Alright so about 3 weeks ago my 04 5.4 was replaced at the dealer . they put a used engine in free of charge. and ever since then it seems like the trannys slippin but only once and a while which leads me to believe its the torque converter, because its not a constant slipping or slamming of gears while downshifting. this was NEVER a problem before the replacement.

Now heres my main quesion for you guys that have expeirience with this stuff.(correct me if im wrong) but in order to replace hte engine you have to take the torque converter out? and i think htey f$^ked it up while doin the swap. so that leads me to believe that the torque converter is messed up. and acts like its slipping.

this happened to my dads tahoe the guy who put in the new tranny dropped the converter and then just put it back in the tranny like it never happend but once my dad started to have troubles the other mechanic was like i seen him drop it.. this idiot no longer has a job at htis shop.

any help or input is appreciated.

 

The torque converter does need to be disconnected from the flywheel at the rear of the engine, but most procedures I've seen have the converter itself left in the transmission bell housing when the engine is pulled out. This is precisely to avoid the kinds of hazards you mentioned.

The converter is typically held to the flywheel by a number of threaded studs, and the nuts on those studs are to be removed while the engine and bell housing are still attached to each other -- typically the nuts are accessed after the starter and a cover underneath the bell housing are removed.

 

Can you elaborate as to how it's slipping?
For example, is it slipping while shifting up to any gear or just a certain gear? Does it slip while trying to accelerate while the shifter is locked in a lower gear?

 

If the engine is seized (solid) the only way to get it out is with the converter attached. Have to be able to rotate the engine to get the converter bolts off and if it dont rotate you gotta pull it attached makes a big mess but I've done it with out damaging the converter..

 

Yep, that's indeed true; forgot to account for that in earlier post.