Torque converter

[john cris]

Hey,
Been having issues with my 03 xlt. Had the transmission serviced and told them I’d been noticing when cold initial shift is slow. The trans sounds like it’s not shifting properly until it warms up. After which it seems fine. I park nose up on a steep driveway. I’m being told the torque converter is draining back. Does that make sense? I’d consider replacing the converter if that would fix the issue. This transmission was rebuilt about 50 k ago and I don’t know for sure what was done to the converter. Are they rebuildable? Or are they normally just replaced during a rebuild? I want this vehicle to last awhile until I can figure out getting something else. It has 194 k on it now

 

[Josef161]

It could be that the valve body has some passages that are almost blocked too (or a solenoid in the solenoid pack). My thought is that just pulling the transmission will cost you several hundret dollars so be sure that it is the torque converter (which can be repaired but literly nobody does it anymore). You might try how the transmission act if you let your explorer sit in the driveway for a few minutes (while put in "drive") that could save you a lot of money.

 

[Gmctyphoon]

Park the other way for a couple days to self diagnose the drain back theory?

 

[john cris]

Park the other way for a couple days to self diagnose the drain back theory?

I have parked nose down to test and it is consistently better. I can’t always park that way so the problem persists.

 

[imp]

Park the other way for a couple days to self diagnose the drain back theory?

A torque converter can only drain out 1/2 of it's contents if it's standing still, all through the center. The rest sits in the bottom half below the center hole. If spinning, none can drain back; the running engine pumps the fresh converter full of oil, which fills it from the outside in.