Thuds into 5th, jutters occasionally in 3rd

Astron_Boy · Post by **Astron_Boy** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:19 pm

Hey guys.

Driving the car today, and noticed a few things,

1. Car goes through the gears all fine and dandy, however when it goes into 5th gear, it's nowhere near as smooth as any of the others, and kinda thuds into 5th... makes no noise, but kinda jerks the car.

2. Only happened twice, it could have been the road, unsure, but when the car would be in 3rd gear and then feel like its pulsating in the gear for abit, kinda like a jerking back and forth feeling.

3. I would pull up to briefly stop (eg. a give way sign) then begin to accelerate again, car would be in 3rd gear, I go to take off, and it would need to rev a fair bit to get momentum again and then kinda jerk.

info: unsure of the gearbox fluid, I know the previous owner had the engine oil changed often
I haven't reset the TCU since purchased, so however the prev owner drove is how the gearbox is still running.

Options:
Oil change
Reset TCU
or
Full service

Post by **Bennoz** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:15 pm

Start with a fluid change & ECU reset, if it persists, I hate to say it but it sounds like the begining of the end for the torque converter...

Astron_Boy · Post by **Astron_Boy** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:15 pm

serious? bugger...

any idea of costs to replace a tc?

jonowong · Post by **jonowong** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:45 pm

you'd be looking at a new gear box... mitsubishi will charge you so much for that sh*t, it wont be funny!

Astron_Boy · Post by **Astron_Boy** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:53 pm

you serious?

i know it's abit of a dumb question, but any idea how long i'd be looking at it to last with its current symptons as I described???

jonowong · Post by **jonowong** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:27 am

change the filter and oil first... it could just be that...

theres a DIY by me in the DIY section

Astron_Boy · Post by **Astron_Boy** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:21 am

after reading up abit online about failing torque converters, most of my symptoms seem to be related.

Unfortunately I don't have the time, so I will pay lubey to come out, drain the box, check the pan for anything, advise, and then refill.

fingers crossed ahh.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 1:51 am

One massive give away to a failing torque converter is the oil changing brown after a couple thou kays. I've been through two autos and the same thing happened both times.

If your oil is still red, then you prob are up for a lot less dollars.

Cheque your TPS, make sure its dead on and see if the ECU has gotten nasty.

The torque convertors on the FTO suck. The mechanic showed me my previous torque convertor and was screwed.

Astron_Boy · Post by **Astron_Boy** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:39 pm

okay, thought I'd post up my findings incase someone else has this later on and wants an answer.

Had the TCU reset, and it was even sloppier at first because it was blank.
However after a couple of good driving ks I noticed that it had stopped clunking in 5th and was now clunking in 2nd and the jutters had seemed to disappear.

So anyway, had the filter changed, and then the oil drained, and it was still a descent color red.

Whilst the car was jacked up on the hoist, decided to inspect the under body, mainly the engine area, and noticed my 2 engine mounts on the cross section have sagged, so when we did the shift test from p-r-n-d, the engine was rocking back and forth pretty severe.

This in turn is what is cauing the clunking.

the gbox is fine, as is the torque converter, was merely a combination of a few things in the end.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:59 pm

so got pictures of your engine mounts???

how much was it pulsating???