Its a 1988 Firebird Formula, 305 TBI with 119,000 miles. I couldn't see it having a bad rod so I'm think its the flywheel. What do you guys think? The knock goes away at higher RPM's and when it goes into gear it stops, rattles and knocks again. Heres a video The car was in a wreck and I think the torque converter went forward on impact and when the torque converter came back it slammed into the flywheel and possibly broke it

 

Unbolt the torque converter and push it into the trans.
If the noise goes away, there you go.

 

I broke a automatic flywheel years ago in my iroc and it made strange noises. I replaced it with a slightly larger one (thicker) from jegs and it worked perfectly. Remember to get the same tooth count.

 

I still haven't messed with checking yet(waiting on it to get safety tested) and still looking for opinions.

 

If you go rub Lincoln's nose at the Oak Ridge monument, it will magically make the very basic troubleshooting step outlined above happen without any effort on your part.

 

Is that a springfield joke? I don't have the car at my house so I can't go physically check....just wanted to see if anyone has experienced this themselves..

 

The three converter bolts loosening up and allowing the flexplate to rattle is common. These can lead to a cracked flexplate easily

 

I think you should quit posting useless stuff on the Internet, and instead, go out there and LOOK AT THE PARTS.

What is the "benefit" of "waiting for safety inspection"? Sounds to me like a typical lame excuse for sitting around and doing nothing, meanwhile the car is counting down the revs until it stops working altogether, but you're not dealing with it.

Yeah I know, you're going to procrastinate, but you just haven't got around to that yet, right? Maybe later?

 

What do you not get about the part that THE CAR IS NOT AT MY HOUSE. My dad said let's just get it through safety test first. My dad's buddy who owns a salvage buisness has all the paper work on it and has a car hauler so they are taking it for me!I'm a 16 year old kid, this car is my pride and joy and if it were at my house it would be done in a heart beat! did you not see my entire thread on how I fixed it because it was hit in the front, I WORKED ON IT EVERYDAY! It's not like I drive the car everyday waiting for it to break! The car hardly moves 20 feet at a time! It's not like I go drag race it everyday with the knock sound!

P.S. it passed safety inspection on friday! And please next time before you come on here and act like you know the situation do some research. If you have no advice relating to my question then PLEASE leave.

 

What do YOU not get about the part that WE CAN'T GET OUT AND LOOK AT THE CAR FOR YOU EITHER??

You gotta get out there and LOOK AT IT. No excuses, no "it's not here", no "I'm just a kid", NONE OF THAT will improve anything about this situation or tell you anything you don't already know. It's a WASTE OF BANDWIDTH. Get yourself to wherever the car is and LOOK AT IT if you want to really know what's wrong with it. It's the only way.

You'll learn that sooner or later; might as well be sooner. Just part of becoming an adult I guess, something we've all had to go through in one form or another.

 

Your turning a simple question into nothing,"posting useless stuff on the internet" as you would say. Yes, if this was fairy tail land it would be that easy to go look at it. Heres the thing (like I said you don't know the situation) gas for some reason just jumped to $3.89 and I'm not filling up my dads car to drive 40 mins to just look. Next I don't have a key to open the gate! So let me call my dads buddy who more than likely isn't home to make him come unlock it for me. Now what, lay in the rocks and stare at the underside of the transmission? It's 32 freaking degrees! Do you know how cold it is down there in a open lot with the wind blowing? It feels like -20! What am I accomplishing? Or can I wait tell my dads buddy has time to drop it off at my house and it doesn't cost me a dime for him to bring it to me! Plus my buddy has a lift and he will let me use it as long as he isn't busy. Then if I have to change a rod bearing I can just drop the crossmember! And when is it so bad to ask a simple question on third gen? I thought maybe there was a chance somebody on here had experienced something similar. You can say everything I have said is an excuse and I honestly won't care. Your treating me as if I demand the answer right now, and I'm not. Where did I use the I'm just a kid excuse? I recall saying I'm 16 and the car is my pride and joy, thats not an excuse is it? The car isn't here isn't an excuse either, thats a fact!

 

Got your flame suit on? Here goes:

You've had time to post numerous videos on youtube of "your cars" including one of a few dozen well-used cars belonging to family members and friends on video and listing them on youtube as "Most of my cars." Most of your cars, huh?

The problem with that isn't the teenage internet sharing sensation; lots of young folks pull that little white lie. The problem is you're listing multiple third-gens and what looks to possibly be the best one you own isn't finished. Owning a project that detracts from finishing another project which detracts from another project just means nothing ever really gets done.

That's a life balance thing. Listen up. Personal project organization and effective task management mean the difference between someone who wallows in a pile of unfinished crap and someone who regularly accomplishes a finished, beautiful, reliable, fast car and then moves onto the next. Don't sweat your rusted out pile of junk GTA. Make a list of tasks on your looks-good Formula and finish them, one by one. Safety inspection was #1. The rattle is #2. Front tires are #3. There is no reason you couldn't be happily driving it and enjoying it by the time all road salt is off the roads.

