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HELP! tranny woes. I want to go on a rampage

NorCal_Chris

NorCal_Chris

1/2 ton status
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So i had a leaky front pump seal, and a cracked flexplate. Flexplate was cracked really bad and made a tick tick noise but truck ran fine.

So got a flexplate and front seal and proceeded yesterday to have the joy of pulling my tranny/tcase by myself :haha:

Got it pulled far enough away to get torque converter off, and then flexplate and then changed seal. Had a fun time getting torque converter back on but it finally slid back into its spot.

Struggled for too long to get tranny back lined up and finally got it.. torqued all the bolts down, put starter back in, and added 4 qts of fluid.

Soo the tranny makes this horrible grinding, scraping noise at idle/low rpm. Still drives forward and reverse as i backed it out of my driveway into the street to clean my mess. It goes away if i rev it up. does it in all gears and neutral.

What could this be????? Im going to go insane if i dont figure it out. I will go grab a video and post it back on here.
 
tRustyK5 said:
Possible to have the flex plate on backwards?

Rene
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I thought about that but checked before i slapped it on. I pulled it from pick and pull and the lock washer things left little star imprints on it and i installed it the same way.


edit just looked and double checked.

Flexplate is on correct. Idents in flexplate stick out towards rear of truck to meet torque coverter. Inspection with flashlight shows no scrapes on torque converter or flexplate. No visble signs of rubbing
 
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Sounds like you DID NOT get the torque convertor on correctly and now you are damaging the trans pump. Did you happen to notice when you bolted the trans back up to the engine if you had to pull the convertor forward in order to bolt it up to the flexplate? The "ears" of the convertor have to engage the pump in the correct spot otherwise it jams them into the pump and will make a noise as you're describing. This generally means a new trans pump and torque convertor will be needed and a good flush of the trans to remove all the shavings that will be in there from the damage that is done.

I just listened to the video clip, are you SURE you tightened the flexplate to the crank and also the convertor bolts.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Sounds like you DID NOT get the torque convertor on correctly and now you are damaging the trans pump. Did you happen to notice when you bolted the trans back up to the engine if you had to pull the convertor forward in order to bolt it up to the flexplate? The "ears" of the convertor have to engage the pump in the correct spot otherwise it jams them into the pump and will make a noise as you're describing. This generally means a new trans pump and torque convertor will be needed and a good flush of the trans to remove all the shavings that will be in there from the damage that is done.

I just listened to the video clip, are you SURE you tightened the flexplate to the crank and also the convertor bolts.
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Yeah there was a small gap between the torque converter and flexplate.

100% sure that i tightened the flexplate and converter bolts. I double checked the torque converter bolts thinking that one was loose and rubbing on something but they are all torqued down.

It just seems weird to me that if the torque converter has splines, and the imput shaft/pump shaft have splines that they could mesh wrong.

I stuck the converter on the shaft, wiggled it then it slid about halfway, then wriggled some more and it made a clunk and hit the back of the tranny in its spot. I didnt know there was some magical way to stick it on :mad:
 
Is the cover to the torque converter/flexplate on while its running ?
Also, you said you pulled the flexplate from a used vehicle ?
Have you looked at the flexplate spinning with the converter while its running ? are they turning straight and not wobbling ?
 
scrappyk5 said:
Is the cover to the torque converter/flexplate on while its running ?
Also, you said you pulled the flexplate from a used vehicle ?
Have you looked at the flexplate spinning with the converter while its running ? are they turning straight and not wobbling ?
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Cover is still off
Yeah flexplate was used.
Didnt even think to check to see if it is wobbly, i will give that a looksie. No scrape marks on anything so i dont think even if it was bent it would do that, unless it is making the imput shaft wobble all over.
 
Yeah , look up in there while its running. You might see it shaking or wobbling. watch the flexplate and the t/c. also, look around the starter housing whiles its running use a flashlight if needed.
If everything looks straight. then unbolt the flexplate, push the t/c in and spin by hand listen for any noise.

My own opinion, a flexplate is really not an item you should buy used at a junkyard.
 
