hey guys, i have an 04 accent as a commuter car, and i think my torque converter has a problem.

i'll be driving at highway speeds (3,000 rpms), and the rpms will jump up to 3,500 like the converter unlocks, and then settle back to 3,000. it does over and over for 5 minutes, then stops, then does it, then stops... the vehicle speed doesn't change, just the engine speed, which leads me to believe is the torque converter. it's not throwing any codes.

any ideas?

 

How many miles?

When is the last time you flushed the tranny and changed the filter?

 

Travel at maybe 7 MPH faster or slower. Same thing? Maybe the transmission is hunting for a gear.

 

the car has 80k miles on it. the fluid looks old and i was going to change it this weekend. stupid question, where would the tranny filter be? the last auto i had was my tib and i quickly swapped the transmission for a manual smile.gif

stocker, it does it above 70mph...i was thinking the same thing you were about it hunting for a gear. it also does it with the a/c on or off. i took it to the dealer and had their mechanic drive it home that night...of course it didn't happen for him, so all he could offer is that "maybe" it was the converter solenoid acting up at high speeds.

 

On an RD the filter is hiding in the pan. Drop the pan & you see it.

In my case, you also see 1/8" of black sludge that used to be clutch pack material, and little pieces of needle bearings stuck to the magnets. Good luck.

OH and ONLY use the specified fluid. Hyundai likes to make their clutch packs out of stuff that dissolves in the wrong fluid.

 

so this weekend, i drained what i could of the trans fluid, dropped the pan, and changed the filter. i also used seafoam trans flush before i drained it. the problem is substantially "better," not fixed though. my thoughts are that because i didn't drain all of the fluid, the problem still exists, just to a much lesser extent. the trans still acts up when at highway speeds, just less frequently.

the manual says it holds 6.1 qts of fluid, and i replaced a little over 3 through this process. other than a flush (because i don't have the money to pay a shop), what's the best way to replace more of the fluid at home?

also, i saw a bottle of this stuff called "trans x." it says it's for transmission w/ over 75k miles and "reconditions" the fluid, cleans the trans, etc... to create better shifts and prevent what they called "overheating slips." i'm wondering if this stuff might help, or if it's another useless product. has anyone used it?

 

2 things:

1) always only ever use the specified fluid. Hyundai transmissions are very picky about what works & what turns them into scrap metal.
2) if you haven't heard, the stock transmission oil cooler on RD platform cars runs the fluid around 10º too hot, which burns it, which is why it will look "old" again in 10k miles after a flush. If you want to keep the car for a long time, get an aftermarket cooler.

The fluid remaining is in the torque converter, which has no drain. In the old days they would drill a little hole and slap a rivet in there when the fluid was drained, but to get to your converter you need to pull the transaxle, at which point you may as well pull the converter and drain it manually (tip it). The other way is what most shops do, put a system on the cooler lines and run clean fluid through with the transmission pumping the fluid through itself, until it runs clean. With SP-III that's an expensive proposition. You can keep doing half-changes like you did and it will continue to be "newer" but there's no easy/cheap way I know of to do a complete drain/refill because of the reservoir in the converter.

$0.02

P.S. it is possible the clutches are already going out. Find out exactly what conditions cause the fault, then take the dealership service dude for a ride while you replicate it for him.

 

stocker, that's exactly what i was thinking of doing....once a week, draining the pan and refilling it. maybe doing it 3-5 times since it only takes about $10 worth of fluid each time. i realize this might only change 80% of the fluid, but after changing 50%, like i said, the problem is noticeably better.

i only drive the car 2-3 times a week, 190 miles each time. it's a commuter car to drive to school. my saab 9-3 collects dust in the garage for 6 days then gets the piss driven out of it once a week because i love that car and the intake + turbo sounds = yummy smile.gif after i graduate in a year, i plan on selling the accent, so i'm not too concerned with the tranny doing this. it's just annoying.

 

Try cleaning your grounds, if they need to be. My Tiburon had a similar problem, That and a valve body repair fixed it (I replaced my solenoids).

Grounds can be screwy, it wouldn't hurt to check 'em out.