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Torque converter problem

S

sjthuss

New CEG'er
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
16
Please help!
So I recently had the check engine light come on, and I took the car in to the garage. The code came up as:

P1744 TCC System Performance
Excessive slip detected during full TCC engagement
Torque converter disengaged
EDC pressure at a minimum
Call's for 8 hrs.

So the transmission shop says that it will be more than it's worth to fix the car.
This comes at a very bad time for us, I'm leaving the country tomorrow for a couple weeks, and my wife needs a car to work. This is our only car, and we seem to be stuck at the moment.

My understanding of a torque converter clutch is that it only engages once you reach highway speed. So is it ok for my wife to drive the car for city driving only? The mechanic at the transmission shop told me that this is a bad idea.

The car is a '98 Contour, V6 2.5L, with 160,000 km.

We really just need this car to last another month or two until we can afford a new one. What is your advice?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!
 
the car should be fine as long as it is not locking you are ok if it starts locking all the time then you really have problems. it should last a while but i have to ask when was the last time you had the transmission fluid changed? if not recently try changing the trans fluid as sometimes that itself can cause many problems in an atx.
 
transmission fluid was changed about 2 1/2 years ago. The clutch is not locking at all, if it wasn't for the CEL, you wouldn't notice anything was wrong. From what I understand, it's just a problem of the clutch not engaging when it's supposed to.
 
If all you need is for it to last one or two months, just drive it the way it is. Bear in mind that one of this days, it won't work on D. At that point, you (or your wife) have to manually use 1, and then manually shift to 2, to move the car. If she is just driving in the city, that should be fine to get her around until you get the "new" car.
 
Is the fluid burned? Or the normal pink-red color? My father's Sable had a problem where the TCC would engage/disengage repeatedly, solved with new trans fluid..Lack of friction in the fluid was the cause.
 
With the converter not locking you will get excessive heat build up in the torque converter and transmission. This will do a lot more damage and force a full rebuild.

When the PCM detects the slippage it will start a bang shift condition. The bang shift will clear when you cycle the engine off the on. The bang shift will come back.

If you stay off the highways and keep your speed under 40 MPH you have a good chance of keeping it going for a few weeks. If you drive it fast it might just quit on you and leave you on the side of the road.

Back in june 2003 I posted a fix for P1744 in the transmission section. You have to do it at the first sign of the problem. The longer you drive the grater chance of doing damage the other expensive parts.

jeff
 
I searched old forum for P1744 and found a related post Here One simple thing to check, do brake lights work? The brake switch affects the clutch operation..
 
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