening - dont know why as sometimes the car had been sitting around ALL day and it sitll didnt work i can assure you changing the circut board on the speedo was the solution for me, i'd suggest trying it. if you want to unplug the lockup clutch - jack the car up on the passanger side. go under the car look at the bellhousing - there is a small solenoid on it poking out there are two wires coming from the solenoid, follow them down and unplug it. go for a drive over 70km/h and if the lockup clutch wasnt completely worn down you will notice the differance...

easiest way to disable the lock up clutch is to cut the light blue wire going into the trans ECU (the one under the steering column) hey natho what was involved in replacing the speedo circuit board? I may need to do this if it ever starts playing up again. It hasnt since I took it out and put it back in (touch wood).

well you take the instrument cluster apart and swap it over.. not hard to do... if you'd all like an article on it, i have access to a digital camera on tuesday...i guess i could even get pics of the lockup clutch plug...

so if you disable the lockup clutch does this mean you have no fourth gear??? you said disabling it doesn't affect "kickdown" natho, and by this do you mean it doesn't affect fourth gear in anyway??? if so, then why is it there, and what does it do anyway?

you will still have 4th gear, in the VL the lock up convertor is just like a 5th gear (the name of this thread) it does raise the revs a couple of hundred when on freeway though when disabled, if you've even been in a turbo auto, it will just be like that, they never had them from the factory

oh sweet, and when natho said it wouldn't affect kickdown he meant that it would still go from fourth to third if you put your foot down when doing say 100 km/h. thats weird why the turbo autos never had them. why didn't they anyway, coz when overdrive is working properly on my n/a it only revs at 2 grand on 100km/h, which is really low and good for fuel economy.

turbos never had them because they are piss weak and break, my old na calais had one that used to play up too, it would have trouble engaging at speeds under 85 km/h, You could dissconnect it or put a switch in so that you can disable its operation if you wish. I used to just use it at over 100 km/h to save fuel coz it would work fine at those speeds. With it off it will rev at around 2250 on freeway.

oz VL turbos and pintara dont have lockups.most other jatco fitted cars/utes do.[RX7??] australian sold cars have very tall diff ratios and dont need lockup clutch. it dosnt effect the emissions test for oz but it uses more fuel.5% with out it. i dont think this would worry a VL owner coming from VB-VH 4.2. turbos need a bit of stick to get going so the warranty claims for convertors would have been huge. lots of vl got the lockup disabled during the first services to stop complaints.a happy customer is what its about.