Own an automatic 93 camry (4 cylinder) with over 200,000 miles on it, I know it’s reaching the end of it’s life. I just need to know what exactly has happened to it.
The car has taken a sudden loss of acceleration and general engine performance. The engine now runs at a higher rpm to go the same speed. This causes a decrease in acceleration as well, and the engine doesn’t shift at the same rpm it shifted at before. the other thing tat started the same time this did is that the car smells terribly of gas or exhaust while running (depending on the speed) so I assume it is connected. The other strange symptom that the car is freshly exhibiting is that at 45-50 in overdrive at around 1700 RPMs the car starts shuddering, but at 50 the shuddering stops.
The trans is dying. Sorry but the torque converter is toast. Maybe another thing as well but does that matter? At 50 the TC goes to lock and it is amasing that this still works but the trans is dead.
Torque converter is what I expected, but what exactly do you mean “the TC goes to lock” I’m not real familiar with the torque converter, and I would like to know exactly what happened to further my knowledge.
Have you had the transmission serviced regularly? What does the fluid look / smell like now?
With many cars, the TC locks (zero slippage) and the tranny shifts into overdrive between 45-55 MPH…When these functions have problems, you get symptoms like you are describing. The tranny wonders off into la-la land…Your cars value just dropped to about $80…