trans swap=ticking noise

I just swapped a AW4 into an '87 that had a puegot. Everything works, but there's a loud ticking that at first I thought was a loud exhuast leak, but quickly determined was not. It's faster than valve train noise, but slower than crank speed. Could this be the starter pinion being hung up on the ring gear, & how can I tell, since now I can't just remove it & popstart for an A/B test?

Also I have a 2-prong round rubber connector that used to be attached to my 5-spd, & the AW4 has no such receptacle. Is this the neutral safety switch & can I just dump it?

beav350 said:

Also I have a 2-prong round rubber connector that used to be attached to my 5-spd, & the AW4 has no such receptacle. Is this the neutral safety switch & can I just dump it?

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check to make sure all your lights work properly before doing this, namely your reverse lights. Besides that I would say that dumping it is ok.
As for the knock, when does it increase/decrease. Is it only there when in or out of gear? how loud is it where? etc...

The noise is always there, regardless of gear, etc. & increases w/ engine speed, which leads me to beleive it's coming from the flexplate/starter pinion. It wasn't there before. Any ideas?

I would bet your flexplate is cracked or loose. Classic.

Yeah - and flexplate noise speed can vary from crank speed, which can make it dodgy to find...

As far as the plug goes, that was for the reverse lights on the Peugeot - it went to a little switch on the side that looked like a flattened ball on the inside, right? That's the reverse light switch.

The "neutral safety" on most manuals goes to the clutch pedal - you can start the engine with the stirrer in any gear if the clutch is in.

5-90

5-90, Thanks, I knew I'd here from you. i got it backwards, an originally manual chassis wouldn't have a neutral safety wire, an auto would. Dumb question. Anyway, why would the flexplate ever differ in speed from the crank if it's bolted to the crank? Just a minute ago I stuck a screwdriver under the inspection cover/t/c cover & the noise changed from a tick to a scratching squeal. I wanted to be sure that it wasn't just my ears' perspective (since I now had a direct outlet for any noise in the bellhousing)& I moved it around a bit. It sounds like the cover is maybe scuffing the flexplate. I personally didn't install the flexplate, my SHE-RA girlfriend did. I asked her what torque, she said 65 lbs, & don't 2nd guess me. If they were looser than that would this noise make sense?

According to my texts here, flywheel bolts should go to about 100 pound-feet each (where'd she get 65, just out of curiousity?) So, that may be a small part of it - but a small part. By the time you are measuring torque on a bolt, it is "bottomed out" against the head and you are now stretching it - so it's still clamped down.

A cracked flexplate just gets goofy sometimes - it's the "cracked" part that does it. It's like the crank doesn't make noise each time the crankshaft goes around - but maybe every second, then every fourth, then each, then every third, then... I fought with this for a week one time in my 87.

Another question - there's a little "ring" that goes under the bolts when you install the flexplate - did that go in? It's a reinforcement meant to help spread the clamp load over the sheetmetal, since a flexplate isn't as thick as a flywheel... Just something else to toss out there...

5-90

My shop's old Mitchell guide said 65 ft. lbs., & she did install the ring, I made sure she saw the little dirty smudge mark in between 2 of the 6 bolt holes & matched it w/ the crank. I just pulled the lower cover off & I can see that the upper cover has been hitting the engine side of the flexplate, & the ticking is from the T/C bolt(s) hitting it. Manual is a 1 peice cover that fits in between the engine/trans, & the auto is a 2 peice, allowing for T/C bolt removal. I think I'll just jab a pry bar in there near the starter & bend it out.

I'll have to recheck that torque figure.

That makes sense tho - funny how that sheetmetal gets bent when you're not looking. I think I've long since lost those covers - but I've not had any trouble with anything just yet...

5-90

5-90 said:

Another question - there's a little "ring" that goes under the bolts when you install the flexplate - did that go in? It's a reinforcement meant to help spread the clamp load over the sheetmetal, since a flexplate isn't as thick as a flywheel... Just something else to toss out there...

5-90

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I swapped an AW4 about a year ago in place of a peugeot. Now that I think back, I don't think I had or installed that ring you're talking about since I used a new flexplate and never took the flexplate off the donor vehicle. How much should this worry me? How thick is that ring? Any idea if you can get it at the dealer, or do I have to go pull a junkyard tranny just for that dumb little ring?

thanks

Dunno - it's something that some companies use and others don't. If I find it there when I take it to bits, I put it back.

I think it was about 1/16", but it's been a while since I've seen one. I can try to look it up in my scanned OEMR catalogues (when I find the damn things again) or you could just make one out of sheet with a little work and a flexplate to use as a pattern.

How's your AWShift kit doing? I've been meaning to ask for a while, but have you worked it out as a retrofit for existing AW4 installs? I've been tossing that around as an idea for a little while...

5-90

the manual shifter is still doing great. no progress though on different versions; there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of interest and I don't have access to an XJ with a factory AW4 install. It shouldn't be too hard though, I'd be happy to talk to you about different ideas with it (backchannel).