Greetings all,

A couple of nights ago I paid 212.00 for towing the car home. It
appears that the transaxle (automatic) is shot. I just had it rebuilt
20,000 miles ago, not to mention 30,000 miles before that one. I've
repaired my own cars for 20 years - as I really don't have a lot of
trust in garages.

Here are the symptoms. The vehicle doesn't not lock into any gear when
manually shifting to it. My first thought was the cable from the
shifter to the transaxle, but it's fine and shifting properly. When
turning the car off, I can hear a sound around the torque converter
area. It has the sound of a belt scrubbing against a gear and winding
down.

Could this be the torque converter itself? Are they cheap and easy to
replace.

A side note: A couple of times over the past month the car will not
shift from 3rd to overdrive on the highway until it gets fully warmed
up, and also would not shift into OD until around 50 plus MPH.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

The autos in the 2nd gens won't shift into OD until the engine temp is over 147*F, that is normal. As for it not shifting into OD at speeds over 45mph that isn't really normal. AS for the grinding sound that isn't good at all. That definitly means something is wrong and that it needs attension,

 

Yeah...it would be fully warmed up and on the highway and running 4K in 3rd before it would finally shift. That was something that started just a couple of weeks before the failure.

I paid $2500.00 for the rebuild and only got 20,000 miles out of it
Another symptom that it had was a hard clunk into reverse or drive at times. I replaced all motor mounts and that didn't seem to change things.

I feel like the internal transaxle might be OK, and that it's probably the torque convertor. I was thinking control valve, but the fault has got to be common with the noise that I'm hearing.

 

I'm not sure who you went to service your transmission, but sounds like these guys are responsible. Check your receipt for a warranty, if any, and then stick it to them.

 

What would the symptoms be for a bad torque convertor and how much is a new one typically for that model? I really don't think that there is anything wrong in the case with it having only 20,000 miles on it...though I could be wrong. If it's the torque convertor, then I'll replace it myself. I really want to prolong the life of the car despite it having 225,000 miles on it. The engine's still good and the body and interior are fine.