Strange noise

jharrison

jharrison

New member
When the truck sits for a while, maybe a month or so, and I fire it up I hear what is best described as a playing card on bicycle spokes. If I stay parked and go through the gears a few times it goes away, or if I just start driving it goes away. The noise seems to eminate from the transmission / torque converter area. From under the hood the noise is the loudest from the drivers side where you can see the trans, from under the truck it seems to be around the bell housing / inspection cover area.

Everything is new, SFI RPM flywheel w/ ARP hardware, RPM 9/11" torque converter, and the whole motor only has 22 miles on it. It runs and drives fine, shifts correctly and firmly. It's just this clicking noise that is there when you fire it up that is not coming from the motor, fuel injectors, or turbo, but clicks faster or slower with RPM.

Is my brand new torque converter going out?
 
QWERTYphoon

QWERTYphoon

Motley Driver Award 2009
Re: Strange noise

pull the inspection cover and check for rocks or peices of your tranny. Make sure prop shaft isnt rubbing on anything.
 
supastar2

supastar2

New member
Re: Strange noise

QWERTYphoon said:
pull the inspection cover and check for rocks or peices of your tranny. Make sure prop shaft isnt rubbing on anything.
Click to expand...
Defff not prop shaft cause it doesn't turn when stopped n he hears it when it starts
... sounds lik pieces floatin around in trans...
 
DaveP

DaveP

Active member
Re: Strange noise

When it does it, try pulling on the TV cable with it idling and see if the noise changes. Even in Park, pulling the TV will increase line pressure. If the noise changes with increased line pressure, it's something internal that can be affected by pressure change.

Just a guess on my part.
 
DaveP

DaveP

Active member
Re: Strange noise

I have another guess:

Are you 100%, absolutely certain you had the converter fully seated in the trans when you installed it?

If you have any recollection of the transmission being 'sucked up' to the block when you tightened the bell-housing bolts, it wasn't. If any doubt, loosen the 3 converter bolts, and be certain you can move the converter in and out, and that the converter isn't jammed against the crank.
 
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jharrison

jharrison

New member
Re: Strange noise

At first I was sure, but now I am second guessing myself. I have a recollection of pulling the torque converter toward the flywheel and spinning it to line up the holes after the motor and trans were bolted together. I'll remove the inspection cover and seperate the flywheel and converter this weekend to be double sure. Before that I will try your suggestion with the TV cable and see if that changes the noise.
 
Don W.

Don W.

Stab it and steer it
Re: Strange noise

Side note for all this converter talk. I learned last weekend that there is a "magic number" regarding space between the flex plate and the converter. Actually what I'm taking about is making sure the converter is fully seated in the trans and then brought out ONLY 0.130. Using spacers (in this case he used what he said were valve spring spacers) to make up the difference. IOW the spacers went between the flex plate and the converter so the converter was only out 0.130 from being fully seated.

I hope that was clear.

I had never heard this before but this was from a professional Super Gas racer that I get to "help" when he races at Sonoma. (crew is not quite the word although I do get credentials.:tup:)

Like I said, never heard that before but this guy runs in the top 10 nationally so I figure he knows what he's talking about.

In the case at hand I doubt the converter was not all the way in. Otherwise I think the converter would prevent the trans from mating to the block.:2cents: Something else is wrong IMHO.
 
jharrison

jharrison

New member
Re: Strange noise

I haven't pulled the inspection cover yet, but I did pull the TV cable while in park idling, and the noise got significantly louder. I did it a couple times with the same result. Dave that was a really good first guess! I don't know what that means for my trans though. I didn't do anything to it except install a deeper B&M pan #70289 with a new filter, braided RPM trans lines, a B&M #70266 cooler and fill the trans and the new torque converter with B&M original trick shift. It's the stock 700R4 that didn't have any problems or noises prior to the new motor being installed.

I went over my install notes and checklist that I made for myself to avoid forgetting something, and I did tighten the converter bolts to 46 ft.lbs.
 
QWERTYphoon

QWERTYphoon

Motley Driver Award 2009
Re: Strange noise

It is possible you have the cooler lines on wrong? Could be like Davep said and your TC was not seated correctly? Pull cover and pan and double check lines are flowing correctly. .02 cents
 
jharrison

jharrison

New member
Re: Strange noise

Ok, pulled the inspection cover, and there isn't anything out of the ordinary. The cover is clean, no debris or marks where anything might have contacted anything. The converter bolts are tight, and on the snout of the converter I can still see where it was slid into the trans further, then pulled out.

One other thing worth noting, when I start the truck and the noise isn't there, if I pull the TV cable it comes back. Otherwise it just gets louder if it's already making the noise.

I also verified the cooler lines, the lower outlet of the trans is connected to the bottom inlet of the radiator, then the top fittings of both the radiator and cooler are connected together, and finally the lower fitting of the cooler is connected to the top inlet fitting of the transmission.
 
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DaveP

DaveP

Active member
Re: Strange noise

jharrison said:
Yes, if the noise isn't there it comes back, and if it is there it gets louder.
Click to expand...

Ah, HA. Pressure-related, then.

Converter. Pump vanes. Pump slide and spring. Pressure control valve. All these components are located at the front of the transmission. So listening while under the truck, you should be able to pinpoint the source. Especially with the inspection cover off.

If the noise is not in the converter, and seems to be at the front of the pan, and to the driver's side, it may be the pressure valve and spring. This valve can be removed with trans installed, pan removed. I'm not sure what could be wrong with it though. Unless the components are installed incorrectly.

I can visualize that a broken pump rotor could sound like "bicycle spokes" and would definitely be affected by TV cable changes, and temperature changes (noise diminishes with warm-up time). Pump rotors can become broken by improper converter installation. My original premise.

Try to determine if the noise is in the converter or the front of the trans itself (pump). Either way, it's coming back out. Good luck.
 
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