I hve a 1997 PA with over 200K miles. All is well, but the other day the check engine light came on and the car started to buck like a wild horse when trying to start from a stop. Each time the trans has to shift it makes some rimbling noise and bucks.
I pulled the computer code and it says that the torque convertor clutch is stuck on. I suppose there is a switch somewhere that does not properly work. I just don’t know where to located it and whether or not this is a do-it-yourself job. Any help would truly be appreciated.
There is a solenoid inside the trans cover by the engine that controls the lock up of the torque converter. Not the worst thing to have happen but still have to drop the trans down a little bit to get the cover off.
Take a look at the trans cover under the hood on the driver’s side. There should be a square 4 terminal connector going into that cover somewhere. Disconnect it and see if that resolves the problem. The lock up won’t work then but you can confirm the problem and doesn’t hurt anything to drive that way. You’ll just lose gas mileage from no lock up as all.
little correction. The code is not “torque convertor clutch stuck on”, but Torque convertor Circuit stuck on". Don’t know if this makes a difference.
Besides trying to fix the problem, what could cause this to happen? I did change trans filer and fluid abbout 10K miles ago. Did overfill it by a bit, but didn’t think to worry about it.
The solenoid is just an electo mechanical switch that powers up and activates and powers down and de-activates. They do wear out, burn out etc. from constant use. Un plug it first to see if that at least allows it to be driven, then you can go to an ATRA member trans shop to confirm if its the solenoid or other circuit problems and an estimate.