Suzuki Torque Converter — Sourced to Your Derivative

Suzuki fields three quite different automatics locally — a conventional torque-converter automatic, a CVT, and the AMT automated manual used on the budget cars. The AMT is a manual gearbox with an actuator bolted to it, so its parts have nothing in common with either of the others despite all three being sold as "auto". Getting that wrong is the most expensive mistake on this page. In practice the decision in front of you is whether a repair, a reconditioned unit or a good used gearbox represents the best value on a car of this age.

Whether the car is manual, AMT, CVT or a conventional automatic, plus which engine sits in front of it. With that we can usually confirm the right part quickly, and we'll tell you whether we're quoting new, aftermarket or good used rather than leaving you to guess.

That depends which gearbox you have, and the local range runs four different ones. The S-Presso, Celerio, Ignis and older Swift use an AMT, which Suzuki calls AGS: a manual gearbox with an actuator working the clutch, so no torque converter at all. Most of the 1.5 range, the Jimny included, uses a four-speed torque-converter automatic. The current Swift and Dzire use a CVT, and the Across a six-speed automatic. Work out which is in your car before ordering.

Almost always the lock-up clutch inside the converter. At cruise the converter locks mechanically to cut slip and save fuel, and a worn friction surface or degraded fluid makes that engagement chatter instead of taking up smoothly. Fresh fluid of the correct specification sometimes clears an early case; a worn lock-up clutch does not come back.

No. It sits between the engine and the gearbox inside the bellhousing, so the gearbox has to come out to reach it. That is why careful diagnosis first pays for itself, because a similar shudder can come from misfiring plugs or coils, which is a far smaller job.

If a converter has failed, debris from it is already circulating through the cooler lines and the valve body. Fitting a rebuilt or used converter into a system still full of that debris is the usual reason a second one fails. The cooler lines should be flushed and the fluid and filter renewed as part of the job.

On an older car it often is, because the alternative can be worth more than the vehicle. What matters is provenance. A converter out of a running car with clean red fluid is a very different thing from one pulled off a burnt gearbox. Tell us the model, year and gearbox type through the quote form and we will tell you what we can find.