Torque converter problem?

[Heat]

I have had this car, a '95 LE with 155,000 miles, for a week now, was given to me by my mom (rather than her getting low $$$ from the dealer). There is something wrong with either the transmission or the torque converter.

Here are the symptoms:

a. When idling at a stoplight in drive, the steering wheel is shaking somewhat hard. When I slip it into neutral there is no shaking at all. Back into drive the shaking is there again.

b. At highway speeds, when I take my foot off of the accelerator and put it back on there is a mechanical “boom boom boom” (or shudder with a quick shake), lasts just a fraction of a second then the car is driving fine. This doesn't happen all the time but often enought that I notice it, and it's only at highway speeds.

My thought is that it is a torque converter problem, the car is shaking because it is having trouble locking up.

I was planning on doing an automatic transmission flush this week (doing it myself), is it possible that this would “cure” the problem? Or is this something I should just take to a transmission guy?

If the torque converter is bad, what’s a rough price on getting a new one put in? (that’s beyond what I feel comfortable doing)

[GrkBallaG]

Thats not a torque convertor promblem. Sounds more like a mount issue. Try this, put your foot on the brake while the car is in drive and push the gas and release it, youll probably hear that boom boom sound your talking about.

[renmike]

I second GrkBallaG's, sounds more like an engine/tranny mount problem, especially the vibration at a stop light until you drop it down to Park or Neutral.

[Heat]

Thanks for the information! I tried revving the engine with my foot on the brake and the car in drive, it had the same shake.

[ghettosled]

i agree with the others here - sounds like the torque mount or one of the other mounts.