Torque converter shudder at highway speeds, can it be fixed without a rebuild?
I've got this really annoying shudder in my 2014 A6 that only happens at highway cruising between 100 and 120 kph, feels like running over rumble strips for a second or two and then it smooths out again. The weird part is it completely disappears if I manually drop it down to fifth gear, which from what I understand points directly at the torque converter lockup clutch rather than an engine misfire or driveline issue. I've tried those friction modifier additives you see at the auto parts stores and it helped for maybe a week before the shudder came right back, so that was money wasted. I know the proper fix involves either a new torque converter or a full rebuild but I'm wondering if anybody has successfully had just the torque converter replaced without touching the rest of the gearbox and had it hold up long term. Spent ages reading through technical articles on https://auditransmissionrepair.ae/ trying to wrap my head around whether a failing torque converter eventually takes out the whole transmission with debris, and honestly now I'm more anxious about driving it than I was before. Anyone tackled just the converter and how many kilometers has it been since?