87_LG4

So, 87 maro presented with freshly rebuilt 305 and old th700r4. Initially there were some problems lining the engine and transmission together, but they finally fell into place. Albeit using a lot of force and a crow bar on the center of the torque converter to make it line up with the flexplate. When the engine and tranny were finally lined up the torque converter spun freely before it got bolted to the flexplate. Tried to start the engine today. It worked. Hooray! But then it stumbled and died. It did so a few times before I fired it back up, it made a few revolutions, then made three or four consecutive clunks before it died. The clunks sounded like they were coming from the bellhousing area. Also, trannyfluid had shot up through the filler pipe and covered the valve cover and so on.

Please, I need your help figuring this out. I'll try to add as much info on this as possible if more is needed. Also, I think my brother was camcording the event. I'll see if I can't get a video up.

87_LG4

Found out what the clunking noise was. The outer housing around the gear on the starter had broken clean off and was bouncing around in the flexplate/converter area. I spoke to a mechanic, and he said "well, you know, maybe the oil seal behind the converter could have been damaged since you had put a jack stand underneath the converter to help support the weight of the gearbox over the last six or so months", which could explain how tranny fluid could shoot out the filler pipe and into the engine compartment, right? But what I still can't fathom is how the starter got broken. It ran perfectly well the first four or five times I tried to start the engine. Any ideas?

87_LG4

As you can see from these images the starter has suffered no external damages, which means it hasn't been hit by anything, it's just been torn clean off.







What would cause such a thing to happen?

87_LG4

Well, I figured out what damaged the starter, so lets focus on what made tranny oil shoot out of the filler pipe? Any ideas?

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

For ATF to shoot out the tube there has to be pressure in the sump, and there is none normally. What worries me is that you used a lot of force and a crowbar to get the converter to line up. That's a big no! You probably damaged the converter and it's now forcing fluid back into the sump because it's mixing fluid with air and it will burp and push the fluid out the filler tube. See for the air to relief the pipe is the path of least resistance and properly filled there's a standing column of fluid in the pipe, once the air pocket reaches that it simply flings the fluid out.

Did you overfill the tranny? Is there fluid coming out of the vent tube?

87_LG4

As far as I know the tranny should have been properly filled, although I can't remember checking the level for the few hundred miles it's been driven while I've owned it. The tranny has been dropped now and we'll probably look at it today. Is there any way to definitively tell whether or not it's been damaged?