I have a '99 Grand Prix 3.8 v6 which just had the entire transmission replaced. The problem, characterized by a rapid and repeating minor drop in rpms when accelorating slightly between 45 & 60 mph, was NOT resolved with the new transmission. The mech. is trying to tell me that because they forgot to reset the "Torque Converter Memory" the car was "behaving" as though I still had my old transmission in it. His explaination was that the Torque Converter has someing call "adaptive memory" in which it changes and updates it basic settings based on the performance of the car by attempting to compensate for problems it detects during operation.
So my question is, is there any type of component related to the transmission that would "remember" how my old transmission behaved and would actually cause the newly replaced transmission (specifically the Torque Converter) to behave exactly like the old one, and then have to be reset by "disconnecting the car's battery for 24 hours"?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Well, the PCM (not the torque converter) has some pretty sophisticated stuff related to shift programming (pressure, shift points, etc.).
However, the cycling you are describing sounds like a problem in the TCC lockup area. The new transmissions have a gradual application of the TCC (unlike the older transmissions, where they pretty much just are on or off).
You can easily reset your ECM by removing power to it (which probably happened when they swapped the tranmission anyway). Sounds like there is some sort of sensor or installation problem ... not a problem with it 'remembering'...