I have a 2007 Dodge Nitro SLT, engine 3.7L, 2-wheel drive. It has 137,000 miles on it. It has a 4-speed automatic transmission 42RLE. The transmission was rebuilt 2 years ago because it wouldn't go in reverse, so we opted to have it completely rebuilt and it has been working fine. It seems to shift fine as well. But for the past couple weeks., when you are accelerating, and you get to about 40-45 mph you start to hear a clunk and at times a vibration. Like something engages and then disengages and it clunks. The vibration sounds like when you are on the highway and you drive over the white line on the shoulder and it vibrates to work the driver up. It sounds like that.
Below 40 mph it won't do it and if you accelerate past 50 mph it won't do it at all. It only does it in low speed around 40-45 mph and while you are accelerating. If you let go of the accelerator it stops doing it.
I've looked at the possibility of it being a u joint. But the dealer said they don't sell u-joint by themselves, they sell the whole drive shaft but the drive shaft at the dealer level has been discontinued.
The transmission itself seems to be shifting through all 4 gears fine.
So, my instinct is leading me to suspect the torque converter, however I am no expert nor am I a car mechanic.
Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.
Well it sure sounds like the torque converter. Find a guy like me with the high low scan tool. Let him hook it up. Take it for a road test we need cash. Can analyze the talkingverter and do bi-directional testing during the road test with the fancy scan tool to see if it's bad or not. Because otherwise you would just have to guess pull off the transmission which caused the fortune and replace it. You don't want to do that unless necessary. I would assume it's either is a dark converter or the guy did a s***** job rebuilding it which I see all the time
