I have a 94 3.4L w/an auto tranny and I need help diagnosing my problem. My car has been tapping for a little while, it sounds like my lifters…I took it to the Engine remanufacture who installed it. He claims the lifters and rocker arms are ok. He said that the tapping is coming from my torque converter. He said they disconnected (?) it and the ticking stopped.

For a while when the car is under load it seems to hesitate, there is no change in RPMs but the car seems to lag and then surge. I have also seen a drop in gas mileage and I have a rough idle. There is the ticking/tapping that I mentioned above, the ticking seems to increase with the engine RPMs. The lag has gotten worse in the last month or so with it being worse when cold.

Any thoughts….I just lost my job so I cannot afford to drop my car off at a tranny shop.

 

TTT?

 

Sounds like its time for a new converter for you. Baby the car untill you get some money.

 

What about the tapping. I took the car to a tranny shop and they did a free check but wanted $300+ to open up the tranny and look......they claimed that a bad tc would not tick...tho the sound is coming from the bell housing they feel it is something internal in the tranny..

 

Does it tap all the time? Even in park or Nuetral?

 

Yes. It ticks when in park and idling (my car idles rough too). The ticking speads up w/the engine speed. I know that the TC is always connected to the engine so it will spin even in park...right?

When I took it back to the people who did my motor (It sounded like a lifter) they disconnected the TC and the ticking stopped.

I can tell you that when I accelerate hard or it is cold the car will pull then stop accelerating (tho the engine is still pulling) then start accelerating again (almost like going thru a pubble, it does not miss, the engine runs smooth, just power is not getting to the wheels). it used to do it only under load, but it has gotten worse since the ticking started. I also have seen a drop in gas mileage from 24 on the hwy to 19

I have a rebuilt tc in the trunk, but I want to make sure if I replace it I am fixing the problem, not making it worse.