Shutter at 25, 35, and 45

I have a 2009 V6 4x4 with 114K miles. I am second owner, but I do not believe it has had transmission flush and fill.
In the past 2 years, I have replaced the front hub bearing assembly and 3 Ujoints in the drive shaft.

A little over a month ago, it started giving me a shutter when driving while accelerating slowly. It doesn't happen as it shifts, but in between shifts. It doesn't happen when you accelerate quickly. It also doesn't happen if you drive with it out of OD (into 4th gear). We thought it was the carrier bearing, and we replaced it a few weeks ago. The bearing needed replacing, but that did not correct the shutter.

Any ideas? I am not convinced this is a transmission issue, but it has been suggested that it might be a torque converter.

 

Mine does it too. It does it under load at low rpms. I’m guessing it’s the torque converter not locking up fully. I’ve read before that there’s a fluid that can be added to the trans to eliminate it. Maybe @Texoma knows...

 

Do a drain n fill on the trans. Most likely you have a low level. I like valvoline max life atf in the red bottle. Walmart sells 4qt jugs for $17. You'll need at least 5qts. Power steering uses same fluid. Follow the procedure for DIY trans fluid drain n fill in the TW forum. If shudder goes away, awesome! If no change, then could also be related to other factors as well like dirty throttle body, dirty Maf, air filter, spark plugs, or could also be fuel filter related which means replacing entire pump assembly. If it is fuel related, URD offers better pumps with external filters.

 

With 114K miles, do i really want to change out ALL the fluid?

 

Same question for me, but with 162k...

 

No, just a drain n fill to see the condition of existing and to make sure that you are at the correct level. Of the fluid smells burnt and is black when it's coming out, you have a problem. If it smells like trans fluid and is brown or red, you're prob ok.

 

Sorry for being IG-NERT.... but is the definition of "drain and fill" meaning drain fluid... fill back with the SAME fluid??? or replace with NEW fluid.

 

After my lift, my truck stuttered at take off. Didnt feel like a transmission issue but it did have some vibes at various speeds. I did a carrier bearing drop and got some angled shims for the rear diff to correct the input angle. Vibes and stutter went away. My guess is the driveline angles. Not sure if this would help but it was a cheap fix. Shims were about $30 and carrier bearing drop was about $20.

 

Not 100% on total, but I believe trans capacity is 12 quarts, so you're not removing all of the old fluid with a simple drain n fill.

 

update..... I did the drain and fill. then drove it to McDonlads to get a coke. It still had the shutter.
I got frustrated, and just parked it for the week since I work from home. Then the next week I drove straight to Mansfield Eagle Transmission, and had the guy look at it (about 30 miles..... that info is important to the latter part of the story)
He said.. yep.. torque Converter.... $1900 if that's all we do. Once we get in there, if the torque Conv is in pieces, the whole transmission has to be rebuilt... $4000.

I thought that was a little steep, so I called a transmission shop closer to home, and he asked a few questions..... but the main question he asked was "what codes was the transmission giving"..... well.. the Eagle transmission guy never hooked it up to the computer....

So I drove it back over to my side of town (another 30ish miles). I got over there, and he hooked it up the computer, and the only code is was giving was a air sensor code.... not that big of a deal. We went on a test drive, and it barely shuttered at all. He said he doesn't doubt that there was a bigger shutter, but we couldn't get it to shutter very much at all. He suggested that before he cracks it open, he wanted me to do a full flush. He said if that didn't take care of it, that he would drop the rebuild by the price of the flush. He told me it takes 50-100 miles to get that new fluid pumped through all the lines.

I did the flush that afternoon, and have not had the shutter again. I drove it to the ranch and back twice. pulled a small trailer with 40 bags of corn on it around the ranch to fill feeders. Still no shutter. time will tell if this really did work, but for now.... the shutter is gone.

 

I love a happy ending.

Had a similar thing happen with an old XJ. A connection had come loose, and trans would slip like crazy on left hand turns. Took it to a recommended shop- and they said rebuild instantly. The next day I took it to a local 4x4 shop, and he reseated the connector. $100 to fix it.

 

Update..... Here we are almost 2 months later, and so far so good. Not another shutter has happened since the flush.
so... in my case (and your may differ) a full flush on a truck with 100K+ has not rendered bad results.

 

I just rolled 166k and I have no idea if mines ever been done. Kinda scared to mess with it...

 

I get it. I have always been told not to do it.

I really think that I could have just done the drain and fill (a fresh 4 qt worth) and that would have taken care of it.