Transmission slipping?

Tiny
BENJAMINTHERERRIBLE
  • MEMBER
  • 2007 SATURN OUTLOOK
  • 3.6L
  • V6
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 170,000 MILES
When I put it in drive and try to accelerate, the engine revs, but the car barely moves forward (think a fried clutch in a MT car) but if I let it roll downhill in drive, once I get to around 10-20 MPH, it'll "catch" and drive fine until I come to a stop, then it starts all over. Reverse always works fine. What am I looking at for possibilities? Torque converter? Bad synchro's? Shift solenoid?
Monday, June 13th, 2022 AT 11:27 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Sounds like a converter issue. So, let's start with checking the fluid and that will tell us if we have a burned-up clutch.

Here is a guide that will help with this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-and-add-transmission-fluid

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-service-an-automatic-transmission

Once we know what the fluid looks like we will have a better idea as to what direction to go.

However, your comparison to a manual is spot on.

Basically, what happens is the converter is no longer able to multiply the torque in order to move the fluid effectively so that the transmission will start to move the vehicle.

I suspect this will lead to a converter replacement, but we need to start at the beginning and go from there.

Thanks
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Tuesday, June 14th, 2022 AT 12:57 PM

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