2000 GC 125k miles, torque converter is locked up. Just all of a sudden, no warning. On my home from work (12 miles) it locked up a couple of times but I was able to continue on until the last time, now it will not move. I start it up but dies as soon as I put it in "drive" or "reverse". Is this something I can fix or does this sound like a major repair ? Thanks guys.

 

well if u know its the converter then u drop the tranny and put a new one in and add fluid away u go. DO u hear any noise when it locks up??

 

What about the input or output sensors or maybe even the torque converter solenoid pack ? What are the chances it could be one of those. From hearing my description and your experience could any of these be the cause , would you say that from this description it is almost always the conerter itself (?) , or about half of the time or hardly ever, etc..What do you think, thanks

 

What is the fluid level?? does it look brown or red?

 

Fluid level is fine, as a matter of fact as soon as the problem occured the first thing I did was jump out and check it. It looked normal, no air bubbles , and red in color, the same color as it was when it came out of the container. Today, I disconnected the out put sensor, input sensor, and the silenoid pack one at a time started it and put it in drive and tried reverse, with the same results. It just dies. No check engine light. I did notice when I disconnected the silenoid pack that there was alot of grime (?) and/or dirt (I guess) on the female connecter of the silenoid, not perfectly clean like I thought it should be , I did replace the output sensor with a new one (least expensive item) with no luck, what do you think? with this problem what is the most common problem ? Thank for everything

 

input and output sensors will turn a check engine light on and only let it get to second gear. U could possably have tranny issues or an air flow issue in the throtle body. How many miles on your van? have u ever done a throtle body service b4? U could also have a fuel issue as well.

 

if it was you sol. pack comanding L/U when you unplug the sol. pack it would start fine. ( no power to sol. no fluid to t/c) It would second gear start but it would start and drive. Speed sensors are not your problem.( speed sensor failure will cause second gear starts/ limp mode / safe mode)

The only two things it can be is you sol. pack. ( no change when unplugged, so not your problem) Or you t/c lining is stuck on. (whether thats a stuck t/c piston or a stuck valve in the valve body i dont know......)

Drop the pan and look for material, drop the valve body and take a small pick and flick the valves and hope you find a stuck one. Might as well try it yorself cause you will probably need a rebuild anyways.

 

Thanks guys for the info, if you think of anything else let me know, I'll do what you said and I'll let you know back