Transmission noise 2001 T4R

A

Atoyot Rennur4

New member
Hello,
Recently have a noise.
The noise is only when in gear forward or reverse. Sounds like something rattling around. Noise not in neutral or park or while coasting in gear. Noise happens even when in D or R not moving with brake on.

Pulled inspection plate and found piece of what appears to be cast steel it is magnetic. Piece was found just inside inspection plate. Total length is 1/2 inch kinda curved no threads and about 3/16" tall and about 1/8" thick.

Thought removing that would quiet the noise. Noise still there. Vehicle drives and shifts.

Any help is appreciated!
Thanks
Obviously Photobucket no longer working. Link to image below.
http://imgur.com/skM2zWO
 
Last edited:
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Atoyot Rennur4 said:
Hello,
Recently have a noise.
The noise is only when in gear forward or reverse. Sounds like something rattling around. Noise not in neutral or park or while coasting in gear. Noise happens even when in D or R not moving with brake on.

Pulled inspection plate and found piece of what appears to be cast steel it is magnetic. Piece was found just inside inspection plate. Total length is 1/2 inch kinda curved no threads and about 3/16" tall and about 1/8" thick.

Thought removing that would quiet the noise. Noise still there. Vehicle drives and shifts.

Any help is appreciated!
Thanks
Obviously Photobucket no longer working. Link to image below.
broken piece from inside bellhousing - Album on Imgur
Click to expand...

Were you able to inspect the flex plate through the inspection hole? My money would be on a bad flex plate, which isn't unheard of for later 3rd Gens.

Hopefully someone can chime in on the identity of that chunk.
 
jgue467 said:
Have 4wd? Transfer case has a dampner that can come loose and rattle. :cowboy:
Click to expand...

Yes 4wd. Where is the dampner? What does it look like? Rattle/grind sure sounds like it is coming from inside bellhousing though. Did you see that chunk of?? that came from behind inspection plate?
 
If you found a chunk of metal inside the bell housing my guess your flex plate is failing.

If you rotate the flexplate, can you see any areas with a chunk missing or any cracks?

Maybe part of the torque converter?
 
We checked all the bolts from the flexplate to the torque converter and they were all tight. Did not see anything that seemed obviously wrong with flexplate. Watched and listened to noise with engine running under load from under vehicle. Did not see anything that pointed to solution.

What is baffling me is that the flexplate turns with the engine and torque converter is bolted to flexplate. Flexpate is turning when the motor is running. Noise does not happen in park, neutral, or while coasting in gear. It only happens when under load. It happens when foot on brake with vehicle in gear or while accelerating in forward or reverse. If you are driving down the road in gear and take your foot off the gas pedal the noise stops and there is no noise while in neutral or park.

I would think that if another piece of broken metal was flopping around in there it would not stop flopping around when in neutral, park, or if you took your foot off the gas pedal.
 
Hmm, that's a weird one. My guess is it something within the tranny itself, possibly the torque converter or pump.
 
thegipper said:
Hmm, that's a weird one. My guess is it something within the tranny itself, possibly the torque converter or pump.
Click to expand...

Since piece of metal was found outside the transmission behind inspection cover, my uneducated guess is that it is not inside the transmission. I am no mechanic, grease monkey, or gearhead. I struggle to keep things going. I can only speculate from what little experience I have that it probably has something to do with some external part of the torque converter. I recently pulled an engine and put one in on another gen 3 T4R. The piece of broken of circular metal could possibly represent the size of the portion of torque converter that goes into the back of the engine. Anyway, I think I will end up pulling the transmission.

If you suspected a bad flexplate or external torque converter problem would you pull the transmission with the transfer case or separate them? I would think it would be easier to pull them together. Can always separate them later. What do you guys think?
Thanks
 
Yeah, you are probably right. My guess at this point would be an external piece of the TC. It's probably safe to say you'll need to pull the tranny to verify for sure.

