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Pretty sure I got a bad apple from Ebay (torque converter). What to do?

D

DizturbedOne

1/2 ton status
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May 11, 2007
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Location
Sacramento, CA
Ordered a low stall converter from oregonperformancetransmission on ebay, installed about 2 months ago along with a full rebuild on my TH350 (with parts order from there also), a 205 was swapped in, and a new flexplate installed. Installed it myself, I know it went in right. I was really meticulous. Pre-filled it with a quart and let it soak, got all my clunks as I spun it on the pump (brand new pump btw), couldn't get my fingers between it and the bell, bolted up cleanly, spun freely once the bell was bolted. Had 5 qts in the trans before I fired it and IMMEDIATELY filled it. It bolted right up to the flexplate without having to walk it out very far. No nasty sound when I hit the starter, drove home great with no issue or noises.

Haven't driven it because I need smog on it and still have a couple little things to do (batt cables, starter heat shield, different batt tray). I usually fire it up for a weekly warm-up anyways just to keep things lubed, but today I decided to drive it across the street to a gas station to put air in the tires as they were looking a little low. At this point the truck has probably 10 miles on it from the drive home after it was all installed.

As soon as I put it in drive I get a scraping sound (more like marbles up front) and am thinking "WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY BRAND NEW SETUP". Even though I have installed many a transmission, I haven't seen or heard a lot of TC's go personally. It doesn't happen in P or N, but all driven gears it does. Noise gets quieter as speed picks up. Sounds like it's coming from the front.... UUUGGGHHHH... REALLY sounds like a bad TC to me.

If so, this guys bad TC put me out $400 in parts and $400 in labor on the rebuild not to mention MY time and effort. Any advice on how I should approach this? I doubt he'll reimburse me for everything... But I NEED to see reparations here, I can't let this one slide right now. Money is too tight to be flushing it down the drain. I really want to approach this correctly, and was hoping a few of you guys had some experience with something like this, that turned out OK in the end. Thanks for reading my long sob story and trying to help me out. Here's to hoping!
 
Double check that all your flexplate-to-TC bolts are tight.

Check the flexplate for cracks.

Call the vendor and discuss it with them.
 
Does it sound like this one does at about 10 seconds in? This noise was caused by loos torque converter bolts that loosened them selves up after about 10,000 miles.

 
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Make sure to stay civil and nice to the vendor, at least during the initial call. If you call the guy up and start screaming and cussing then the chance of him working with you goes down the drain.
 
6.2Blazer said:
Make sure to stay civil and nice to the vendor, at least during the initial call. If you call the guy up and start screaming and cussing then the chance of him working with you goes down the drain.
Click to expand...

Should check your own work which includes the converter bolts, before even calling the vendor.
 
I've already checked it over and over, wouldn't have even considered this if I didn't. I even tried a set of different length converter bolts (slightly shorter), and washers between the TC and flexplate with both sets of bolts... Adjusted the shift linkage to no end. Same exact sound no matter what I do.

Also, it would have done it on startup, not after a few miles. A bad TC install would go toast as soon as I hit the key.

I'm dreading calling this guy. I've never had good luck with people owning up to anything. No real way I can think of to prove it was installed right. Now I wish I would have taken a video of it's first fire and maiden voyage home.
 
I know I had some converter bolts get loose one time and it happened after only a few miles...sounded very much like you described too.

Good luck...
 
It sounds like you know what you're doing. And you've checked your work.

Wondering what's gonna happen when you call is not getting you answers. Get on the horn and talk the the vendor. Be polite, explain the situation and the symptoms, see what happens. Let us know what happens.
 
@ y5mgisi: No, not at all. I've had loose converter bolts and a cracked flexplate before (on this very same truck actually, before this build) and it sounded nothing like this does now

What I'm really asking is, any way to confirm the TC is at fault without pulling it first? I've never heard a TC like this, and I'm still not quite convinced because of that. I can't find a single bad TC on a TH350 video on youtube (and there are a lot, lol) that sounds even close to it

Anything you guys can think of that will help me in proving my case here? I can get HD video if I need to.

On a sidenote, the truck drives great. Hangs on to 2nd a little bit long, but I'm fairly sure it's just the modulator a little out of adjustment.

I want to have this well thought out before I call this guy tonight. Don't want to be tripping over my words or getting angry.
 
did it sound like this?


My metal tranny cooler lines were bent a little off and were rubbing on my balancer... worth a shot to check it out. I thought for sure it was a dead pump or tc
 
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No Chris, nothing like that, but thanks for the idea, I am going to look forward of the transmission today and inspect anything else it may be (it does have a new cooler, so maybe) I've been really focused on that trans and formed (transmission) tunnel vision

I'm going to take a video tomorrow and post it up before I pull it off again.

Yes... I've also decided I'm going to pull it out, inspect, and re-install it this weekend to see what I get. I have a feeling I'm just being too nice of a guy here already by doing all of this but... I would rather it be something small and easily corrected than have to deal with a vendor paying me for another rebuild and sending all the parts + a pump & TC out to me. Which I doubt would happen even with solid proof of a DOA TC.

@k20 HOLY CRAP
 
Pull the Tcase, then get some really long bolts support the trans and slide it back enough to pull the torque converter and check it out, maybe see if someone else has a different one you can steal for a bit, put it back together and try it. That way you dont fight with the line up of the bell housing bolts and will speed up the process.
 
The easiest thing you can do is to unbolt the torque convertor and push it towards the trans and then start the engine to see if the noise is still there or not (if it's still there that will eliminate ALL of the trans and convertor as being the culprit).
 
Thanks Scott, I was just going to say something similar. It's time to start eliminating possibilities.
 
On that same note, you could unbolt the converter and spin it by hand to listen for anything inside rattling around.
 
Well guys, a new job has been eating up all of my time so I never got around to it yet, but plan on hitting it this weekend provided I'm not going in on Saturday again.

I've had it unbolted and spun it by hand before. It spins freely with no noise. I will have to post a video soon of it running. I'm not comfortable starting it with the converter unbolted, seems like inertia would just throw it forwards and not rule out anything anyways.

I think I may slide it back on some long bolts to pull it, and install my old one. I was scared to do that bell bolt trick with the t-case and everything still attached though... A lot of weight on a couple little bolts... LOL

Any other ideas would be appreciated. Someone else mentioned that the shift forks in my t-case may be slightly worn, causing it to not engage completely. Sounds far-fetched to me, but I'm willing to be open to anything.
 
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