Can y’all feel your torque converter?

I can sometimes feel the torque converter lock up every now and then. It is very subtle and I only detect it under very specific conditions, such as downhill travel with only very light pressure on the gas pedal. (almost coasting) If I had to guess the speed, I would say it occurs around 35-40 mph. I don't think I have ever felt it unlocking. [EDIT] Some have mentioned a TC shudder. To clarify: Re: torque converter "shudder": I've never felt any under any use or condition from my transmission.

FWIW, a fluid flush about 20,000 miles ago really made no discernible difference in how the A750 shifts or feels: It's that good: even now and pushing towards 150,000 miles.

 

I haven’t developed enough of a rapport with the truck to quite tell that, especially since it’s got so many gears, but I definitely can feel it lock at low throttle positions, generally once cruising at a particular speed. It feels sort of like “half a shift.” After that, with moderate applications of throttle, the engine speed will increase mostly just with speed, like with a manual transmission with the clutch engaged. The engine speed will increase and decrease a little bit independent of speed as you add or remove throttle, as the torque converter does do various stages of partial lock to smooth things out. If you add enough throttle, it’ll unlock pretty obviously. The engine speed will sort of “break loose” and increase much more than the torque converter would allow but doesn’t “step up” like it downshifted.

This is all sort of hard to articulate because all I can bring to bear is very imprecise language.

Regardless, I can say that the converter in my Tacoma seems to lock and unlock much like almost every other vehicle I’ve had with one. It feels “normal” or “typical.”

I think it’s fair to say that if you’re driving it without putting any thought into what it’s doing and you’re noticing it, it might be acting odd.

 

I drive in 7th gear if my speeds are under 60mp

 

I don't notice any shudder from my torque converter you all.

 

Wouldn’t that be PGSD?

 

I definitely feel it in my iForce Max.

The other bad shudder comes at low speeds where it feels like its in between the choice of engine modes.

 

there are a lot of feels... in an iforce maxx.

 

I've encountered the shudder in mine as well.

In my case, where I can detect it the most is in parking lot scenarios at low speed. Generally, it also seems to be more noticeable following a full warm up cycle. After all gauges are up to normal operating temperatures I will (at times) get the shudder when going from 2nd to 1st. Most often it is noticed when coming to a stop in a smooth parking lot. More often than not, it's not detectable; however, with the right paving conditions I can pick it up.

Always between 1,000 and 1,500 RPM...

 

Between about 37 and 47 mph?

 

I definitely have a noticeable vibration come through the steering wheel when driving as the truck appears to be almost between two gears.

Sometimes it sits in too high of a gear and you get a noticeable vibration coming through the steering wheel and modulating the throttle slightly allows it to down and then the vibration is gone.

I am technically in the range of the transmission TSB so I’m keeping an eye on this behaviour in case it’s a precursor to failure.

 

I have this exact problem. Because Gen 3 have had so many torque convertor issues that it's hard to imagine it could be caused by anything else but I'm really leaning more towards mine being a VVT issue and not the TC. Golden question for all of this is, how do we verify any of this prior to starting to stick chemicals like shudder fixx in our trucks. Do we have any type of live data to support current TC functionality? like can we watch the TC Live data to see it "lock/unlock" or is there not a feed back circuit for that?