bad converter?

[alfatwin]

Short of having a dead miss at idle, the thing should idle when you put it in gear. if you set the idle at 2000 rpm it should be able to pull it off, but if the torque converter is trash (low or no stall) it will not be able to. If your trans fluid is burned it could be caused by the torque converter overheating, and heat is not good for a trans. does it have a cooler? if it does pull the lower hose and drain some of the fluid out (engine off!), look at it and see if it has any gook, black rubbery/clutchy parts or metal flakes in it. if it does, just pull the trans and have it gone through, buy a new torque converter (hey you can put a high stall one in!) and clean out the cooler lines and cooler.