I'm somewhat in the same boat, just bought a wrecked 3G that i need to pull the tranny off of, then pull my failing tranny....

Super excited!.....NOPE
 
Just as I suspected. The broken piece came off the front edge of the torque converter around the place where the nipple of whatever you call it goes into the engine.
I got out all the fragments. How important is it that that section be completely intact? I wonder what caused it to break.
 
It's there for a reason, I'm assuming you pulled the tranny already so you might as well fix it. I'd at least replace the torque converter.

How many miles on the tranny?
 
I used to own a printing company with very large machines. One day a lever inside a machine broke. It was a piece of cast that had a cam and eccentric mounted to it. I looked up the part and had it overnighted to my facility. The next day I put on the new part. After putting on the replacement I started the machine. After just one revolution the new part broke. There was a seized shaft that was operated by that mechanism that was the reason the part broke. Without diagnosing the seized shaft, and fixing that, I would have just kept breaking the same part.

With that said, why do you think that piece of the torque converter broke?

At this moment the transmission is still connected to the transfer case. It is held up by a jack and a rachet strap. It got dark fast last evening and started to rain. So transmission is just pulled back a couple of inches away from motor.

I don't know how many miles on transmission. 235k or so on truck.
 
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It's hard to say why it broke. It could have just failed due to fatigue over the years or (I'm not sure how) something hit it and broke a chunk off. Maybe something else is messed up in the tranny and it caused that piece to break off, this is a new one for me. I can't remember ever reading on here anyone having this happen.

I'd still replace the TC since you have most of the work done already although I must confess, I have no clue how to remove the TC from the tranny...
 
thegipper said:
It's hard to say why it broke. It could have just failed due to fatigue over the years or (I'm not sure how) something hit it and broke a chunk off. Maybe something else is messed up in the tranny and it caused that piece to break off, this is a new one for me. I can't remember ever reading on here anyone having this happen.

I'd still replace the TC since you have most of the work done already although I must confess, I have no clue how to remove the TC from the tranny...
Click to expand...

I found another person that had a problem like mine.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/torque-converter-stem.918802/

I ordered another torque converter, transmission filter and gasket, enough ATF to flush entire system, new radiator.
 
Only 11 quarts of ATF

One of the first things I did prior to removing the transmission was to drain and then drop the pan. I did this twice before removing the transmission and both times I got a substantial amount of transmission fluid out of it. I disconnected the transmission hoses that went to the radiator. I did not actually pull the transmission. I just unbolted it and moved it toward the rear of the vehicle far enough to remove the torque converter. I held it up with ratchet straps. The replacement torque converter appeared to be shipped dry. I did not notice any fluid inside it. The torque converter took approximately 1.5 quarts of fluid. After bolting the transmission back up to the engine and pretty much installing it, we pulled the pan again and once again there was a decent amount of transmission fluid in it. We discarded it into the round 5 gallon pail with all the other old ATF. We changed the filter, and put on a new gasket and replaced the pan. A quick mathematical calculation by measuring the diameter of the bucket and the depth of the fluid revealed how many cubic inches were in the bucket. A quick internet search revealed how many cubic inches in a quart so we kinda knew how much fluid was in the pail. We put in a new radiator and did not hook up the driver side transmission hose to it. We kept adding ATF and I put in 10 quarts. At that point I noted what appeared to be brand new red ATF dripping from the disconnected hose. I saw no reason to do any type of flush. I assume that the fluid gravity drained out of the transmission and lines into the pan while hanging on the ratchet straps and since I replaced the torque converter all that fluid was new. We had the rear wheels off the ground and went through the gears slowly and checked the fluid several times. Drove the vehicle up and down our dead end street and kept checking the fluid every couple of minutes. Ended up only putting in a total of 11 quarts so far. Vehicle sitting on level ground as I type. We will check cold level this evening prior to moving the vehicle. We still need to finish putting on interior pieces and other cosmetic pieces. Anyway with total drain and reinstall only take approximately 11 quarts.
 
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