89junkyardgta

Hi all,

I have a driveline shudder I can't get rid of. Shakes in all gears, including neutral and park, and the shuddering increases with engine speed. Shuddering goes away if I disconnect the trans from the engine. I just replaced the torque converter (fun wow!) and I still have a shudder, but a little less. I am now thinking the oil pump is causing the shaking, as its the only other part still spinning with the car in neutral or park. Any thoughts? Is it worth throwing in another spare pump, or should I just bite the bullet and do a rebuild? The car has 125,000 km and the trans has already been out once, as evidenced by the random bolts used to bolt it back in.

91interceptorZ

iTrader: (3)

make sure it's not a engine mis-fire traveling through the tranny you feeling....seen that before.....no other ideas past that for me..

89junkyardgta

I tried it with the converter disconnected entirely and the shake went away.

91interceptorZ

iTrader: (3)

hmmm....strange deal there....

89junkyardgta

Yes, and unwelcomed as I was trying to get this car ready for the Woodward cruise.

ed o

does your flexplate have the freddy cruger weight on it.?

89junkyardgta

?? No idea what you mean here. Its a standard 1 piece rear main seal flex plate. I will be taking the whole mess to the tranny shop. If they can't fix it for under $500, I guess I'll have a core for sale. I will post an update of what exactly happened, but upon closer inspection, the torque converter seems to have some wear where it mates with the pump, and there is a bit of blueing on the very end of the snout.

89junkyardgta

PROBLEM SOLVED...I think. Seems the oil pump bushing was shot, which (in theory) would allow the converter to wobble a bit, hence causing my issue. $250 later for a new bushing, new filter and gasket and new rear seal, plus an oil pump re and re. I will add to this is the problem is not solved.

89junkyardgta

Ok, this thing is still screwed. Still shakes. It looks like the new converter is bad as well. This is so unlikely I don't want to believe it. I changed the flex plate as well to one I know was working fine. If you look under the car while it is reving, you can actually SEE the converter spinning out of round while the flexplate spins true. I called the converter manufacture (King-O-Matic) and they assure me that the converters are balanced before they leave. Does ANYONE have any ideas here? I'm totally stumped and I can't drive it like this!!

89junkyardgta

Well, if anyone is still interested in this thread, the problem seems to be two-fold. I think the 'new' converter was bad. I put in another one I know was good, and it took care of 90% of the shake. So I figured I would rotate it on the flex plate, see if I could get it all gone. Turns out one pad on the second new converter was out...it didn't quite touch the flex plate when all the other pads were, and it was pulling that part of the plate in to meet the converter. So I threw a little sheetmetal shim between the converter and the plate, and we're all fine now. Now, what exactly does this mean? Flexplate is known good and torqued to spec. Converter is good and bolts torqued to spec. Trans to engine mating surface was cleaned up before bolting them up, all bolts are tight. Any ideas what part is out of line?