Hello all! I'm new here but in june i bought a 1989 TP exec (auto) in nearly immaculate condition. The only problem i have had is idling too low (fixed now) and a strange shudder at 90+ when overdrive is on. Has anyone else had this problem? If it is the transmission that is busted or a drive shaft or something, i have a 1990 TP exec with a blown engine in the yard so parts aren't a problem.

haha your avatars gold :bowrofl:
anyway welcome
cant really heap on ya prob tho, try a trans flush and check your engine mounts

haha your avatars gold :bowrofl:

Made it myself :D

The engine mounts are all good, i'll try flushing out the tranny tomorrow. thanks!

Hi Monk, how 4 art thou, welcome welcome welcome.

Could be a trannie fault, could just be a wheel outta balance or tyre separating. Feel around the tread area of the tyre for a bulge in the tread. If the wheels on the other car are OK just swap em ova and take her for a run to see ifn it makes a difference. :D

I suspect one of wheels is out of balance as i got into an argument with a round about and buggered a wheel, tire, CV joint. The tires on it are one month old and the tires on the parts car were a week old when the engine blew so they are all good too. The thing that makes me think its not a wheel/tire/etc is that the shudder is intermittent with gaps of between 5 and 20 seconds between each bout of shuddering and only when the car above 90 with overdrive on. I'm leaning towards a trannie fault at the moment but i'll try changing the tranny oil and if that doesn't work, take it for a run on the dyno to see what we can see.

Thanks for the welcomes BTW and the quick responses

Check the colour and smell of the fluid for burning and have a look for any loose ball joints or anything bent. :D

Nothing bent or broken but the tranny oil is a weak browny colour so thats on my to do list tomorrow! I'll post tomorrow to tell if it worked.

Thanks for your help!

also remember to use genuine mitsi gear oil because if you do a search youll find few peeps ended up having more problem after the flush then before
i think theres also a filter on the autos as well you should reaplce that with the oil too

WEll after an oil change the shudder is still there but now the box howls at me when it is started in gear. I think its time for a little swappie swappie. Thanks for your help everyone.

Had the same problem in my old TN. Its your torque converter that is at fault, buy yourself a Gregories manual, use the wiring diagrams to find the 'Torque Converter Lock Up' wire, and disconnect it. Test drive the car, i think you will find it wont shudder any more.

Hope that helps.

get your tranny serviced with the correct oil... (<--- correct fluid is very important)

my transmission was just under a year old and it started doing this... was because of contaminated fluid. $110 later for a fluid change, it's shifting better than ever (except when it was reconditioned)

also, an additive was added to my new fluid to help prevent this happening again till it needs servicing again.

if you dont have the money to service it, you can cut that wire to the lock-up clutch... or disconnect the yellow/red wire on your temp sender (sits on the intake manifold). the TCU does not engage the lock-up clutch when the engine is cold - so not sending it a signal means it thinks the motor is cold all the time... the shift patterns change a little bit though... not much

Try changing the fluid.. Mits tranys do weird things when they dont like the oil as its getting old.. :confused:

I will be trying many of these things once i get my cash flow problem under control. Thanks for all your help everyone!

well i'd taher just the yellow/red wire that goes to your temp sensor, rather than the lockup clucth wire. when if you replce your trans, it'll be easier to hook up the temp sensor again.

temp sensor is somewhere on your intake manifold... two wires go to this sensor, yellow/green and yellow/red... yellow/green is for your ECU/temp guage/radiator fans - DONT CUT THIS ONE :P

had the same problem with my tn
looked at by 6 automatic tranny guys and all said it was no problem as most do it.
went to a guy in beaconsfield .vic and within 10 seconds he fixed problem;
he said take it around hills in overdrive and lo and behold it was gone.
he did an auto service and drained the torque converter [that is where the problem is]
he told me to cut a wire and insert a switch in line to turn the lock up clutch from coming on until i want it to.
an important point is to drive with overdrive off untill you are of 80 kms
i have had no troubles since.