Dave’s Free Car Repair Advice

Situation:  Torque converter or transmission??

Shaun tells me:  I have a 1996 S-10 Blazer 4×4 4.3L auto trans. The car drives fine, seems to shift fine etc… The problem is when going downhill, I let my foot off the gas to coast above 40mph usually on the highway, and you hear a loud roar and the car seems to come out of gear, not sure if it is coming out of gear.

The fix is to shift in to neutral and back to drive or o/d it doesn’t matter which gear you are in when this happens and it re-engages. You can also step on the gas and it also re-engages. If you keep pressure on the pedal while going downhill it is fine. I have also found tranny fluid leaking but not sure from where. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED Thank you Shaun

Shaun, it all sounds to be ok except for the loud roar you speak of and a total disengaging of the engine on a downward slope.

I would have the fluid checked in the transmission to see if there are any black bits floating around which would indicate clutch plates are about to go out in the automatic tranny and the filter changed to allow free flow of the fluid to keep things functioning.

But could also be a torque converter about to go out completely. I really don’t know what the “roar” would be caused from. Wish I could help you more on this Shaun.

Good luck…

Dave