Flywheel off or broken timing belt/chain?

[Ebenezr]

I usually

Then, suddenly wake with a jolt, when I realize I've burst into flames...

Come join me Sunday morning. Sit near me and I'll keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Ha ha ha ha ha.

[dietz99vcross]

My flexplate (flywheel) broke the day after I picked my VX up from the dealer after they had replaced the motor. They towed and repaired at no cost. Not the same I know but, just saying.

[PK]

Thanks mantis. But I went to the shop yesterday and they showed me the problem. New flexplate should be here today (hoping) and I'm paying for them to fix it. I can't prove they did anything wrong. I asked them specifically about all the things they could have done wrong that would have caused this and they claim to have done everything correctly and have properly inspected all the parts before installation. I can't argue with that. If a man gives me his word and I can't prove him wrong, I just have to accept it. So I can only trust that they are being honest with me =/

I would be very interested in hearing their explanation.

Even if they did not remove the flexplate, it could have been damaged by them as they re-installed the transmission.
Not saying it was - just that it could have been.

Too much of a coincidence for me at the moment.

PK

[Cobrajet]

Doesn't the flex plate bolt to the torque converter? How could they NOT "touch" the flex plate when they removed the transmission/torque converter. If they didn't re-install it correctly they could have put some uneven pressure on the flex plate causing it to snap. I find it hard to believe that they are not responsible.

[Breezy]

The flex plate does bolt right up to the TC. I'm not sure how one would go about replacing the tranny and stuff without touching it. I asked all the probing questions about stuff they could have done wrong...but it does seem like too much of a coincidence...

[rowhard]

The flex plate does bolt right up to the TC. I'm not sure how one would go about replacing the tranny and stuff without touching it.

been awhile since I did a auto box but am thinking, converter bolts to flex plate, transmission input shaft plugs into converter, so yes, you could remove the box and not really touch the converter/flex plate

[USMCvxOFFROAD]

i had an old 84 ford ranger that the flex plate that had some missing teeth i used to keep a beaker bar with a socket and cheater bar behind the seat and just turned the motor til i found a good spot to turn it over with just saying that worked till the day it went to the junk yard

[Scott Larson]

Not a doubt in my mind, zero, that the trans removal and install was the cause of a failed flex-plate. If the trans was forced on to a torque converter left bolted to the flex-plate, bad juju happens! If the torque converter was on the trans input shaft and bolted to the flex-plate incorrectly during install, bad juju happens! If the flex-plate wasn't inspected before the trans install, bad juju happens! As a matter of course, the flex-plate should ALWAYS be replaced in a high-mileage trans install, or BAD JUJU HAPPENS!!

[Breezy]

Well she is all replaced now...Working good, at least for the time being. I kept the old flex plate though, and upon inspecting it, I found the the stress/strain cracks where it had fatigued where on the inside (facing engine). So if the shop had inspected it without removing it, as seems to be the proper way to do it, then they wouldnt have seen the stressed parts of the plate, sending me back into the world with one that is about to go out. But maybe I'm just on the optimal side because I've put a lot of money into this and I just want to side with the brighter side of things =]

[Scott Larson]

Then, that's all that matters. If you're happy, there's nothing else to say. Hope everything continues on the sunnier side of life, NEVER ask "what next?", or bad juju happens...LOL!!

[Amnesia]

It was actually a bad flex-plate then, huh?

I've done many transmissions & I've never seen or heard of a flex-plate going bad. (I had a flex-plate on my old '77 Diplomat lose a few teeth, so I carried a wrench around to manually rotate it to a good spot to start it once in awhile too! But that was a starter issue that ate the teeth off by not fully engaging the starter / flex-plate ring gear.) In my mind a flex-plate is just a part that doesn't go bad... Guess I'll file this one away for future reference!

With that being said. I have never given much thought about, nor would I have ever had reason before to remove the flex-plate when doing trans work. It's also not standard proceedure to leave the torque converter bolted to the flex-plate when removing the trans. It usually wouldn't be feasable due to the increased distance the trans would have to be moved backwards in order to disengage the trans input shaft from the torque converter...