Torque Converter Questions...Again

Hey,

That surging RPM problem I talked about (link below) is slowly getting worse and worse. The good news is that the more obvious it is, the easier it will probably be to diagnose when I finally have to take it to a shop. I've been thinking about it more and assuming it was a torque converter problem, what could I expect in terms of repairs? I know that's kind of vague, but I don't know a whole lot about transmissions and so you'll have to forgive the dumb questions. Can a torque converter and/or solenoid be replaced, or does it require a whole new transmission? If these things can be replaced, what would an average cost be? I might be at a point where I will just go trade it in for an '03 while there's still some value in it, I dunno.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but it's not quite dead. :rolleyes:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=961713

oh man, I don't know. depending on what is exactly wrong with it, The solonoids can be replaced by just removing the side cover. Still a PITA and a big job, but cheaper than a full rebuild.

Have you tried running sea-foam trans additive through it for a week and then doing a pan drop, filter and fluid exchange?

No, I did the filter and fluid change not too long ago, so I'll keep that one in my back pocket for a bit and see what happens. You know what I realized I never did?? In that other thread I had going, you suggested that I clean the MAF and then unplug the battery for a night, right? I cleaned the MAF, but I totally forgot to unplug the battery! I wonder if a reset would help since I put the stock air box back in and cleaned the MAF! Hmmm... I'll probably do that tonight! I'd die if that fixed it.


That seafoam additive- does it make the car run (shift) like crap while it's in there? What does it do exactly? It won't "shock" the transmission like a flush does, right?

Its a detergent, it cleans out all the fluid passageways in your valve body and solonoids. I think it thins out the trans fluid which is why its not recommended to keep it in for too long. I'm pretty sure it wont "shock" the trans especially if you have already done a fluid and filter change. I don't know though. I usually dont like messing with trans's unless there is a problem.

Give the battery idea a shot and see what happens. Whats the worst thing that could happen? You have to reset your radio presets?.....

Do you happen to have an aftermarket PCM or throttlw body?

Its a detergent, it cleans out all the fluid passageways in your valve body and solonoids. I think it thins out the trans fluid which is why its not recommended to keep it in for too long. I'm pretty sure it wont "shock" the trans especially if you have already done a fluid and filter change. I don't know though. I usually dont like messing with trans's unless there is a problem.

Hmm. Well I can't image that it would make things worse as long as I do it right before I change the fluid and filter. I'll keep this in mind...

Give the battery idea a shot and see what happens. Whats the worst thing that could happen? You have to reset your radio presets?.....

Do you happen to have an aftermarket PCM or throttlw body?

Yeah, I'll try the battery. Stupid question, but should I just take off the positive battery cable? Also, out of curiousity, will different things reset and to varying degrees depending on how long you leave the power disconnected?

I'm 99.9% positive that everything on this car was bone stock when I bought it. No tint, no customized anything. As a fatter of fact, when I bought it, the dealership told me the previous owners were from MN! Must be home of the Grand Prix or something. :biggrin: (The bad thing is that the leather seats really don't like the dry Utah air at all).
Anyway, no, I'm fairly positive the PCM and throttle body are original.

Yeah, thats why sometimes it works, because unplugging the battery overnight forces the computer to re-learn. It actually may run different for a week or so. No need to disconnect the positive, only the negative (unless you really want to).

K. I'll give that a shot and will let you know how it goes. BTW, what's the story with your 161 MPH HUD picture? Were you cruising down the road at 161 with your gf holding the wheel while you held the camera? :lol:

HAHA, No man! 100% Photoshop! I was actually cruising at 61mph and snapped the picture with my cell phone, got home, and copied the 1 over..... Same with the speedometer, all photoshop. The product of too cold of MN weather to be working on it and too much time on my hands.

But the "grand prix" painted calipers are all for real, no optical illusions there.

Ha, ha, ha, yeah, yeah, that's the oldest excuse in the book! "Son, do you know how fast you were going back there?" "No officer, it was photoshop, I promise!" :rofl:

Instead of a "1," you should have put a "2" and just lied about it. Then you should have put your tach needle WAY past the red zone. That would be hilarious. :evillol:

Did you get those caliper decals off ebay (they look familiar)? I was going to buy the GTP ones, but decided to make my own. I painted my calipers blue and then put white "GTP" decals on them. It looked pretty cool until winter came around and then the salt pretty much ate everything off, so I need to redo them. I was thinking about just getting those caliper covers because I'm lazy, but I'm not sure if the rim will hit them or not.

P.S. If you're handy with photoshop, you need to straighten your GTP badge picture. :tongue:

Yeah, HAHA! I actually wanted it to believable, so I just went with 161. HAHA!

The decalls actually came from a website called afterthought auto for 20.00 even shipped. I could not find them on ebay anymore. I was hoping to get "supercharged" ones, but no such luck, so I had to settle for "grand prix". They look pretty good, they are thick decalls and actually chrome, so it looks pretty hot on the black calipers.

