Hi Blazer friends,

I haven't been around the forum much lately as I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding the collision on February 24th that took my '94 Blazer off the road. I expect to get some money from it once everything is settled which should happen sometime in the next four to six weeks.

In the meantime, I got my '92 GMC Vandura up and running for the summer season. I only drive it about once a month during the winter; just enough to keep it in good condition. Last year I was having a problem with torque converter shudder. I took it for a transmission flush and filter change. The fluid was in bad shape according to the shop that did the flush. They said it was pretty dark. The shudder problem went away and I drove the van regularly until November when I parked it out back for the winter.

Over the weekend I drove the van over to Leavenworth and back for a gig. The torque converter shudder is back. It happens once the fluid gets warmed up, after roughly about fifteen minutes of driving, and above about 45mph. It's annoying.

I need the van to go to a gig in Montana at the end of the month and I want to eliminate the shudder once and for all. What should I do? My first thought is to drain some transmission fluid and replace it with Ford Type F fluid. If not that then maybe some special friction additive. What else might I do? Replace the torque converter? I've never dealt with this before.

 

Do not mix transmission fluids from different manufacturers.. Use EXACTLY what the book tells you to use. Take it to a transmission shop and tell them your issue. Have them focus on the torque converter, it may need to be replaced.

 

Apparently the "Type F" solution is from back in the day when nobody cared whether their car went more than 100,000 miles. I resisted the urge to try it. In the meantime I talked with one shop that recommended flushing the transmission again and replacing it with Amsoil synthetic ATF. That option was over $300 so I'm considering an aftermarket friction modifier in the meantime. I'm also going to call a few other shops and get their opinions on it. I may just decide to replace the torque converter myself as it's pretty easy to pull the transmission on my van; kind of the opposite of doing it to my Blazer.