How long can I drive on a bad torque converter?

[Eyerate]

I'm going to replace it in 2-3 weeks and I'm wondering if I would ruin the whole transmission if I drive on it like this?

My mechanic said that as long as I don't drive too hard I'm ok, but I've read otherwise online.

thanks

[AudiA4Turbo22]

i wouldn't

[Eyerate]

i wouldn't

well, I've driven on it like this for 1 week now.

Would I have caused any damage?

[AudiA4Turbo22]

there is a risk that u can

[Charlescrs6]

I drove for a little over a week on a bad one. DIdn't even know... found out when I brought my car in to the stealership and they told me what the CEL was from.

[IronAudi]

you can drive on it till it breaks, bring it in adn get it fixed. No reason to drive on it till it snaps and your screw the whole drive train.

[Charlescrs6]

you can drive on it till it breaks, bring it in adn get it fixed. No reason to drive on it till it snaps and your screw the whole drive train.

those two sentences were very contradictory...

[Frey7190]

What's the symptoms of a bad TC? Does the CEL turn on?

[AudiA4Turbo22]

^^usually

[Papachristou]

OP, that question is as vague as "how long can i drive with engine starting to sludge?"

[47Ronin]

papachristou who is in your avatar

[Papachristou]

Do you know her?

[02SILVANT]

OP i drove on my bad TC for about 3 or 4 days and i just simply wouldnt recommend driving more then that. Anything can happen. You really have no control over it. If you absolutely have no other way of getting around and have to wait out 2-3 weeks till it gets fixed then drive very carefully by not punching on the gas and stay calm!!!

[Turb_Oh_A4]

Papa, are you the same guy that had Raven Riley in there a few weeks ago?

[Eyerate]

you can drive on it till it breaks, bring it in adn get it fixed. No reason to drive on it till it snaps and your screw the whole drive train.

nice engrish

[Papachristou]

Papa, are you the same guy that had Raven Riley in there a few weeks ago?

nope, this girl is mine... although raven riley is one nice looking piece of goodness

[Eyerate]

OP, that question is as vague as "how long can i drive with engine starting to sludge?"

you're right. What I meant is would I damage rest of the tranny if I drive on it for a while.

[romell]

papachristou who is in your avatar

were the hell have you been.

[Exanimas]

Papa, are you the same guy that had Raven Riley in there a few weeks ago?

That's Eurosteez, he has a B5 but seems to pop over here on occasion.

[downhillracer]

you can drive on it but there are a thousand fins and things in there and im not exactly sure what goes wrong with them but if those fins break off then they can grind up in there and tear apart the whole torque converter and get metal shavings in you tranny fluid and then that would be really bad....so I wouldn't drive it

[initiala4]

The more you drive a car with a broken tranny, the more problems you will get into later. Might as well get it fix asap and not worry whats going to break.

[Eyerate]

could I possibly have done any damage to the tranny after driving like this for 1 week?

[monkey323i]

depends on if you ganna drive a lot of highway (high speed) in that duration.

if you do, TC wont be able to lock-up after 75-80km/hr, it will still keep spinning and overheat the tranny fluid.

eventually, you will lose 5th/4th gears. (tranny wont shift)
You may end up building whole tranny instead of just replacing TC.

[downhillracer]

tcc (torque converter clutch) lockup is mostly for efficiency but it can cool the trans fluid by locking up the converter if needed...you probably didn't do any damage yet...but id get it fixed as soon as possible. Id have them to a tranny fluid and filter change while they are there...just for good measure!