You have NOTHING preventing you from troubleshooting the car except a whopping 40 minute drive. Yes, you're making excuses. Yes, the car being as close as it is happens to be an excuse. If you think you're really saving money by getting a freebie off your Dad's buddy instead of going over there and doing some troubleshooting, then I'll clue you in on something: People who are experts at saving money are time wasters. People who make money are the ones who get somewhere.

There is a lot you have to learn in life. Now get off your pasty young white *** and go do something about your 2 and a half month old problem instead of thinking you're going to educate the rest of the world on how to solve your whiny *** problem for you. People who end up being proud of themselves owning multiple worn-out third gens and living in Springfield are miserable and rightfully so. Seen it. Left there. Not going back for any extended period of time but to see family.

-jmd

 

There is one slideshow on my chanel that says most of my cars lol? I think theres only one video with my friends cars in it and I clearly stated that the cars weren't mine. The title is "most of my cars" because there well, my cars! Yes, there either mine or my dads and thats why it says my cars. Yeah, I know it says "my" but there is no point in putting my,my aunts,my dads, my moms....cars is there? My best car is my 1988 Firebird Formula, which is now finished, other than the knock sound which started all this crap. Now the Trans am GTA was going to be my first car, but as we go further into it we decided to just to a complete rebuild of it. I'm going to be moving soon so we decided to not start something thats going to be a pain to move. Our house getting finished and sold is our main priority at the moment. (BTW I have a cammed 6.0 I'm building for it right now on the stand) Believe me, me and my dad get projects done one at a time. Honestly my dad is one of the best car builders and does outstanding work. It's so easy for you to speak because you don't have to do it. Bringing up my project cars doesn't make any sense to me either. I just finished 2 projects and sold 1 already. I'm already working on my 3rd one and it will be on its way out the door when its finished. So like I said, if you don't know the situation don't bring it up. Look at my 1 or 2 year old videos on youtube is lame. Can we please get back on topic and stop making me look bad. All I asked was for opinions on my flywheel. Just because my dad didn't want me to mess with the flywheel or even rod bearing doesn't mean I'm some lazy "pasty" young teenager who can't finish one car.

Let me put my name so I look like I'm very mature and made a great point.

- DD9TransAmGTA

 

It's OK jmd; little children act like this sometimes.

My daughter is all the time asking me if she was like this one here when she was little, now that she's child-bearing age herself; she's all worried whether she's going to have whiny, screaming, obnoxious brats like you see in stores and restaurants and whatnot, throwing childish temper tantrums about wanting a piece of candy or something, that she calls "terror children".

But he'll eventually have to face up to what all the rest of us that are really old now, like getting almost near 20 even, that have discovered that just laying on the ground and screaming and pounding our fists and demanding stuff, doesn't work any more. It's just not "cute" like it was when we were 2. This fine young child here will eventually figure that out too; or ... well, let's not go there.

I don't know his dad; but it's beginning to sound like maybe telling him to leave the car alone, might be for the better. Maybe his dad knows him better than we do up to this point. Which I'd have to say, if I was his dad, I'd probably tell him to leave the car alone too, if his behavior so far is any indication of his overall Life Skillz. But then again, maybe he'll show us that he REALLY IS mature, and is willing to act like an adult, and will sincerely apologize for acting like a spoiled brat, and then of course we'll have the opportunity to accept his apology for his unpleasant behavior, in the spirit in which he offers it. We can hope.

 

I don't understand how I acting like a child or demanding anything. Quit assuming things and treating me as a stereotypical teen. My dad knows I love the car and we talk about all the time. We wanted to get the car done quick and he knew it would pass even with the knock. Im getting tired of you making me look bad and putting me down because im young. Spoiled brat, really? I sold my first car and my fourwheeler to pay for this, i work my but off in school and have a 3.75 GPA with the intentions of becoming an engineer, I'm already in cad drafting passing with an A. So quit it with the I'm a young brat, it's a flywheel for crying outloud!
.

 

Yup... pretty straightforward.

So when you went out wherever it is and looked at it, how was it?

 

I'm guessing your talking about the last time I checked the flexplate. If your ready to stop criticizing and assuming I'll talk to you.

Ok, In the video the car is in my garage. It's now down at the salvage yard, when I took off the dust shield I checked all the bolts and they were all tight. I got the flywheel tool out and spun it a couple times checking with a flashlight for cracks and saw none. So if it is cracked it would have to be around the bolts. As you can tell by the video when under different loads the noise varies. Oil pressure is completely normal and I even put in STP additive when I changed the oil. But, I guess your right my dad knows best, I guess thats why we just went and bought some stuff to service the transmission and I'm ordering a flexplate incase.