Not wanting to rag on any personal grooming habits, but if you have longer than average hair, or a long sleeve jacket on, watch yourself when checking the spinning flexplate. Get a little too close, and you could have a whole nother problem....

J.
 
Did the truck not make this noise before you removed the trans? I'm assuming not otherwise you probably wouldn't have made this post about the noise.

Unbolt the convertor and push it rearward and then start the engine to verify 100% that the noise is trans related.

Also about the splines, yes the convertor has splines inside of it and they mate with the splines on the input shaft BUT the lugs that drive the pump MUST drop into the notches inside the pump otherwise severe damage is the result.
 
4X4HIGH said:
Did the truck not make this noise before you removed the trans? I'm assuming not otherwise you probably wouldn't have made this post about the noise.

Unbolt the convertor and push it rearward and then start the engine to verify 100% that the noise is trans related.

Also about the splines, yes the convertor has splines inside of it and they mate with the splines on the input shaft BUT the lugs that drive the pump MUST drop into the notches inside the pump otherwise severe damage is the result.
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I will go out on sunday and try to take converter off and see whats up. I was thinking of trying that. Truck made no noises before this, well other than the tick tick of the cracked flexplate.

What kindof damage are we talking about with pump not engaged? Does the shaft spin and grind the lugs? Im assuming the rest of the trans is ok because there is fluid all in there, just not pressurized? Not the most familiar with trannys.

I found a pump at local trans shop for 72.50 plus core so i think im going to go with that. My buddie suggested i just reseat converter, flush tranny and run it. Im guessing pump is shot to were it isnt going to pressurize as much as it should?

I really dont have any extra money right now, hence the used flexplate... but i guess i dont really have a choice
 
NorCal_Chris said:
I will go out on sunday and try to take converter off and see whats up. I was thinking of trying that. Truck made no noises before this, well other than the tick tick of the cracked flexplate.

What kindof damage are we talking about with pump not engaged? Does the shaft spin and grind the lugs? Im assuming the rest of the trans is ok because there is fluid all in there, just not pressurized? Not the most familiar with trannys.

I found a pump at local trans shop for 72.50 plus core so i think im going to go with that. My buddie suggested i just reseat converter, flush tranny and run it. Im guessing pump is shot to were it isnt going to pressurize as much as it should?

I really dont have any extra money right now, hence the used flexplate... but i guess i dont really have a choice
Click to expand...


Like i said earlier, the pump will be damaged if the convertor isn't installed correctly. Basically the "ears" on the convertor will chew up the pump if they aren't engaged in the pump correctly meaning you will be changing the trans pump and the convertor. Remember that the trans pump is directly behind the convertor so you would have to pull the trans back out again and then remove the convertor, and then you can unbolt the pump and most times you can get it to move with a screw driver prying carefully on either side. I can't remember what will come falling out at you wth the trans in a horizontal position.
 
Do like 4x4high mentioned first , unbolt the converter from the flexplate and start it, just to make sure its the trans. before you unbolt the converter, let it run and look up in there for wobbling , and if the flexplate is contacting anythin like up where the starter is. then unbolt the converter and start it , to see if its trans related.
 
Today was a great day! :haha:

So i sourced a new front pump, was ready to go grab it. Got under my truck and grabbed my wrench to take coverter bolts off. give the first one a spin, making my motor turn over and i hear the grinding sound. So im like hrmmm what is that. Give it another spin and i see my tranny cooler lines move. So i follow them and sure enough they got bent down and were scraping on my balancer! I was thinking it cant be that simple. So moved lines back out of the way and hooked them back to the bracket and started it up. No Noise!!!:eek1::D:eek1:

Needless to say im a happy man.

although i forgot to put an o ring on my filler tube so my tranny leaks :(
But i will take that over pulling that damn thing out again.

Thanks you guys for all your info. Im glad it wasnt anything that we were thinking.
 
That is great news. Sure alot less trouble to put the lines back into the clip than to pull the trans/t-case back out. The filler tube O-ring is also a quick fix.
 
Make sure you fix that fill tube seal ASAP. A kid I went to high school with forgot that and fried a $1300 reman 700R4.
 
a round of beers for everyone, Chris is buying;)

Good news Chris....easy fix, and cheap, comparitively.
 
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