Torque converter lifetime?

I've been troubleshooting an overheating AW4 transmission on my rig for a couple weeks now. It overheats when under load or going up steep hills. Everything electrical seems OK includeing the brake TC lock-up switch.

So im thinking that my torque converter may be slipping even when its suppossed to be locked creating excess heat. Do torque converters fail this way, my has 145K miles on it. Also what else in the trans could cause the fluid to overheat.

Is your tranny fluid clean.....bc your tranny fluid lubricates as well as acts as a cooling fluid. If its bad it will cause the tranny to get warmer and eventually cause the tranny to fail.

pete

Is the cooler on the side of the radiator clear, and are the lines ok?

jeepsrock said:

Is your tranny fluid clean.....bc your tranny fluid lubricates as well as acts as a cooling fluid. If its bad it will cause the tranny to get warmer and eventually cause the tranny to fail.

pete

Click to expand...

Fluid is clean and flushed with Dexron III non-synthetc and I installed a external tranny cooler up front bypassing the radiator. I had a thread about all those things last week. The only things left to check are instide the tranny / torque converter.

I know it is an old thread, but did you find anything out? I am looking into a similar issue and am stumped!

I ended up swapping in another trans and getting a larger cooler. I guess my AW4 was to far gone. All the seals must have been hardened and plates glazed up.