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[Darth Loo-knee]

There was a noise coming from a Members car from which sounded like when jacked up, was coming from either the torque convertor area and a noise inside the sump towards the rear This was a noise that happened all of the time but when put into gear was made alot worse..

So at first was thinking it could have been a Main Bearing as the noise was definately inside the sump also the two bolts that hold the Main Bearing were loose..... So wondered if a Bottom End maybe needed which I had just incase. At the same time though there was a noise in the location of the Torque Convertor and so being honest I was a little unsure to be doing the Bottom End change quiet yet...

After a little thought wondered if the approach of removing the gearbox and seeing what was going on was the best idea.... but if say the Torque Convertor was the problem and I don't have one, plus Mr Owner needed the car back within a week what do I do then? So asked a few people for Torque Convertors on the off chance (as I personally would sell them with the gearbox & so do others as it seems) it was needed......  could not get one so at worst I would need to put everything back together to give the car back until we could locate one....

I removed the gearbox, to find a Loose Torque Convertor which made the exact noise when wobbled...., one of the 6 bolts that hold the flitch plate to the torqure convertor was sheared, but that wasn't the problem..

This was the problem... I have spoken to The Master on why on Earth this would happen as I have not seen this on a car before..... Maybe the Torque Convertor was fastened to the flitch plate first before fitting the gearbox which caused the stress to the Plate 

I have fitted another Flitch Plate, fitted a Rear Crankshaft Seal as a matter of course whilst the gearbox was off... The car now sounds as it should.. so a Great Result There

Thanks again to the One & Only Master who again shows that two heads are better than one 

So here is a picture

[Darth Loo-knee]

I must add that the crack is all around, and so the centre part with the bolts holes can be moved to and fro

[henryd]

Lucky that didn't fail in use,I've seen it happen years ago on Ford Granada's but not on a Vauxhall.

[Kevin Wood]

That looks nasty.

I wonder if the torque converter came loose and the vibration fatigued the plate? Or, as you say, someone's bolted the gearbox up without the TC engaged and the torque converter nose was bent, causing it to run out of round and stress the plate.

[Jimbob]

Whos was that?  not Paul Lovejoys?

[Entwood]

Is this the one that had the funny knocking at Newent

[cem_devecioglu]

 
 
never seen this before.. 

[Darth Loo-knee]

No this isn't Paul's car

[Darth Loo-knee]

That looks nasty.

I wonder if the torque converter came loose and the vibration fatigued the plate? Or, as you say, someone's bolted the gearbox up without the TC engaged and the torque converter nose was bent, causing it to run out of round and stress the plate.

Kev, the TC was fastened tightly to the flitch plate was not loose there even though one of the 6 bolts was sheared off... The reason the torque convertor was wobbling is even though the flitch plate was bolted to the crank with it been broken enough to wiggle with my fingers when I removed it, you can perhaps imagine how much it moved with the TC etc still supposedly fastened up..... If that makes sense.... I think what Mark ment was if the TC had been wrongly fastened to the flitch plate first, then when the gearbox was bolted into place the gearbox would have pushed the flitch plate forward perhaps stressing it around where its cracked..

[Marks DTM Calib]

Indeed, I suspect we may have evidence of the other damage that could be caused when the torque convertor is fitted to the flitch plate before the box is attached.

[aaronjb]

I have to say .. I've never heard it called a 'flitch plate' before .. 'flex plate', yes, but never 'flitch'..

Also never seen one crack like that around the crank bolts - although I have seen a flywheel do that and end up only held on by the clutch. Never did work out what caused it (it wasn't my car anymore at that point, so I didn't care  )

[2woody]

have seen quite a few bust flex plates like that - usually caused by a mis-alignment at re-installation or some mechanical intervention in the botton of the housing.

have also seen it as a result of accident damage

[JamesV6CDX]

Is this the W reg 3.0 Estate?

Going back a couple of years now, the gearbox on this car was fitted in Mr Sassanach's workshop by our resident gearbox expert, myself, and Markie.

The gearbox was absolutely NOT fitted incorrectly.  The Torque converter was placed into the box, and it was all fitted as one, and only then joined to the flex plate.

Following which I had several thousands of miles reliable service.

Unless the Gbox has been touched since then   

[JamesV6CDX]

Actually, it's more than a couple of years, but you get the picture!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Interesting, I dont suppose you recall seeing any damage to the plate when you did the work?

Cant see this being something that just happened and guess it could have happened before and has got worse.

The things that point me towards a crush issue are the additional fracture lines which spread from the centre out. I cant see them being caused by an imbalance due to the missing bolt head although I guess it is possible.