Riddle Me This...

[krs]

Last winter I put a 3L Taurus engine into my 98 Ranger (got some key help from people on this forum). In April, it was making some strange noise (kind of like a marble thrown into a fan!!). We tried to locate the problem, then it just went away. Last Sunday, I had to accelerate and turn reasonably hard to merge into traffic, and the sound came back! I have taken the main belt off and fired it up, and the sound persists. I took the exhaust off (we were thinking it was a piece of metal bouncing around in front of the catalytic converter, and that is not it....

Suggestions?

 

[shane96ranger]

Suggestions?

Record it and put it on youtube or photobucket, then post it on here.

 

[Explorin94]

Manual or Automatic transmission?

 

[krs]

It is an automatic. I will see what I can do about the recording...

 

[Explorin94]

Is the noise coming from the front or rear of the motor. If it is the rear you may have a broken vane in the torque convertor. Which will sound like marbles in a jar.

 

[oddball101]

How's it going so far with the noise? The first thing that came to mind for me was something jumping around under the valve covers, it getting seated amongst oil drain holes, and then popping back out to play with the sharp turn.. I dunno, I'd be interested to hear what you find though. Wish ya luck

 

[krs]

Given no one needs to drive the truck, it has not been a high priority...

I spent some time on it today, and am quite convinced it is coming from the torque converter.

When I did the engine swap, the old engine was locked up, so I had to pull the transmission with the engine, and then took the engine apart enough to get it to turn and then separate the two. I did not ever mess with the engine or torque converter (the transmission was rebuilt a couple of years ago).

So what does one do with broken vanes in a torque converter? Must I take it to a transmisison shop or look for something at a salvage yard?

 

[krs]

Have done a bit more homework (I am ignorant when it comes to this area). It looks like I can buy a new torque converter from Ford for around $350 and a rebuilt one from OReilly for $120..??

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[McCormack]

If it were me I'd get one out of a junkyard.

 

[krs]

The end of the story??

This weekend, I finally dropped the transmission and found the "problem". The "marble in the fan" was an 8mm socket bouncing around between the torque converter and flywheel. I am not sure where it came from -it does not match any of my socket sets. I did have the transmission built a couple years ago, but I have since replaced the engine.

The torque converter, flywheel, etc. looks fine as best as I can tell, but the socket looks pretty chewed up!

Bottom line: I guess I don't need to replace the torque converter after all!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Wow!

 

[shane96ranger]

What a pain in the butt.... however, the sun did shine on your butt at the same time.

 

[Explorin94]

That is good to hear. I am honestly surpirised that the socket didn't get lodged between the convertor and the bell housing and make a real mess of your transmission.