Auto Trans / Torque Converter life expectancy??

[redgtxdi]

Just curious as to what life expectancy on an auto trans / torque converter is these days??

Aside from the first VW Bug I ever owned, I've never had to change one yet, but my first *new* car was an '89 Mazda B2200 and I think I glazed the clutch disc over pretty good so who knows when it would've gone out. Sold it at 115,000 miles!

My wife's '88 Geo Spectrum (auto trans) went over 150,000 and we never had probs w/ the trans or torque converter. We have, however, had to have our work Toyotas clutches changed. (I recall a '93 we had went at 120,000 and '95 went at 100,000).

So what happens or how long does an auto trans and/or torque converter in a Toyota go before it dies????

(Oh, my interest involved my '98 Camry LE 2.2L which I hope will last over 500,000 INEXPENSIVE miles!!!)

[terrastrife]

sounds like youre family needs to relearn how to drive if ya burning clutches in multiple cars but nah thats common.

no idea how long itll last but judging from the VERY FEW threads about dead autos.. my guess is long enough

[redgtxdi]

OH no, not me.........just drivers hired at work!! (kids, usually). Every 3 or 4 years we buy a Toyota truck and they just go thru clutches.

I didn't necessarily do anything strange w/ my '89 mazda, I just figured that at 115,000 miles (I knew other guys who were changing their mazda clutches at 75,000 miles) I figured I must've glazed my clutch so that my flywheel was probably wearing as much or more than my clutch disc......LOL)

I think I did *tow* a little too much weight with that mazda, but she was a pretty good truck. If I'd have taken care of the cooling system, she might still be around.

So by your guesstimate, then my assumption that I could go 500,000 miles w/o ever needing a new trans or torque converter would be correct???

If so........then why in the heck (especially since newer cars trans's shift so smoothly) would folks still buy sticks?? The $1,000 saved up front is gone the first time you have to have a clutch done! Then if you have to have it done twice........you're in the friggin' hole!

Auto for me all the way.................( )

[terrastrife]

i have an auto... its booooring

manuals drink less fuel

theyre in general faster

you can roll backwards going up hills stuck at red lights without popping into N and looking stupid haha

with an exhaust, a loud one, toyota autos sound pretty good, the shift is nie and hard, theres monimal torque converter loss so it sounds good.. not like the shitty vvvrrrrrrrrrrrooo....oooommmmmaavvvrrrrrr crappy slow auto sound

[thinkpad]

On my 1985 Toyota Camry LE the trans and converter lasted 259,500 miles before dying.

[redgtxdi]

Thanks for the feedback!!


Hey..........I just realized I'm typing this response on a Thinkpad!! A22M battle tank!!

Toyota's & IBM Thinkpads..............too bad they couldn't hook up for a Toypad model car/pc before IBM sold out to China!!

Ah well.........259,000 miles sounds pretty good!!

At 108,000 miles for 7 years time, I'd probably be kidding myself to think I'll be keeing this another 10 years (?) But if I did..........that'd be cool!!