Torque converter problems?

[David Papworth]

I own a Ford pickup (yeah, I know, but I bought it for cheap
at a salvage auction with 145K miles on it).

One of its ills was a shuddering E40D torque converter lockup.
A search of deja.com revealed that this was a common malady,
Ford was plagued with this problem and kept changing clutch
composition and trans fluid -- even creating an "anti shudder
additive". There are after-market guys selling boards that
delay the lock-up signal from the PCM to the trans which is
supposed to help.

Many folks reported changing the trans fluid helped the problem,
so I dropped the pan, changed the filter, and made sure to
drain the torque converter as well. The old fluid looked OK
(not burnt). No metal in the pan. Filled it up with
Pennzoil's Mercon V semi-synthetic.

The problem was immediately, but not completely improved.
After about 500 miles, there was no sign at all of the problem.
I figure the clutch linings were saturated with the old fluid, and it
took some cycling to restore proper performance with the new
fluid. But 3000 miles later it still works perfectly.

So you might consider just doing a (complete) fluid change.
It worked for me.

(Don't go with the cheap-o Jiffy-lube pump-it-out the dipstick
version -- that leaves quite a lot of the old fluid trapped in the
torque converter).



----- Original Message -----
From: "Gabe" <gellett at earthlink.net>
To: <gmecm at diy-efi.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2001 9:33 PM
Subject: Torque converter problems?


> Got a father-in-law with '92 4x2 Chev full size pickup with either a 4L60
or
> 700R4 tranny & a 350...
>
> Recently it has developed a pretty nasty vibration/shudder it seems when
the
> torque converter locks up under light throttle & at low RPMs...  As a side
note,
> my work van (92 Astro) does the same thing & has for the last couple years
(I
> only put about 4-5K miles on it a year).
>
> Is this a sign that the torque converter is preparing to expire and send
> shrapnel thru the tranny or just that the ECM is getting a bad signal from
> somewhere or is in need of reprogramming for better lock up points?  Don't
> really have much experience with lock up converters & OD tranny's - have
always
> had TH400s or TH350s.
>
> We were contemplating disconnecting the wires for the lock up converter
for the
> time being to see if that would cure the problem for now.
>
> TIA for any input.  BTW, the truck has not had any programming work done
to it.
>
> Gabe
>
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