I'm curious to know what all the signs are of a dying torque converter....

Right now, when just above zero to light throttle, at low speeds, I can hear a sound that sounds like a stick in heavy motorcycle spokes (just the clicking noise, not very hollow). It sounds as though its coming from the mid part of the vehicle. I've also noticed this sound briefly right before the AT shifts into a different gear. It's not overly loud, but just enough to be annoying. Does that sound like a torque converter or what else does anyone think that may be from?

If it is torque converter, how much am I lookin at for replacement, and whats the difficulty of that for a DIY job?

 

bump?

 

Well since no one has posted yet, after wheeling I'm also getting a very interesting noise when stopped or just beginning to move - its a very loud, deep, but muffled growling noise coming from the mid/rear of the vehicle. Occurs only while in gear, not N or P. Any other ideas of what this could potentially be? It doesn't seem to be anything affecting performance, so I'm not too worried, but just on the edge of concern...

 

How does the transmission fluid look/smell?

Sounds like a bearing in the tranny or planetary gearset.

When auto's start making noise...the end is near.
They consume themselves.

 

Just had the tranny flushed at the dealer of all places... What I'm curious about is that it only happens at the low speeds, and sounds like a bog type noise, but is not engine related. The only time it happened while stopped was in 4 low while on steep incline, so it had that kind of a load applied. The loud noise also seems to happen more often when heavily loaded in the back (IE full back seat of ppl, or heavy cargo), but the light clicking/stick-in-the-spokes is more frequent at light throttle only (while moving)

 

Does it ever happen in 2wd only?

 

Happens in all - 2HI 4HI 4LO

 

Did you find out what the problem was? I have a similar noise at idle in gear. My research so far points to a cracked flex plate. Tranny shifts fine.

 

I just did the flex plate replacement. At 300k miles on my 96.
Bunch of work, since I did not kow for sure and got a used tranny and did the swap over.
Really dont remember hearing a lot of noise, except some clicking under significant load.
Plate just went one day. Two weeks earlier I pulled a vw bus out, on the beach in deep sand. So, u never know.

 

Clicking or Humming? I have 200,438 miles on my original parts. I just started hearing a low humming noise and can feel a slight vibration in my pedals and stearing wheel. Happens in P, N, and D does that sound close to your issue? Not trying to highjack the thread just trying to put a part to my sound as well..

 

Dave,
Not humming, I mistook the sound of the engine pinging under load. That sound is now gone with the new plate (and a used transmission) installed.
I never thought about actually hearing a cracked plate.
There cant be much flex going on, or else the plate would break rather quickly once the cracking starts. I dont see any rubbing from where the plate probably started cracking.
The 2 parts look more like a quick snap/shear then a prolonged growing crack.
I can not even imagine the flex force going on. The torque converter is located into the center of the end of the crank. Strange-strange.
Once proken the t-c slid towards the transmission so that the broken parts were not keyed into each other. The break is a star pattern between the inner (crank bolt circle) and the outer (t-c bolt circle).

 

I've still yet to figure it out exactly, but I'm thinking I need to replaced my U-joint. I was underneath trying to figure out what the noise was and I found that I had sheared off the grease fitting on the rear u-joint, and I could see where the drive line had actually hit the gas tank skid plate. I put in a new grease fitting, greased it up, and then adjusted my trac-bar a bit to move the rear wheels over a bit so that would never happen again. The noise went away quite a bit, but I still notice it sometimes with the windows down.

 

Do your u-joints have any slack in them? Maybe if you put it in neutral it would be easier to check. Don't know for sure, just spitballing.

 

not that i know of? the sound only occurs while in gear and with light throttle. I can coast/let of the gas and it goes away, and shifting to neutral also removes the sound. It's definitely something tranny/driveline related. No idea what it would be though. It's definitely a stick in plastic fan blade type noise

 

what kind of a click noise did that plate make? and under what conditions did it make noise?

 

Does the noise go away when you let off the throttle?

 

When I let off the throttle, or shift into neutral, the noise goes away. Noise comes back at the slightest application of throttle while in drive, both 2wd and 4wd HI/LO.

 

bump...

 

I'm having the same problem with my 1998 SR5 4wheel drive, auto tranny I just bought. Tranny fluid is clear with no kind of burnt smell. Tranny shifts smooth with no issues. Anyone have any ideas what's causing this?

 

My 1998 Limited 4WD just started a rattle noise while under load. Not pre-ig either. Oil is fine, shift is normal and mine goes away when load is removed.