Sonnax Sure Cure Kit ?s

[buddy]

Has anyone performed the sure cure upgrade? I have the 6.5 with 4L80E obviously....

I think THIS PRODUCT is for modifying the Pressure Control Solenoid and the Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid valves, for $85.


HERE you can buy all new solenoids and wire harness bundle for $140

AND HERE is the special reaming tool for the valves that costs $155

Should the kit be done with new PCS and TCC solenoids?

Is it something that is easy to do?

Do you need the special reaming tools or can common tools do the job?

Is it better left to a transmission shop to do, would they have the right fixtures and reaming tools already?

I have no problem working on stuff, but just want to know all I should buy or if the tools I would need would cost as much as the labor for experienced people to do it.

Thanks In Advance,
Tom

 

[6.2 turbo]

A tranny shop should have the reamer,maybe they would let you borrow it. I have a tranny guy that helps me out tremendously.

 

[bison]

I installed a kit in a 92 4L80 last fall,all special tools were in the kit.
i cant quite remember but i dont think i had to use a reamer,i think i used a sleeve and a different spool for the press control sol.
You got to drill a hole in the valvebody, so the valve body has to come off.Its gonna be a bitch to do that with tranny in the truck cause there is 8 checkballs between the VB and the tranny
I had the tranny out for a rebuild so the shift kit install was easy.

 

[buddy]

Thanks Bison, was the kit you installed the $85 one, or is there a more comprehensive kit?

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

The kit that requires the reamer is the one that address's the actuator feed limit circuit and is a major weak link in the 4L80E trans.

 

[bison]

Thanks Bison, was the kit you installed the $85 one, or is there a more comprehensive kit?

i think it was more than that.
i got to check tomorow, i still have the install sheet some where in he shop.It adressed 4 or 5 diff issues .

 

[bison]

Buddy,mine was a transgo kit.
i remember now, the reamer and sleeve kit is ordered seperate,I did.nt need it as the bore and valve where still perfect,so it is not allways a problem. this tranny had over 250 k on it.

 

[Detroit Dan]

I did it on mine in the truck, Buddy, it was a piece of cake. I'm not a tranny technician by any stretch of the imagination. If I can do it, you can do it with one hand tied behind your back. If you want I can look around and see if I can find my reamer I bought, I must still have it. Can save you some money there over buying a new one you'll probably never use again. Directions are simple to follow, not any harder than ftb mod imo.

I'd do the shift solenoids and tcc solenoid while you're in there, I had one shift solenoid that was sketchy too, in addition to the bore needing to be reamed. What I wouldn't recommend is doing the shift kit mod that the instructions tell you how to do. There is one hole that needs to be made smaller, what you do is peen it down, then redrill it with a smaller bit. I already had a B&M shiftplus, with the mod I had to turn the shiftplus off and it had a pretty strong 1-2 kick. Since adding the KOJO tune, the additional power makes the 1-2 shift really hard. And when I say hard, I mean shortened drivetrain life expectancy hard.

 

[buddy]

thanks Dan, very reassuring. I plan to replace all solenoids. if you can find the tool would love to not pay $150 for it, maybe it will make rounds on the forum or I can send back to you.

my tranny has been getting progressively worse since I bought it and it was apparant then that it had a shift issue. You should just ask Kojo to drop the tranny shift pressure offset in any hard shift areas. its a quick simple fix to your problem. its how I keep driving mine too because with stock F programming mine hurts me inside every time it jolts. the shift pressure offset is based on tps% and gear so if its ok at high pedal input but jerks at low to mid throttle or whatever just need to tell Kojo. if he lowers the offset it will smooth out the shift, so it might take 2 seconds to shift rather than instantly slamming it into next gear. there are also downshift offsets if any downshifts are a problem. or if the kickdown is painful when it kciks down into 3200rpm you can ask that it not kick down if you are already at 2600rpm in current gear. since a downshift will likely jump in 500rpm higher.

and you can ask if he bumped the main line pressure up which would also increase jerkiness. and if there are specific speeds that its worse at he can lower the main line pressure slightly. main line pressure is based on tps% and vehicle speed.

