Hello All, just looking to get some thoughts here on my 2016 GMC Sierra 1500 (113k miles) with a growling/grinding sort of noise coming most prominently from the front bell housing area. Based on what I have been researching and the location of the sound, I am thinking my torque converter is beginning to fail. I just noticed this for the first time after a 160 mile trip home from vacation. The whole way home the transmission shifted great and no obvious signs or noises but when I approached my driveway I noticed two hard shifts/slips. I did take it for a brief drive the next day and the transmission seems to operate normal other than the noise. No trouble codes so far. I really only notice the sound when coming off idle in park or in gear or when accelerating. No other hard shifting or slipping symptoms yet after that from what I can tell.
My question is, based on the pretty limited info I gave above, do I seem like I am likely on the right track to diagnosing a bad torque converter? I will pull the pan over the next few days and look for excess metal shavings. My next question is, if I have caught this early enough, can I get away with just replacing the torque converter or will I need to replace the whole transmission? Any one here go through a similar situation? I am interested in all feedback. Thanks in advance.