For almost a year, I've been having issues that I'm not even sure are issues. But talking with someone on Facebook about it, he and one of his friends said it sounds like the torque converter.

I've noticed that when stopping, about 50% of the time, there's an extra little "push." When I'm right on the edge of coming to a complete stop, there's just a little extra momentum that pushes me. It's not too forceful, but feels like someone gave the tail end a shove with their hands.

And then sometimes when I'm on that edge of stopping, where there is just that tiny bit of momentum left, and I get going again, it kinda jerks while getting going again.

All this time I've thought it was something with the U-joint. And saw a member on a local mustang group replace his driveshaft with a single piece shaft. I started looking it up, and came across terms like Slop and Backlash, and thought that it has to be the driveshaft. So I started talking to this guy, and he called a friend with my symptoms and they came up with the issue that it's probably the torque converter.

So I started looking up some issues, and could possibly believe that. One symptom that I noticed recently, I was making a quick 3-point turn. I crank the wheel left, reverse it up, and when I put it back into drive, it felt like it lost power for a split second. It doesn't happen when backing out of the driveway normally, but when I try to do a quick reverse and go. And I'm not talking about the reverse drop to get the wheels to spin like I used to do in high school with my front wheel drive grand am.

And now, I'm remembering something else from this spring. There was one day, I was getting a weird squeaking noise. Very soft. At first I didn't think it was me. Then it happened again when I was either pulling up to, or taking off slowly from a stop sign. I was in a shopping center, so my speeds were low. It would make the noise for about 5-10 seconds, then gone. Then that same day, while leaving town, cruising about 40mph, I heard an awful racket. Like metal on metal clanging around sounds. Then gone after a second. I had never heard anything this loud before. I quickly looked in my rear-view mirror and didn't see anything pop out. I pulled over and checked under the car and in the wheel wells. Didn't see anything. The car was still idling fine. I chalked it up to maybe picking up a larger sized rock in my tire.

I started off carefully, checked my tire pressure, and all seemed fine, so I continued on home. And since then, I hadn't heard that soft squealing noise, or any more clanks.

So does any of this sound like the torque converter? I've been driving to and from work every day without any issues. It's a 20 mile drive each way. I just notice that extra momentum at stop signs sometimes.

It's a '17 GT Auto, with about 18,000 miles.

Someone else suggested the throttle body. I cleaned that, and still have the stopping issue.

 

Throttle body was my guess or some sort of idle sensor

 

My 2011 v6 automatic has always done the 'push' feel when coming to a stop sign or red light. Almost feels like someone rear ending me. A lot of others with automatics feel the same thing. I say it's normal and don't worry about it. After 9 years it hasn't gotten better or worst, I just live with it. I had my transmission flushed a few years ago and nothing changed.

 

That's why I haven't been too worried about it, it hasn't gotten any worse. But never noticed this in my '06 GT Automatic until about 8 years of owning it. It started to do something like this, and then one day, it just wouldn't shift. Transmission went bad.

And it's not so bad when it's in Sport or Track mode. It's more noticeable in Normal mode.

Because of this though, I've put off doing some upgrades just in case it did need worked on, and there was no issue about the warranty. Figured next Spring I'd do the CAI and tune. But, because of holding off on the mods, and this little stopping issue, I just haven't enjoyed my new '17 as much as I had with my '06. So I'm getting anxious.

 

You may want to try resetting your transmission computer by disconnecting your battery for 30 minutes. I did this with my 2018 GT A10 which was having harsh coast down downshifting coming to a stop. I did this and was pleasantly surprised by the results and can now avoid a dealer visit where the techs will beat on my car. The adaptive learning transmissions in these cars will re-learn your driving style and adjust which mine is doing. Worth a try!

 

Suppose it is. Will try it this weekend.

Also as a side note. Why the hell can't the car save the saved stations on my radio? It's not like the odometer resets itself after every time you unplug the battery.

 

They tell me this works