 

[Matt Bachand]

thanks Dan, very reassuring. I plan to replace all solenoids. if you can find the tool would love to not pay $150 for it, maybe it will make rounds on the forum or I can send back to you.

my tranny has been getting progressively worse since I bought it and it was apparant then that it had a shift issue. You should just ask Kojo to drop the tranny shift pressure offset in any hard shift areas. its a quick simple fix to your problem. its how I keep driving mine too because with stock F programming mine hurts me inside every time it jolts. the shift pressure offset is based on tps% and gear so if its ok at high pedal input but jerks at low to mid throttle or whatever just need to tell Kojo. if he lowers the offset it will smooth out the shift, so it might take 2 seconds to shift rather than instantly slamming it into next gear. there are also downshift offsets if any downshifts are a problem. or if the kickdown is painful when it kciks down into 3200rpm you can ask that it not kick down if you are already at 2600rpm in current gear. since a downshift will likely jump in 500rpm higher.

and you can ask if he bumped the main line pressure up which would also increase jerkiness. and if there are specific speeds that its worse at he can lower the main line pressure slightly. main line pressure is based on tps% and vehicle speed.

What do you recommend firmness changes from a stock F engine which seems to shift smooth and healthy atm.

Also can you elaborate what the sure cure does/fixes/updateS?

 

[buddy]

I think firmess is best achieved just by increasing main line pressure at higher TPS% (APP input). Otherwise can up the shift offset pressure. Its hard to judge what firm or soft is in one rig to the other, and can quickly go from soft to jerky.

Sure cure is to prevent the pressure control and tcc solenoids from wearing out and causing overly high pressures, or low, and actually being able to control the shifts and lockup accurately.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

The best way to correct the shifts is ALWAYS to do it internally if possible. Electronic foolers and cranking the pressure can be a dangerous band-aid. I still like TRANSGO myself and they make all the parts needed to fix the 4L80E as well. SONNAX makes alot of different parts not all of which are neccesary or even needed, but if you go by there hype you need all of them. It was said best to me awhile back by somebody who knows a whole lot more than I do, "SONNAX is good at making repair kits for problems that aren't really there".

 

[buddy]

Gm had several different shifting settings for the same tranny.

Modding the PCM is not a fooler, is just the real controller itself, and all the shift kits do is find a way to increase pressure in a hardware way. Typically too low of pressure is way worse that too much.

The 4L80Es certainly have an issue with the pressure control solenoid and TCC solenoid. Thats all the sure cure kit is for.

 

[Detroit Dan]

just found this thread again, sorry havent been here in awhile. Buddy what ever happened with your tranny? Have you done the surecure yet? PM me if you still need the reamer.

dont know about others experience with surecure, but it absolutely worked for me. I went thru a bunch of attmepts to fix mine before finding the surecure. Initially I thought it must be the tcc solenoid and changed that. Shift solenoids, then a couple different temp senders, finally took it to the best tranny shop around, great reputation, and they told me that 4th gear was blown, and I need a tranny. Now this isnt normally the type of place to not want to help, and just sell trannies. I kept asking how it could be a broken mechanical part but still work sometimes, and they had no answer. I was actually looking at doing the torque converter next. So after online research I found the surecure, and it sounded like it fit my problem perfectly. What my problem specifically was, is that when the tranny got up to a certain exact temperature, rpms would go up and it was like losing OD. What happened was when the fluid got hot and thin enough, it was leaking by the actuator valve, causing a hydraulic pressure loss. This is because after many years of sliding back and forth in it's aluminum bore, the actuator rod ovals out the bore. So to fix it, you drop down the valve body, pull out the actuaor, bore it out with the reamer, install steel sleeve (wont happen again) then put it all back together. Of course you need to be careful, keep things clean and don't lose any small parts, but it is by no means a difficult job. I did it myself in a couple hours in my driveway, and I am not a mechanic.
I forget now how many miles its been, probably 24k or more. I've been plowing hard, towing the trailers and generally beating the snot out of the truck. Tranny is tight as a drum. All told I put under $400 into the tranny for new solenoids, sonnax kit and tool, fluid and whatever else I bought. Money well spent compared to the $3000 they wanted for a new one.