I did do a search, but I did not find anything that quite fit my bill, unless what I have is considered "TCC Shudder."

Yow, more than a shudder for me:).

Rundown:

96 E350 Clubwagon, 78k miles. Just got it (of course, every new vehicle
I get has at least one major issue...). When I bought it, the only things wrong were some tie rod ends in the front & crappy paint on the hood.

That did not last long.

Today, I drove the van about 40 miles on an errand. All was right in the world. Tonight, coming home, I noticed some odd behavior.

Going up a fairly long hill, at about 55mph, in OD, I needed to get going a bit quicker. Stuck my foot in it, it downshifted out of OD, fine, then it dropped one gear lower.

NOT FINE. The engine struggled and surged and would not pull. Hmmm. Felt kinda like a failing fuel pump at first, like it was going lean. Backed out of it, let it shift back up & crested the hill. Seemed OK.

Next hill, I did the same thing - no, not a fuel pump, but it feels like the engine is fighting the transmission, as though it is trying to engage two gears at once. Kinda surgey, but there's something going wrong in the tranny. The engine revs, but the van slows, the engine is working _really_ hard. Let it shift back up and drove it normally to the nearest gas station.

Checked fluid - still full, still pink, but there's a smidge of grey in it and a slight burnt smell. Neither the grey nor smell was present when I checked it last (2-3 days ago).

This problem is out of the blue - on my midday errands, I went up the same hill, had to make it downshift, everything was FINE. Great, super. NO problems at all.

Tonight, not so great.

I've encountered the problem twice now - once the first time, the second time to verify that something weird was going on.

Other notes:

1. It shifts perfectly from a standstill, either gently or at full throttle.
2. If on the highway I manually turn off OD *or* make it shift out of OD with my foot, all is OK. ONLY if I make it drop another gear does it do the
weird bit.

I've not tried manually shifting it into "2" to see what happens, but I suspect it'll be fine.

It -seems- as though it is getting confused; some solenoid is stuck partially open.

No apparant slippage.

Thoughts? Threads? Better search terms?

Does this sound like torque converter shudder? It is pretty abrupt - when it automatically shifts into the lower gear (OD->ODoff->NEXT GEAR, 3?), it piles into itself and does Things That Feel Bad.


Thanks!



Iain

 

Update - drove the van to work this morning, and all is back to normal.

I've got access to a flush machine, think it might be time to flush the old fluid out.


Iain