Pink Milkshake Recovery: Converter

What would you do?

  • Reuse the one you have

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • F that! Replace it!

    Votes: 7 87.5%
  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
Cree

Cree

New member
So, I'm in the club of unlucky ones that cooked the transmission when it swapped fluids. I've fixed all the relevant items, replaced filters, flushed everything with lots of fluid, running the right ATF, all that.

The transmission it's self is okayish, as in shifts alright and doesn't seem to slip, but the pump is not happy at all. Groans on cold starts and makes a rather odd rushing air noise under heavy load. Rather than put a bunch of time into it replacing the pump (which I can do at home just fine), I'm swapping a known good transmission.

However.....

I need a converter. So that raises the question: Do I use the one that's in the truck now, or buy a new one? What says you fellas?
 
Register to hide this ad
If you know your transmission was bad due to bad fluid, there's a chance your torque converter could fail as well. It's filled with a lot of transmission fluid so assume it was filled with water as well.

However, the rarely ever go bad. Could even pick up a junkyard one if you want, but would be a bit of work to get to it.
 
LittleCaesar said:
New one no doubt. $250 isn’t that much.
Click to expand...

Mmm, you should tell that to my wife after I *had* to spend 500 on gaskets and timing sets and new radiator and another 250 on fluids and misc items to take care of all the other deferred stuff I fixed while it was down, lol.
 
Cree said:
Mmm, you should tell that to my wife after I *had* to spend 500 on gaskets and timing sets and new radiator and another 250 on fluids and misc items to take care of all the other deferred stuff I fixed while it was down, lol.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain bro, but at the same time your taking a risk by not replacing it which could end up costing even more in the long run if it doesn’t work.
 
I would not reuse the old TC.

It will extremely suck to do all that work and have the TC take a dump shortly after. It's not that expensive and you'll sleep better at night knowing that you put a new one in.

I've been down this road and not only did the PMS fry my tranny after flushing the hell out of it but I believe it lead to my head gaskets failing shortly after from it over heating.

For the love of god people, if you have an auto tranny you should either be bypassing the stock tranny cooler or you should be replacing your radiator every 5-7 years. Keeping fresh coolant in the system certainly helps too.
 
Cree said:
Mmm, you should tell that to my wife after I *had* to spend 500 on gaskets and timing sets and new radiator and another 250 on fluids and misc items to take care of all the other deferred stuff I fixed while it was down, lol.
Click to expand...

Well then you can tell her to pick up the new monthly car payment on her dime and see how costly such can be in a year.:bump2:
 
Definitely do not reuse the TC. If it's making noise now, just wait until it really fails and sends metal throughout your perfectly good transmission lol.
 
I would put a new one in as well. Or a known good low mileage one. Think about it. If it fails even if it doesn't take anything with it you're essentially doing the whole job again.

My ex wife's old 00 made a milkshake right around 210k miles. She kinda freaked as it was puking out the overflow and making a mess. I gave her distinct instructions to drive it straight home and NOT put it in the garage. We went out and got her a venza (which I hated) the next day. A new radiator and LOTS of flushing the 4Runner was no worse for wear a week later. I drove it for a few weeks then sold it. It went another 150k miles no problem. Would still be going but the frame was so rotten it ultimately got sold for parts.
 
Replace now or in the future when it fails like I did. I got 6 months out of mine once it mixed fluids. Shifting started getting harder. Wouldn't fully engage in park or reverse after it warmed up.

I suggest finding a good donor, and doing to swap yourself if you have time. If you can keep the transmission, torque converter, and transfer case all from the donor that would be best. No point in swapping a torque converter from yours if the donors is good. Keep at many mated parts together as you can since there's less to go wrong.
 
johnbyebye said:
Definitely do not reuse the TC. If it's making noise now, just wait until it really fails and sends metal throughout your perfectly good transmission lol.
Click to expand...

Cree said:
However.....

I need a converter. So that raises the question: Do I use the one that's in the truck now, or buy a new one? What says you fellas?
Click to expand...

thegipper said:
I would not reuse the old TC.
Click to expand...

I went thru this as well... except I actually purchased a pink milkshake on purpose.

I went out and found a good used trans.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3162709-post2.html

I re-used the old TC because it seemed fine, seals were all in good condition. the fluid was still in great shape when I drained it. even the top rubber bushing in mine was intact and still in ok shape.

I would agree if the TC had nasty fluid in it... get another one. they are pretty cheap from pick n pull usually.

I have 4K miles so far on my re-used transfer case and it runs nice and smooth, I did change the fluid but that is a given.

EDIT: ok I'm guessing your all talking about torque converter and not transfer case sorry about that, me confused. and yes man the torque convert holds a bunch of fluid and it's a huge pain and maybe not even possible to get all the old stuff out.
 
Last edited:
MStudt said:
Replace now or in the future when it fails like I did. I got 6 months out of mine once it mixed fluids. Shifting started getting harder. Wouldn't fully engage in park or reverse after it warmed up.

I suggest finding a good donor, and doing to swap yourself if you have time. If you can keep the transmission, torque converter, and transfer case all from the donor that would be best. No point in swapping a torque converter from yours if the donors is good. Keep at many mated parts together as you can since there's less to go wrong.
Click to expand...

I got a hold of the guy that bought the transmission out of my old truck. He didn't end up using it so I'm buying it back. He is keeping the converter though. I can't swap transfer cases. I want to keep my multimode. I'm inclined to keep driving it until it quits, however right now I have use of a third vehicle, so I'll probably yank it over the next few weeks so I can give the vehicle back.
 
Cree said:
I got a hold of the guy that bought the transmission out of my old truck. He didn't end up using it so I'm buying it back. He is keeping the converter though. I can't swap transfer cases. I want to keep my multimode. I'm inclined to keep driving it until it quits, however right now I have use of a third vehicle, so I'll probably yank it over the next few weeks so I can give the vehicle back.
Click to expand...

Just make sure you'll swapping a transmission from a 99-00 only. 3rd Gen's have three different transmission options. Although they'll all bolt up just fine they do have valving differences that will cause a failure on other years.

Mike
 
MStudt said:
Just make sure you'll swapping a transmission from a 99-00 only. 3rd Gen's have three different transmission options. Although they'll all bolt up just fine they do have valving differences that will cause a failure on other years.

Mike
Click to expand...

Hmmm
So if I wanted to 4x swap a trans with TC into my 2wd 99, I have to source a 99-00 donor?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 867 (members: 6, guests: 861)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,087
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top