Hey looking to pickup a 2g for the winter. I found a nice Auto but with a evo 6bolt, rebuilt Auto tranny with a shift kit.

Guy says the valve onthe torque converter sticks, so when the car sits, the torque converter drains, and when you start it, you have to wait 1 minute for the TC to prime before it will go into gear. But this is only on a 5hr + cold start up.

Ive done some research but couldnt find anything about the valve and priming the TC.

Does this make sense to anyone. I know little about Auto setups. Would it get worse? Is this gonna cost be BIG $ down the road. Any advice would be great

I don't know if it was the torque converter in my old 1G, but it started to act like that (and especially bad in the cold) - it didn't last more than a few months. It eventually would never make it into gear and I ended up parting it out.

Hmm, I could be wrong, however AFAIK, there is no "valve" for the torque converter. All the torque converter is for an auto car is essentially what transmits the power from the engine to the transmission.

All the "valves" are in the Valve Body, shifting is done by fluid pressure. Could be that the shift kit was installed incorrectly, or there was a problem with the valve body in the first place.

^^^
I think there is actually a check ball inside the torque converter, to keep the ATF from draining back to the pan when the car's off. It could be stuck open, or missing.

Thats what the seller was saying. That the valve/ ball is stuck in an open position so the ATF drains when the car is off for a while. Wnen you start the car the system gets primed and after about a minute you can put it back into gear.

Im not sure if this means this is a faulty TC that needs to be replaced. or just part of the function that just takes longer due to this ball/valve being open.

It's probably just taking time to get the ATF back into the converter. No fluid no go.
Although there can be all sorts of other reasons for the fluid to not flow.

If it doesn't get any worse and there are no other drive problems with the transmission, then the anti-drain-back valve should a be pretty obvious suspect.

The guy who rebuilt his tranny said the problem would not effect the reliabilty of the car.

So the anti drain back valve problem is more of an inconvience
(wait at a cold start) and not really a worsening problem that will affect the drivabilty.

Correct me if im saying it the way i want to see it..lol

Sounds reasonable to me!
Unless there's some harm to running the converter dry for a minute or two - that I don't know.

Thanks Rob

That does make sense Rob. I've heard of that as well.

Running the converter dry will eventually cause it to fail.

Sounds to me like it's low on tranny fluid. I'd check that cold and then when it's warmed up after you've shifted into all the gears a couple of times.

Tranny fluid is ok.

I called a few tranny shops and they had similar concern Ryan. They even suggested like you said rob that there could be other issues.
Since this thing needs to be reliable in the winter and im not even close to a mechanic i am going to continue my hunt.

The car is a great deal and someone might want to scoop it up
(worth it in parts alone) I will post the link.
Wheres the best spot to put it?

WTS section.