I just got the car from a trusted friend. It came with a check engine light. I used my obdII code reader and got an error that called out failure to engage locking torque converter.
The previous owner reports that when he first got it the TC did not want to unlock until he tapped the brakes. At the time he had the TC solenoid replaced and the issue "went away". So he thought he fixed it, however the check engine light comes back on after driving a little, even after clearing the codes.
The car is without a doubt not locking the TC. I initially had a feeling he may have put either a faulty or incorrect solenoid in the transmission as I have read online that there are 2 types out there (one of them will measure 1-3 ohm, the other 10-15 ohm) if you put the 1 ohm in the wrong car the TC will not lock, but the 10-15 ohm will work in either application. I had a feeling his solenoid was failing "on" and not allowing the TC to unlock, he replaced it with the wrong solenoid and disabled the locking TC, which caused it to stop lugging below 3rd gear, but not allowing the TC to lock.
I have brought it to 2 transmission shops now to get them to evaluate it and give me estimates to see what is wrong exactly. The fist shop told me that the transmission got good pressure and the sensor was sending the signal to lock the TC but the pressure would not go high enough to allow the TC to lock. He suspected weak springs in the valve body and recommended I get a rebuilt valve body and have them install it for $180.00.
The second shop said that they thought some cylinder in the TC was cracked and when it went to press a piston via hydrolic pressure to lock the TC the transmission fluid flowed through the crack, hence not allowing the tc to lock.
Anyone ever dealt with this or have any incite?
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07-23-2013, 09:39 AM