My g/f and I have DIBs on how long they will stay on there during the winter months. My bet is that after the first hard snow and salty roads, at least one litter will peel off. We'll see..... I'm not too worried if the decalls come off, but I will be sort of irritated if the paint flakes. I have 2 thick coats on each caliper.... only time will tell.

I have not heard of caliper covers before. But like you say, there are pretty close clearences so I would be afraid of them hitting the wheels.

How did the unplugged battery turn out?

HAHA, No man! 100% Photoshop! I was actually cruising at 61mph and snapped the picture with my cell phone, got home, and copied the 1 over..... Same with the speedometer, all photoshop. The product of too cold of MN weather to be working on it and too much time on my hands.

But the "grand prix" painted calipers are all for real, no optical illusions there.

lol, tim...i kinda wondered about that. i thought maybe you had just switched it so that it was reading in KPH instead of MPH.

How did the unplugged battery turn out?

Well like you said, it did start up and drive differently. I left it disconnected all night and then hooked it back up before going to work. The only "bad" thing is that we got our first snow of the season today so I wasn't able to drive...dynamically enough :lol: to play around with the torque converter engaging/disengaging (lots of slow-moving cars on the road). From what I could tell it did seem different. When I did get on the freeway the torque converter seemed to engage sooner than it usually did before. I also had a brief moment where I reached the speed/condition where it would normally do it's surging thing and it didn't do it. It was only for a brief moment and waaay too early to tell if this solved or remedied the problem. I'm going to keep a very close eye on it the next couple of days and will let you know what happens.

Oh, and while on my way to work, I took a picture in honor of Mr. Blake: :grinyes:

Do not attempt at home, especially in the snow....:nono:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll90/Mattman_2000/th_Driving.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll90/Mattman_2000/?action=view&current=Driving.jpg)

Good luck, keep me posted on the TCC issue.

96? haha! That wasn't in the snow was it?

:rofl::p:rofl::p:rofl::p:rofl:

Ha ha ha ha! It does look like 96, doesn't it!! It's actually 36! I didn't photoshop that or anything! :p And yes it was snowing! Can you imagine going 96 in the snow approaching that little curve! Ha, ha, ha, wouldn't be pretty!

I will keep you updated. Drove it some more yesterday and it still didn't do it. I'm going to school tonight and that will give me more driving time. Keep your fingers crossed...

So it's been about a week now, and it hasn't done it once!

:naughty:

Tight! Nice work! Don't you just love how them aftermarket intakes can mess things up?

I can't believe it. I spent the whole weekend doing a lot of driving and still- not once. My wife and I were talking and she said she noticed that the throttle seems much more responsive and much smoother than before. I too noticed that there seemed like there was a lot less hesitation on the gas and the shifts seemed much more fluid. I dismissed it a little as wishful thinking, but the fact that she said what she did without my saying anything helps confirm what I was noticing.
Wonderful news. It does run a lot better. I just can't believe that CAI made all that mess for me! When I had my Z28, I put on a CAI and never noticed anything weird at all!

Yeah, its funny how some people can have issues with CAI's and some don't. I just usually use a WIX paper drop in filter rather than the K&N type. Maybe its our altitude. Who knows. I am glad to hear your issue (for right now) seems resolved. Only time will tell.....

You're right. When I first cleaned the MAF, it seemed like it fixed the problem, but it slowly came back and then got worse than it was before. I do think the engine seems to run differently that when I cleaned the MAF, but I think I'll let a little more time got by before we say the fat lady sings.
What is a WIX filter? I've heard you mention that before, but have no clue what it is.

WIX is just a brand of filters. I use them from pretty much everything from air filters to oil to fuel... you name it. No issues to date.

What is a WIX filter? I've heard you mention that before, but have no clue what it is.

wix filters (http://www.wixfilters.com/) (click link)

Hmmm. I've never heard of nor seen that brand around here. How does it compare (or does it) to Fram?
I put a plain Fram air filter in the GTP and I have a K&N in our Jeep. No problems with either. (When we go camping or off-roading with the Jeep, I put a paper filter in to catch the dust better.)

if you can buy a WIX for the GTP, compare it to the fram. The fram will have less paper folds, meaning less filter element area, and more restrictive.

I compared a WIX to a microgard not long ago. I will see if I can find the post.....

Sounds good. (BTW, still no surging! :))

tight! Sounds good!

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=951836

See post 21 regarding WIX filters....

tight! Sounds good!

You're not going to be believe this....:mad:

It did the stupid surging thing last night. It was just once and it wasn't really bad, but for two weeks it hasn't done it AT ALL and on my way to class it did it. I'm hoping it was just a one-time thing (yeah right :uhoh:). What the freak is wrong with my car!??!?

D'oh! Could it be a seconday igntion miss-fire problem? What type of plugs did you use? And how old are the wires?

The wires and plugs have 22K mi on them and I put in Autolite platinums. I drove the car all weekend and it didn't do it again. :uhoh: I don't know what the deal is. Maybe it was just a hiccup and nothing to fret about, I don't know. Maybe I'll just unplug my battery over night every two weeks!