Starter? Oh no bell housing, wait transmission.. no electrical?

[Einbbx]

84 720, 2.4 automatic.

Interesting night happened for me, was on the highway late about 4-5am.

Engine started to over heat, I pulled to the side and popped the hood to find my main crankshaft pulley had FALLEN THE EFF OFF. No water pump/fan/alternator/power steering, how did this happen!? How did I not hear it?

Well I was hauling ace with the windows open so that explains the not hearing part.

How? Well I recently did the front main seal, not before my idiot mechanic friend bent my pulley out of shape. I replaced the pulley and seal but failed to realize the nipple pin didn't seat right. The 10mm bolt holes had, under torque, become oval shaped, worn open and the whole damn thing wiggled itself loose. (Luckily my pulley jammed under my radiator and still had 5 of six bolts, luckily my radiator sustained NO damage.. wheew)

 

I MacGyvered it back on as best I could and somehow scavenged my AC belt on as a fan belt and attempted to get off the highway shoulder before I got a ticket.

 

My starter acted up... four cranks, sounded like my solenoid wasn't popping to meet the flywheel... but it started.. I put her in drive and moved, BUT what's that... I couldn't go faster than 15 or give to much Gass or my engine slipped and over revved!

 

Turned it off and tried again, starter spun to no avail.. got it towed home where i would begin the repairs.

First things first.. starter..

Brand spanking new and it did the same.. must be electeical? Selenoid not getting juice to trigger? Electrical checked out.. ok let's move to next issue and check back.

 

Transmission: oh lord... my bottom bell housing bolts had a history of dancing out (rear seal was bad and the oil would leak and lubricate the bolts, has since been replaced) and I suspected they had danced and the transmission was now sagging causing a bad link.. not the case.

 

The pulley: I originally removed the actual pulleys themselves leaving the mount with the 10mm holes on, decided to instead replace the the whole thing this time. Starter off I jammed it and started turning main crank bolt to remove it.. but it kept on spinning. Came to notice my flywheel WAS jammed but sinned freely, had a tiny bit of resistance but ultimately it spun.. EUREKA! This would explain my starter, and my transmission fear..

 

So all that trouble but I found it.. now my question before I drop the tranny..

 

Could this be a bad torque converter only?

I suspect so because the truck still moved (albeit slowly but I heard no clink or nasty metálico scrape noises) or should I expect anything worse... I just wanted yall to know what happened to lead up and what issues it caused, and now I want to know from anyone else who has had a similar experience on what kind of damage I should expect.. thanks for reading hope you guys are doing better than I currently am and hope to get some excellent feedback from this awesome community

 

-EIN

[datzenmike]

Who ever had your vehicle apart failed to tighten all the bolts properly.

 

Your starter ring is on the flex plate and it is solidly bolted to the crank shaft. If the flex plate is locked, the crank should not turn

 

Your crank pulley is held on by a 27mm bolt if put on properly it does NOT wiggle loose.

[flatcat19]

Ring gear could be worn, not letting starter fully engage. Should be able to see this with starter out.

 

 

Torque wrench is your friend. And not letting other people work on your mode of transportation.

[Einbbx]

I didn't quite understand at first, got thrown with "starter ring" but I'm understanding. There is a 27mm bolt holding the drive plate (starter ring) to the back of the crank just as there is a 27mm on the front... correct?

 

As for the crank pulley 27mm it did NOT come off or lossen. What happened is the pulleys themselves came off leaving the back plate with the 27mm bolt and the 10mm holes still attached to the block. The 10mm bolts failed and it danced off. The plate on the block with the seal remained on the block.

 

Ring gear, the teeth are perfectly fine, I suspect it is just the 27mm bolt on back loose. Funny because it's been months of daily commuting from inland empire to Venice Beach with no problem.. but when trouble comes it comes. Thank you so much for the advice, both of you.

[Einbbx]

Wish i knew how to post pictures so you can see what I mean about the pulleys.

[84720FourWheel]

On the flex plate/fly wheel there are six 14mm? Bolts that hold it to the crank.

[Einbbx]

I'm not exactly sure but looking at simplistic diagrams on Haynes it would seem that there are six bolts. They don't seem to go into crank, rather they seem to be for the drive plate reinforcement ring.

[flatcat19]

Those bolts for flexalite DO attach to back of crank.

 

There should also be a couple spaces fore and aft flywheel.

 

 

Those six bolts need torque and loctite.

[datzenmike]

27mm bolt only on the front. The 10mm bolts on the pulley should never need to be loosened or removed so I don't know what to say here. Never heard of the pulley coming apart. I someone had this apart you better find out what else they had a part and check it NOW

 

The starter ring/flex plate is attached with 6 bolts into the back of the crankshaft. They go on TIGHT!!!

[Einbbx]

So it turns out my flywheel a completely broken apart in the center where the six bolts go. so now the question is... does anybody happen to know what the torque specification is for the 6 bolts? I'm putting some locktite on them after slapping the new flywheel on. Got my tranny dropped and just getting g the new bolts as I type.

-thanks fellas.