...and that's why we're here to try and help you Kiera. Not because we're (mostly) men, but because we know Cruisers. The torque converter is essentially like two stir fry woks stuck together. Inside there are a load of fins. It works a bit like a water wheel with fluid being pumped in, which pushes on the fins, making the whole thing spin. It doesn't have any moving parts in it. So it's very unlikely to be worth changing. If you find a replacement box with a TC then no issue changing it but either way there's no real benefit. But, if you do go for a new box there is an important seal where the torque converter is pushed into the auto box. If you want to do a good job and not have to pull it all out again later, you should insist on this seal being changed. Whatever happens, it's going to be 20+ years old and have been wiggled and jiggled and quite possibly be leaking already. Easy to change, your mechanic could do it in their sleep and it's probably only a £15 part from Toyota.
Just make sure you get a clear understanding from whomever does the work that if it still doesn't drive properly when they have 'fixed it' then it's down to them to get it sorted or you could be looking at a huge bill for nothing. When, as we suspect, it's not the box that needs changing in the first place. They very rarely do.
You could do with an auto transmission place locally who can test and diagnose faults. We can give you all of the factory manuals for them to work from
