Just wanted to share a strange issue that I've been having for a LOOOONG time, and finally resolved.

About 3 years ago my car would have a strange issue where upon start up after sitting, the car would act like it was in neutral in any gear. Waiting 10-15 seconds would fix it, and the car would work completely normal. Many 9 second passes, just an odd thing.

Then Two years ago I had an issue where the 60fts had really dropped off, but the car would still MPH well. I had originally thought this was because of a stuck TCCV (Torque converter fill valve). The converter wasn't filling, which explained my neutral in any gear for 10-15 seconds, and a converter low on fluid won't couple well at the starting line. More RPM could fill it and fix it at the finish line.

However upon futher inspection, I realized that some aftermakret valvebodies actually bypass this valve. So even though mine was stuck, it was essentially a dummy plug and had no function. I then thought it might be the trans cooler or lines being partially plugged, because the converter fill/empty circuit runs through the lines. I cleaned them out well, and moved forward.

A few weeks ago the first time out with the new motor, the car was on the rev limit the last 300ft of the track. A few more tries and it just kept getting worse. I put the car in the trailer and went home, only to find out when I got there the car would not move at all again in any gear.

Well yesterday I FINALLY found the issue. The upper casting of the valve body is cracked in the pressure circuit. A big enough bleed here will cause no converter fill, which is exactly what was happening. I can only assume it's been there for a very long time, and has just continually gotten worse.

So hopefully this long 3 year saga will help somebody some day fix the issue!

Interesting - can't say I've seen that before.

A gentleman that I ported a set of heads for over the winter told me that when I drive my 2006 dodge diesel which I Dont drive very offer to start it up and let it run 15 seconds in neutral. It acts like a different truck when I do this simple trick.

727 in my brothers old dart did the very same thing. I never fixed it, and it never quit.
Motor and trans were eventually swapped out but I still have the trans and will have to take a look someday.

Yeah, thats because the converter drains back. The crack he has actually affects the pressure building up.

That's such an oddball find, thanks for sharing! I take it most of the common aftermarket valve bodies start with factory castings?

Nice find

Cracks in that area aren't common but....