BOOM!

[Hammer]

Please dont tell me my Tranny Blew up!

Two days ago I hopped into my EX after enjoying a delicious In-N-Out burger and went to start the truck. It made a funny sound and then there was a knocking from the engine compartment. I got out to inspect the strange noise. It sounded like it was coming from underneath the engine on the pasanger side almost between the engine and tranny. Then it just went away. The truck was running, I had good oil press, good water temp, plenty of gas and good amps on the battery. I drove home, no issues. The next day when I started the truck it did the same thing. It got me to work, no problems. When I went to go to lunch it started but it started like an old car with a bad starter. Real scratchy sounding. The bump was still there then it went away. This happened for two days, then yesterday on the way home from work on the freeway I heard a BOOM!, like an large hose had popped. Sounded like lots of air was coming out all at once. The engine reved up and I had not forward gears. I coasted onto the side of the road and the engine was running but there was this horrible sound coming from the truck. It increased and decreased with the RPMs. The truck was not moving and I thought I saw some smoke and I turned it off. Well my brother in law was called and we strapped the EX to his 4Door V-10 Superduty and he got me home. The truck will not start. It cranks but does not start and it makes a horrific noise while trying to start.

WHAT THE HELL DID I DO????

 

[Jason_25]

Did you ever find out your problem?

Sounds like it's backfiring to me and the whooshing noise was probably a vaccum hose that came loose.

Bad plugs and/or wires maybe?

 

[Hammer]

I did not get a chance to tear into it this weekend, but I did get under there and listen as my wife tried to start it.
It sounds horrible, sounds like it is the starter is going to explode. I am pretty sure it is one of three or a combination of these things.

Starter is dead!
Torque Converter is shot!
Fly Wheel destroyed.
OR
My worst nightmare
Tranny is toast.

I will dig into it tonight and try and diagnose this.
Funny thing is it will not turn over! When it died the engine was running and I had no forward gears, the engine would rev but no forward motion. Now I cant get the engine started.

Inquiring minds want to know!
I want to know.

 

[rpenner54]

Take the starter out and tell us what falls out.

Sounds like the flexplate to me. Since you have an auto anyways. If your starter is just "spinning" but hitting loose teeth and whatever else is in there that very well could be it.

That sucks dude!

 

[LiKuiD]

i had that same problem w/ the same symptoms. a vaccuum line had either a leak or came off im not sure but it was something w/ the line. got it fixed and everything was normal again. cost about 15 bucks

 

[verysweepy]

Sounds like what happened to my truck, when I would try to start it it would make a grinding noise like when you try to start an engine while its already running, so after chasing a few things around I saw that my flexplate had cracked while looking up through the starter hole, so I dropped my tranny and found the flexplate was cracked in two places coming out from the inside where it bolts to the engine. Almost looked like the torque from the engine was to much for the flexplate and the center piece of the flexplate was trying to come loose and twist off which is what caused it to crack also.

 

[Hammer]

Boy, I hope its that 15 buck fix but it sounds more like the flexplate. Oh well. I will try and find some time this weekend and pull the starter. Lucky for my I bought an 89 prelude for a secondary car in case this stuff happens. Only problem is the A/C is not working and its getting warmer here in AZ.
Sounds like it is not that the tranny blew up!

 

[knight explorer]

I have had the same problem 2 times, it has been a shattered flexplate both times.

 

[Hammer]

Well that is what it is. I took the starter off last night and looked in there. I did not see anything wrong then I rotated it and it kept getting stuck. I looked in the starter and there were large chunks of metal. Both the teeth on the starter and the teeth on the flexplate were OK. So I forced it to spin and then I saw the crack.
I will get another one from the Junk Yard cause I have an engine and tranny for the 5.0 swap, so I dont really care. Does anyone know of any associated parts or services that need to be done when I have the tranny out?

 

[Hammer]

UPDATE:

I got the truck back from the shop. I had them drop the tranny and put the new flex plate in. They only charged me $250 and thats the same amount they charged when I replaced the tranny 2 years ago. It started fine, ran fine and felt strong driving the short distance home. Saturday morning I got up and was going to head to my friends house who lives about 45 minutes away. I got on the freeway and noticed the engine was at 4500 RPMs and I was only going 65 MPH. Normally I max out around 75 MPH at close to 3000 RPMs. The check engine lite then turned on and I got off the road. All the fluids are at good levels and the truck in strong through the gears. It acts like the overdrive is not kicking in. The RPMs go up and down at top spead, like it is slipping.
Weird, Has anyone experienced this before?
I am going to take a look undernieth to see if there is something disconected.

 

[BOOBOO355]

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO MIME AFTER I HAD IT REBUILT SO I TOOK IT BACK.Ii WATCHED THEM ALL THEY DID WAS ON THE DRIVER SIDE OF THE TRANS THERE IS A PLUG THAT OPERATES THE OVERDRIVE. I SAW THEM PLUG IT IN AND THEN EVERYTHING WAS FINE. SO MORE THAN LIKELY THATS ALL IT IS. GOOD

LUCK THOUGH. DAVE

 

[Hammer]

Thanks Dave,
I just spoke to my mechanic and he told me he was in a hurry to get it done and that he might have missed hooking something up!
I will check when I get home.

Keep your fingers crossed!

If my tranny is toast I will start working on my V8 conversion. I am not putting another dime into that tranny!

 

[Hammer]

SWEET !!!!

I crawled under the PIG yesterday and found a plug that was floating around. I found the female oulet on the tranny and hooked it up.
Problem solved

My check engine light came on after driving it to Home Depot but has not come on since. I will have them run the code on the diagnostic. Should not be a big deal!

This is what my Boom cost me:

$ 65.00 for a new Flex Plate
$286.00 to have my shop R&R my tranny and install the flex plate.

Not too bad.

Thanks for everyones help, the guy at the shop was impressed with my diagnosis. I told him I had some help