[azsweepay]

Just had my car diagnosed at AAMCO for a shudder when shifting from 3-4. They have determined that it is a bad converter and it is going to cost me ~$900 to replace. Hope this helps anyone with a similar problem.

 

[Si]

I had a shudder like that.. removed the battery connection to reset the computer and all was well.....

Tried that?

 

[Lafrad]

who changed your Tranny fluid last? did they use Genuine Mopar ATF+3 brand fluid? if they didn't, that is most likely the cause of the problem. My first suggesgion would be to goto the dodge/chrysler/Jeep dealer near you, get 6 qts of ATF+3 MOPAR brand tranny fluid (it costs a little more, but is well worth it). Get 2 little bottles of Transmission anti-foam In This Thread, some Tranny RTV, and a Tranny Filter. get them all from the dodge dealer, they have the right stuff. Drop the pan, put the new filter in, clean the pan up, close the tranny up, put the Anti-foam in, then add the 4-6 qts of ATF+3 that are needed to get it back up to level. You car will shift a million times better, and feel a little more responsive too.
Also, do what Si says and reset the computer.

 

[Dooley_96 Intrepid ES]

'bout how much that run ya Lafrad?

 

[TehKing]

...

[ October 08, 2001: Message edited by: LHSer ]

 

[Lafrad]

the tranny thing? well, I guess I should look at the reciepts huh? well, just trying to think back.. I think the ATF+3 is about $3 or $3.5 a qt. the filter was $14., anti-foam is $3/oz..... so... $40 total? might be off.. don't really remember the price of the Tranny fluid

 

[Mopar4U]

Agree, don't give them $900 just yet. Spend the $40 or so and pull the cable off of your battery. It may be a shot in the dark but I would rather spend $40 than $900 if there was a chance. Keep us informed.

 

[azsweepay]

Bummer on the other suggestions...already being fixed. Wife doesn't want to mess around and we all know who the boss is.

 

[Si]

Uh oh... Az has is inslaved to wife! Took me 3 years of concilling to get outa that mode.. still have the scars though:

 

[Lafrad]

hey man... make sure they use the MOPAR ATF+3 to fill the tranny again! otherwise it will happen AGAIN! so if I were you, I would go and buy 6 qts from the dealer (the stuff that says MOPAR on the side), get some of the anti-foam mentioned, and take it all to the garage and give it to the guy so he can fill the tranny with that stuff.

 

[azsweepay]

AAMCO was nice enough to find that my right axle was shot...lucky they are only going to charge me for the part (~$170) since it is already apart for the torque converter replace.

 

[azsweepay]

The problem seems to be fixed. Car shifts nice now. I was told that the reason for the shudder is that Dodge uses a soft lock-up, kinda like when you slip the clutch on a manual. As the disks in the converter wear out it creates this shudder...and since Dodge decided to do the soft lock-up, it will wear out much faster.

 

[MedicMan]

As most all the other threads state...check out AllPar.com, it has vast amounts of info on the tranny probs. It sounds as if you have most of it all cleared up now anyhow..but for future probs (shudder) check it out!

 

[azsweepay]

Had the car back for less than a week and it left me stranded...think it's a bad alternator.

 

[1mz-fe]

that blows. at least the alternators on these cars are easy to get to.