Hello my name is Evan and I'm brand new to the forum.
To start right off I picked up a 1987 fiero gt about 2 months ago with 58,801 miles on it. I purchased it from the second owner who only drove it about 500 miles in the 7 years he owned it. It's currently at 63,336 miles and I drive it every day for work. I've done a lot of work to the car since I bought it like;
Exhaust manifold gasket under the rear window O2 sensor New injectors Distributor cap & rotor plugs, wires, ignition coil Ignition control module and pick up coil Fuel pressure regulator Fuel filter, air filter PCV valve and cleaned EGR valve And last but not least changed out the broken EGR tube.
After all is said and done the car runs flawlessly and quick, but I keep noticing a shudder that starts about 40mph and goes away at 50mph. I have checked everything. The rpms do not budge when the shuddering occurs and upon checking the Trans fluid it is right where it's supposed to be but has a couple tiny bubbles in it. What could I possibly be overlooking? Thank you for any help you may have.
Have the tires balanced ! Smell the trany fluid if balancing the tires didn't work, if it smells like burnt almonds the trany clutches are toasted. Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't
I just had the tires replaced 2 weeks ago. Went to have them balanced and found out they were 13 years old. I haven't tried smelling the fluid though, didn't think anything of it because it looked a nice reddish pink. When I first saw the bubbles I thought it could be a vacuum line but I don't think these cars have one for the trans.
I just had the tires replaced 2 weeks ago. Went to have them balanced and found out they were 13 years old. I haven't tried smelling the fluid though, didn't think anything of it because it looked a nice reddish pink. When I first saw the bubbles I thought it could be a vacuum line but I don't think these cars have one for the trans.
The shudder was the same before and after these tires?
Yes. And it's not a consistent shudder that picks up and keeps going. It's just like a little jerk here and there that is sometimes worse or almost unnoticed. When it is happening though and you accelerate the torque converter thunks and unlocks then it goes away until it locks back up.
Yes. And it's not a consistent shudder that picks up and keeps going. It's just like a little jerk here and there that is sometimes worse or almost unnoticed. When it is happening though and you accelerate the torque converter thunks and unlocks then it goes away until it locks back up.
So the jerking could be a separate symptom from the tranny? I had a bad EGR cause that symptom on a 4 cyl car, though it was a 5 speed so I didnt have the tq converter to think about. It happened at a certain acceleration point, which in an auto could translate to a certain mph (as you said 40-50). A theroy: If you accelerate hard up to high speed if it doesnt do it at all, I might suspect the EGR somehow.
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 07-14-2014).]
It's not a dead spot in the pedal, I'm starting to think after changing all of fuel system parts my old fuel pump might not be able to keep up pressure at low rpm cruising speeds with the converter locked. I changed the transmission filter today and gained nothing. I also swapped out my cheap ignition coil for a better one and nothing has changed.
[This message has been edited by gold_pegasus87 (edited 07-14-2014).]
It's not a dead spot in the pedal, I'm starting to think after changing all of fuel system parts my old fuel pump might not be able to keep up pressure at low rpm cruising speeds with the converter locked. I changed the transmission filter today and gained nothing. I also swapped out my cheap ignition coil for a better one and nothing has changed.
The list of new parts on the top of the page, if it did not have this issue before them, I woudl suspect possibly one of them is faulty.
The lining I referred to is the paper lining on the converter clutch piston. You stated that the shudder is sporatic. TCC shudder is very rythmic(steady evenly spaced pulses). Sounds like a misfire for whatever reason. You have done all the obvious stuff. fuel pressure check is a good idea. It could be a lean fuel problem. Misfires often go away when the TCC unlocks and the load on the engine is reduced. It's got almost 60K on it, so change the trans filter anyway. It's time. Marc
Guess I'll just have to go back and start double checking everything.
this is an auto or standard? yes these auto tranys have a vacuum modulator valve that is run by vacuum that could create problems. I had one go on an early cutlass that stuck on the highway and actually sucked so much fluid out of the trany at highway speeds that it burned the trany clutches up and I didn't notice it because I was at highway speeds during a rain storm I didn't notice the smoke coming out the exhaust and until I reached a stop didn't realize anything was wrong.
Smell the trany fluid, and check the level.
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 07-16-2014).]
