Hey folks. 02 4Runner SR5 2 wheel drive. 280,000 miles. For the most in perfect condition. In fact no real issues at all.
My Rear main seal, valve covers, and oil cooler were slightly leaking so i decided to the Toyota dealership fix all 3. I just paid them to do it. I use this as my work travel truck and was going to expense the repair. No problems.

Get the truck back and there is a noticeable ticking noise coming from the bottom of the truck. Sounds very close to where the transmission meets up with the motor. I immediately call them the next day and drop it back off. I get call back from them stating that the torque converter is going bad and I need a whole new transmission. As it would be cheaper to get a reman’d transmission with the TC than to buy the TC by itself. WTF. This truck was fine before I took it in less a few oil leaks. Now it’s in the crapper. Should I stand my ground saying it was fine before y’all messed with it?

That sucks. While coincidences do occur, it certainly is also very coincidental that you end up with a TC problem after they were in there for the rear main seal. I'd see if they will work something out with you on the repair, other than that your in for an argument. What did they charge you for the rear main replacement?

The receipts are actually in the truck. I don’t have them with me to give you that cost. I am highly confident that I could have driven this truck with the leaks for quite some time and not had one ounce of issues. I’ve had it since it had 2miles on it brand new. I’ve had all the maintenance work done at that dealership. So for 16 years they’ve seen this truck. Just pissed.

That is unfortunate. I bet it was only the valve covers leaking. They typically drip oil down the side of the engine and make it look like other things are leaking when they are not.

That stinks. The worst lie is telling you that it is just as expensive to replace just the torque converter as it would be the transmission, which it isn’t by a country mile. Get a quote or two from tranny shops for such an undertaking and be prepared to lawyer up if need be.

Ask them to tighten up your flex plate bolts.

When I picked it up, the ticking I heard was rpm related (and still is). I immediately thought to myself “this ticking sounds eerily like a valve adjustment tick” so I opened the hood and was surprised to not hear it. So I stuck my head under the truck and found it was rather loud from the transmission area.

Oh- and I just about lost my s__ when the service rep. said “well, the transmission is 16 years / 280k miles old. I’m surprised it lasted this long”. I was like oh he77 no. Seriously dude? You have no idea how bulletproof these trucks are.

So tightening the flex plate could fix this?

If they were not tightened to spec, yes. If driven too long, damage to the flex plate (auto trans equivalent to a flywheel) may have occurred, in which case they owe you a new one.

You may want to search this forum with query terms "flex plate, flexplate, loose, tighten, noise".

How does a ticking noise mean a bad transmission? Does it shift fine?
Edit: you answered while I was typing

Pull the inspection cover and inspect the flexplate. Have a helper turn the engine over using the crank bolt and listen/look to see if the flexplate is hitting anything or is cracked.

It is possible they didn't tighten the flexplate bolts enough (or at all).

Hopefully it's just that and you can take it back to them and have them fix it, for free of course.

Another theory is if they didn't seat the torque converter all the way when they bolted the bell housing back on the engine. It could have damaged the tranny pump and could cause a ticking noise.

Check those bolts first, don't let them bamboozle you into a tranny replacement. I hear too many stories of dealership diagnosing problems, and then not actually fixing them. I have witnessed personally, techs replacing perfectly good parts, and discovering the actual problem. It's usually something simple like a loose bolt or cracked hose.

Just found a few videos of flexplate ticks and sure enough..sounds like that.

Question - When rear main seal his replaced, I know the trans is unbolted and pulled back a little out of the way. Do you think the torque converter and/or the flex plate would have even been touched during this? Is it possible that the something wasn't lined back up upon assembly?

Flexplate has to be removed to access the rear main seal. You have to completely unbolt the flexplate from the torque converter before pulling the trans.

Perfect. Thank you. I’ll let y’all know the outcome

If I had to guess, they didn't tighten up the flex plate bolts enough and one (or more) is hitting.

They have to unbolt the 6 bolts that hold the flexplate to the torque converter to be able to remove the transmission (and a ton of other stuff). These are the bolts you can see with the inspection cover off (you can usually only see one or two at a time).

The flexplate is bolted to the crankshaft with 8 bolts, behind that is your rear main seal. If one or more of these bolts is loose, it could be your problem but its unlikely. There is also a large washer/spacer between the flexplate and the crank, that could be missing or put on backwards. Or, the flexplate itself could be cracked for several reasons (not aligned, not bolted down properly, age etc).