1992 EX Torque Converter

[plymouthsrock]

I can't feel the converter clutch engage on my son's car. I feel all 3 shifts, but not that converter bump I've felt on other cars. When is the TCC supposed to come on/off? He's getting about 24mpg on highway, and feels it should be higher.

Thanks,

John

[jeffcoslacker]

TCC should engage any time car is in third or fourth, full operating temp and cruising under light load at a steady speed over 40 mph or so.

If you are running 60+ mph on flat highway and touch the brake pedal very lightly (just enough to light the brake lights but not activate the brakes) you'll see the tach jump up 300-400 rpm as the TCC unlocks...if you see that, it's working right.

I had a problem on my wife's Accord last winter with bad mileage and erratic TCC operation on the highway...and at the same time was having an issue I thought was a broken temp guage, since it was still putting out good heat...but I changed the thermostat anyway just to rule it out and turned out it was both problems...it wasn't stuck wide open, so it was retaining heat but not enough to keep it at full operating temp on the highway in the cold, and was going in and out of the full operating temp threshold for TCC operation....