code 1780 or 1870/torque converter - transmisison

recently our car started making a funny noise and smelly funny, then something blew and white smoke came out the front end.....we stopped opened the hood and waited for about 20 minutes before starting again because nothing was on fire.....we lost power and the car wouldn't change gears very easy.......we took it into pep boys and they charged us $78 to tell us thru diagnosis testing that "the torque converter needed replacing".....we didn't have the money for that ..........anyway we had the car towed over 100 miles from so. utah to vegas and the mechanic there said that a/c blower was broke and he fixed it $150 and that we were simply totally out of transmission fluid.....so when we got it back...it worked fine for about 2 days but now the ETS and ENGINE light are on constantly in addition to the gears being sticky....also when we first turn the car on in - it hestitates in reverse and will not pick up.....it also looses power until it gets going but now kicks /or jerks when it changes gears automatically..........is my car dying (transmission headed for DOOM!?!?!?!?!?)

did he use the corrent viscosity tranny fluid?

correct*

totally out of tranny fluid? id have the internaly checked especially if its slipping and shifting bad....just my opinion.....