Hey guys! Here’s the deal-
92 sc400 230k miles.
solenoids, fluid, filter, ecu rebuild done 8-10k miles ago.
i woke up one morning and go to leave, reverse out the drive way, put it in drive, and nothing. Shift down to 2nd, nothing. Shift to low, takes off. Shift up to d, has a hard shift to 2nd, then acts completely normal. Clean fluid, no codes. I get off work, same thing, but now as I come to a stop I have to down shift to low to take off again. I get home and do all the tests in the service manual. I unplug the solenoid wire plug, car now will take off in low, and in 2nd (third because of forced limp mode). However I noticed a shudder when going up an incline in low almost like slipping. I plug the solenoids back in, then proceed to do the stall test. In low, car acts like it wants to do a burnout, but at about 1700 rpm it stops trying then just spins. In reverse it will spin the tires. So it’s only slipping when higher torque is applied in low, and it won’t take off in drive or 2nd. However if I easy into it in low, shift it up to 2nd or drive around 10mph, let off the throttle, it will shift and act completely fine. No slip in any other speed, even if it going 20-30 and I floor it, it downshifts fine and pulls. It’s only on take off in high torque situations.

the service manual says, based on my findings, it’s the no.2 one way clutch, because it’s only effecting drive and 2nd. But the slipping makes me thing it’s the torque converter. What’s throwing me off is the fluid is super clean, no burn, no debris in it. And still no codes.

do I just put a new trans it and call it a day? Or do I try just the torque converter? I’m saving for a cd swap, I didn’t think I’d have to do the trans twice lol

 

Dumb question, but have you checked the fluid level??
maybe overfill it by half a quart and see if it makes a difference