The torque converter in your vehicle is essentially the piece of equipment that allows power from your engine to be transferred to your transmission and drive train. Problems with your torque converter can be serious and cause your vehicle not to run correctly or cause damage to important and expensive components of your drive train, such as your transmission. The torque converter clutch is designed to provide power by only turning in one direction. If the clutch breaks or stops working, your car can experience several different problems.
If the one-way clutch in the torque converter gets stuck in place and will not allow the converter to circulate the hydraulic fluids, it can cause a loss of power in your vehicle when it is traveling at higher rates of speed. This means that if your vehicle is traveling at 50 or 60 miles per hour and you go to pass someone, it may not have the power it should to pass or accelerate.
A malfunctioning torque converter clutch will not circulate fluid properly and can cause the engine and transmission to overheat. The engine will overheat due to the extra pressure it has to exert to power the vehicle. The transmission will overheat because the fluids are not circulating properly and are failing to keep it cool. The transmission may burn up if this occurs and have to be completely replaced.
The torque converter clutch is designed to be a one-way clutch. If it breaks and starts moving in both directions, your vehicle will have a difficult time building up the power it needs to accelerate. This means that the vehicle will accelerate very slowly or, in some extreme cases, it may not move at all.
