I bought a 2010 Tahoe for a good price. I have friend who is a GM tech and he replaced the engine mount for me. Anyways, when he returned the truck to me he said the torque converter is bad. I don’t have a lot of money and the vehicle is not really needed on a daily basis. Can I get some advice on whether to replace just the torque converter or if I need to have the trans rebuilt? The Tahoe has 210k on it. I apologize if this question has been asked before. I do like the vehicle but don’t have 5k which is what the rebuilders are quoting me. Thanks. Jack
New and need help
- Thread starter JBSTAHOE
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if the converter is showing signs of being bad it's probably already started to damage the bell housing and this means small bits of metal have spread through out the entire transmission. So it is probably in your best interest to have it rebuilt. It's a gamble on how far it may go by just throwing a converter in it. you might want to drop the pan and inspect the magnet and see what shows up.
there is really no bright side, the converter is the weak spot on these trucks and ideally it should be addressed before it starts to be a problem.
swathdiver
Full Access Member
Welcome to the forum Jack. If after dropping the pan and there is no metal or converter clutch material in the fluid and magnet, you may replace just the converter yourself.
Now, why did he say it needs a new converter? How is she driving?
tom3
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I agree. Pull the pan and see what's in the bottom.
Welcome to the forum from Oregon.
Like @swathdiver said, why did the GM tech friend say the converter was bad? Driving it back to you, he noticed something you did not notice when you drove the truck before you bought? Why didn't you have your GM tech friend check out before purchase?
Like @swathdiver said, why did the GM tech friend say the converter was bad? Driving it back to you, he noticed something you did not notice when you drove the truck before you bought? Why didn't you have your GM tech friend check out before purchase?
Trey Hardy
8” fabtech icon coilovers uniballs 24x14on35/15.50
Ammco just put a built (sonnax internals) and billet converter for 3500$ with a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty they also do payment plans if your tight on cash so far it’s been great! In my opinion your taking a chance on only doing the converter and if the trans does go out afterwards then it’ll ruin the converter from sending debris through it unless you do it yourself any shop will charge a bunch to drop the trans to do a converter job and again at that point you ought as well do em both and be done with it and you’ll be good for another 200,000 miles or more.
It is slipping, shuddering and hunting. It keeps going to the lower gear and then shifting back and that is even on level or flat ground. Thanks for the welcome.
Drop the pan, take a pic and post it here. Based on what we see in the pic will let us help you determine your next moves...
Long story short: If you see lots of black, burnt clutch material, mounds of fine, sand-like metal material, burnt smell, put the pan back on with a few bolts and yank it for overhaul.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Watch this video. His Escalade was suffering from a similar situation.
Does that crap actually work?
I have yet to see anything in a bottle that actually fixes the kinds of problems that they claim to fix.
Bandaids on gun shot wounds.
(Disclosure: I didnt watch the video).
