Chevrolet Repair: 87 Chevy Celebrity surges and dies, torque converter clutch, upper radiator hose

Question
I own a 1987 chevy celebrity that has over 200k miles on it, its automatic with fuel injection. Lately after I have been driving it for about 30 minutes or so, I will begin to come to a complete stop and the car will surge violently and die. I put it back in Park and restart the car and it starts fine, but as soon as I try to shift into gear it surges and dies again, almost like it were a standard vehicle and I didn't have the clutch in. I thought maybe it had something to do with low trans fluid, I checked it and it was low. I filled it and test drove it and 20 mins later it did the same thing. Checked the fluid again and this time it was fine. Any help would be deeply appreciated.

Answer
Hi Tom, This is the transmission torque converter clutch staying engaged. To repair this on a car with a lot of miles and very cheap is to disconnect it so it doesn't work any more. This will NOT harm anything, just might make your fuel mileage go from 18 mpg to 17.5. There is a connector that is located in the front of the trans. If you open the the hood and look down at the upper radiator hose at the radiator to the trans you will see a plug on the trans. It might be Blue in color, just disconnect it from the trans and your problem is gone!!

Let me know how you make out

Mark