I was working on, what I thought was a misfire. I pulled codes and had a #2 misfire and a P0300. I fixed the #2, cleared the codes by removing the battery cable, and started driving to see if I fixed it. the Check Engine Light didn't come back on, so I kept driving and driving while the engine appeared to still be in a "misfire" state. At about 1500-2000 RPM's I was feeling slip, and since it threw misfire codes before, I figured that is what was happening. Drove some more. NO CEL. I drove around for about an hour, and the misfire progressively got worse, I couldn't take it any longer, so I pulled into Autozone to get the codes, but still no CEL. So I sat there, and rev'd the Engine between 1500-2000 rpms. I did it in Park, and it wasn't as bad, so I went to drive and stepped on the brake, and it got progressively worse, I tried it in N, P, D, 2, 1. Eventually, I began to think it was the Torque Converter, because I had a weird RUMBLE at about 2000 rpms in Park and Neutral.

I got out of the truck, and low and behold, there was tranny fluid all over the ground. I immediately shut the engine off and just cursed up a storm. I pulled the transmission dipstick, and it was steaming hot, there was actually steam coming from the tube. I put my finger in the fluid, and it appeared to be normal red in color and I smelled it, but it didn't smell burnt. I checked the temp gauge on the truck, and it was normal. I looked under the truck and saw the leak coming from the front of the transmission. I climed under and realized that it was too hot. I figured I would let it cool down and then come back.

I returned about 2 hours later, and pulled the rubber grommet for the torque converter, and that damn Torque converter was still piping hot. I couldn't touch it for more than 1 or 2 seconds. I had my father bump the engine until I could put my finger on the drain plug, hoping that it may have come lose. No such luck. I checked the tranny fluid, and it shows full on the dipstick, and again appears normal in color. I am thinking it leaked from the pump seal, but is it possible that the tranny overheated from me keeping the constant 1500 to 2000 rpms while trying to get the CEL to light up? Is it possible, that it was a one time occurance?

I haven't towed anything in over 2 years, and I completely changed the fluid and filter with Mercon about 2 years ago, just before I towed a trailer. I recently had the front suspension completely replaced, but I don't think they topped off any tranny fluid. After getting the truck back, I immediately began to experience this slipping. Maybe just a coincidence, but is it possible if they topped it off with the wrong fluid, that they may have ruined it?

Did I just lose this thing?

Thanks for any help.

 

"so I went to drive and stepped on the brake, and it got progressively worse"

Unless you have a performance converter, you really don't want to powerbrake or stall a stock converter. They will overheat and in really bad cases they will either damage the fins inside or worse, balloon the case.

Stalling the converter builds up a lot of heat really fast. Don't do it unless your tranny and converter are built for this type abuse.

Hopefully when things cool down you can just add fluid and the problem may have gone away. The rumble bothers me but could just be due to overheating which might make the parts expand out of spec. Let's hope you didn't toast the converter.

Recheck your engine work and find out what is causing it to miss. Don't abuse the tranny by stalling it.

Usual causes of a miss are plugs, wires, crossed wires, distributor, coil, or even O2 sensors, EGR, intake leak etc.

The slipping after front end work could be coincidence or maybe they knocked loose a sensor or one of the Shift adjustments, I forget what it is called? MLPS??

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

It probably is the torque converter, now. The converter was probably fine until you killed it.

Revving the engine in any gear standing still can DESTROY the trans is 15-30 seconds. If you got lucky and didn't destroy it, you probably did melt the front hub seal.

NEVER rev an engine in gear for more than 5 seconds or risk MAJOR damage.

 

wow, that sucks. Wait til I have to tell my wife that I toasted it. I never heard that you could ruin a converter this way. Stupid me. I drove it home in 2nd gear this morning and didn't top 1700 rpms. I drove it about 2 miles to my house.

I pulled the transmission pan, and the fluid looks ok. I did notice that the filter was sitting in the pan. Probably from overheating, it caused the filter to drop out into the pan?

Gee, that really sucks. I'm putting everything back together now. Here are some photos. Should I put any Lucas Transmission Fluid in it?

1. Magnet has gray stuff all over it, but I don't remember being any more than that the last time I did a complete fluid change.




I scraped the magnet with my finger, is this too much? Clutch packs maybe?


The filter had the same gray "stuff" all over it, I wiped the filter and then took a photo.

 

The gray stuff in the pan is normal, nothing wrong there.
If you put it together and it works without leaking, consider yourself very lucky. If the truck is a real dog off the line, then the torque converter is toasted. If it drives normal, you got very, very, lucky.

 

It's back together and driving normal transmission wise. I drove it for about 2 hours near my house up hills, and down etc. I haven't noticed it leaking. I did put some Lucas in with it, but the elusive misfire is still there.

I have NO CEL, and until I pulled the MAF Sensor plug, I wasn't getting a CEL. Took the truck in to get the codes, and the only thing was a MAF low voltage code which I forced. I'm at a loss. I changed the fuel filter about a week ago, maybe its dirty again after having the fuel pump changed out????

I hope the tranny is still good.