Flex Plate Still??

Hey I've read on here that the noise I've been hearing for the last month is probably that the flex plate is either loose or cracked. I pulled the dust cover off and it look fine, the half I could see. But I did notice what looked like a piece of oil pan gasket where the oil pan meets the tranny, stuck between the flex plate and the bell housing. I dropped the oil pan and sure enough it was. Could this have been causing the noise I've been hearing?
Anyone have any ideas of what else to look for?
Or an easy way to turn the flex plate to look at the other half?

I check the 2 bolts that are exposed and they're tight. So I doubt the other 2 would be loose but you never know.

Wrench on the front crankshaft bolt is the easy way to turn the engine. You also need to be looking for cracks in the flex plate as well.

lawsoncl said:

Wrench on the front crankshaft bolt is the easy way to turn the engine. You also need to be looking for cracks in the flex plate as well.

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I shined a flash light up into the bell housing and the flex plate looks surprisly well. I'll turn the front crankshaft bolt and look further.

UPDATE:

Ok, I was able to turn the flex plate and inspect it. No cracks from what I can tell and all 4 bolts are tight. However, it does have some play side to side (rotational) Should it have this, or could my torque converter be bad.
Could use some help, otherwise I'll have to put everthing back together to see if it's fixed. And it's not exactly quick to tear it all apart again.
Thanks

There souldn't be any rotational play between the crank and flexplate or flexplate and torque converter. And seeing as you said the TC bolts are tight sounds like the play is coming from the crank and flexplate, meaning flexplate bolts are loose.

If you still have the oil pan off see if you can see any play between the crank and the flexplate when it is rotated back and forth. Hope this makes sense.

If they are loose you have to pull the tranny to tighten them.

I'll be following your repairs as I am still looking the same problem in my 92.
If you still have the pan off look up into the timing cover area and see if the chain is hitting it. That was going to be my next step, but if you already are there.

What are the torque specs for the flex plate bolts? I am checking mine on both the90 and 92. I was surprised to find one of the four on the 90 was not tight!

If you find the crank to flex plate bolds loose you need to replace the bolts and Flex plate, the bolts will be badly worn and so will the holes in the plate, they also need to be lock-Tite in place.
Torque is 55 FT LB

I can also tell you that even if you can't see any cracks, the flexplate could still be broken. I've got one around here somewhere that broke out completely around the crank bolts, right around the ring that goes between the bolt heads and the plate. The jagged edge of the break allowed it to still drive but it had significant rotational play. Not what you want to find in the middle of a tranny swap two days before the Jeep jamboree.

I did some more research and found that I needed to pri a little on the flex plate near the hub with a screw driver. I did this and found that there is a crack that goes half way around the center of the flex plate. I'll be buying one this week and replacing it. I also read that I well need new bolts, is this true? well they come with the flex plate?