Topic: Chevy torque converter rattle... help?

[Industrial Cafe]

I pulled the torque converter on my 95 GMC 2500 van
it's a 350 with a 4L60E (700R4).
I haven't worked on automatics in about 10 years and I forgot some details.
My question is, is the internals of the torque converter supposed to rattle around in there?


video coming when it finishes uploading.

[bucky katt]

no. bad needle bearings most likely.

[Industrial Cafe]

I figured that.
From the day I got the van, the tranny shifted hard into drive or reverse.
 When I say hard I mean it went "BANG" into gear.
the previous owner said  "It's done that ever since I got the transmission rebuilt"
    Then it started clicking from the bell housing, but it still moved, so I pulled the shield off and laid down under it for a few seconds and I heard a "KA-CHUNK!" from the converter to which my response was to immediately soil myself... hard.
the clicking was gone but it didn't move anymore when placed into gear.




my father in law tried to blame me for it because of a 3 second burn out I did. literally, I burned them for 3 seconds as part of a ''family guy cut away'' for a video I was making.

I've done 253,761 burnouts in my life and never broke anything. 
                                   EDIT: I broke a u-joint doing a neutral drop when I was a kid.
                                           smashed the drive shaft through the floor of my Oldsmobile.

[Industrial Cafe]

[bucky katt]

i've never had one that made that sound, you lost a bearing or bushing. try a used torque converter and see.

[Don R]

The guy that rebuilt the trans may have forced it together without the lugs being engaged.  then started it.

[Industrial Cafe]

I can't believe the prices on these things! $150+ for a stock one, $250+ for "performance"
I surfed around the web and picked one up for 72 shipped.
It's a 1650 stall with lock-up and brazed fins, stock is 1425 no lockup no brazing, so it should provide me with better fuel in the cruise and better jump off the line.

we'll see when it gets here...

[chrislib]

Ck the flexplate and make sure it isnt cracked/broken.

[Industrial Cafe]

k

[Industrial Cafe]

OH GOD! it's the oil pump.

the fingers on the oil pump are broke off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111 Shift one one

[bucky katt]

oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh front pump toasted. thats bad.

[Industrial Cafe]

I wonder why?
 It's so shiny and new...

[Industrial Cafe]

I need a whole new oil pump.
                                       I think it's called "catastrophic failure"






the fixed splines on the stator shaft (where it connects to the stator inside the converter) are worn ''narrow'' as well.





there's a deep gouge in the pump housing too
YAY!  fun stuff.

[bucky katt]

putting 500+ bhp through a th350 i didnt see that kind of wear or breakage!

[Don R]

I put almost a thousand HP through a powerglide and thank goodness it hasn't done that yet, but it probably cost as much as a good used van. Oh, and a 1300 dollar freshen up after 150 runs. counting warm up and return road about 100 miles. There, did that make you feel better?

[axehole54]

In high school I mated a peppy 350 to an old 3spd standard in a 64 pontiac strato chief... Side stepped it into second twice... now that was catostrophic failure lol...   pieces on the road and the trans locked the driveshaft so bad I thought the rear end siezed initally...  lesson noted (probably not learned)

[Industrial Cafe]

ok, so I think I got the problem resolved....

I got a new oil pump and slapped it all back together, we'll see if it's all better now....

[GammaFlat]

About a million years ago I was involved in a trans swap.  It was a Turbo 350 mated to a Chevy 350.  Whilst installing the torque converter, great care must be taken to rotate the converter so that it properly mates with the trans.  It makes a decided clunk and drop into the trans.  The problem can come in when you tighten the engine up to the trans without doing this.  Everything will tighten up nicely and your front pump on your trans will take a fatal wound.  I'm not sure if that's the same problem you had there. 

[Industrial Cafe]

the tranny was rebuilt when it was in the hands of the previous owner, by a shop no less.

   The PWM-TCC solenoid was disconnected and it made the transmission shift unbelievably hard into reverse, drive, and second.
             that solenoid is told by a pulse width modulator when to do some dumb computer robot #$%* to the torque converter clutch

with it disconnected the torque converter was in a lock situation at idle, breaking the fingers on the pump (unless the shop did that when they bashed everything together)
   Another issue I encountered was one of the two fingers on the first band was bent and the valve body gaskets weren't lined up properly.

you could see the damage from the hard shift engagement on the fingers of the clutch packs for 2nd gear.

 
the whole job was a pain and everything is heavy and awkward, but I had fun learning about how an automatic goes together...
 

[Industrial Cafe]

fixed.