I have a 2008 torrent and when I try to pick up speed to merge into the highway the rpm gauge drops

bruce1980

My 2008 torrent from gauge drops when I try to get it into passing gear then seems to not want to accelerate until I raise rpms up.

Mr_Shiftright

Is the car up to schedule on tune up, fuel filter, that sort of thing? How many miles on it?

imidazol97

I assume you're driving in D. What happens if you shift it into the next lower setting, maybe 3 it's called, BEFORE you start to accelerate?

What happens when you're accelerating from a dead stop? Normal pacing and shifting for the vehicle?

Besides the important items such as plugs and wires being up to date, there's another thing that could cause what I think you're describing. Plugs, wires, low fuel pressure, should give driveability problems during takeoff from a stop sign. Or at light load and low engine rpms you'll feel a misfire.

I wonder if your transmission is not releasing the torque converter lockup when you accelerate lightly. Either the control module for the trans (whatever/however that is done for your drivetrain) OR the physical controls within the trans that change the lockup amount may not be releasing. That would keep your engine bogged down in lower rpms and lower torque.

Typically the increased throttle movement should release the torque converter from 99% to some lower amount or completelly release it. The tach rpms go up a few hundred rpm. Then the transmission would downshift from 4 to 3 if the demand for power from the accelerator is increasing compared to the car speed and engine speed and transmission settings.

A test would be on a slight incline give slight amount of gas and watch that the tach stays the same. Then touch the brake pedal with the other foot, keeping the accelerator the same. If the rpm goes up when you touch the brake, the torque converter lockup has released and the engine is now in 4th without the lockup. If you release the brake pedal, and back off the accelerator slightly, the rpms may drop back to the original speed when car was in torque converter lockup at 99%.

B2V2008

Did you ever solve this problem? My pontiac torrent is doing the same thing. When accelerating the RPM drops to zero and remains locked at zero until a restart.