Possible Damage After Incorrectly Seated Torque Converter

After completing an engine rebuild, I must have not had my torque converter completely, or correctly, seated all the way in the transmission. I had thought it had thumped into place twice (inner and outer spindles), but apparently I was wrong.

When I went to bolt the bell-housing to the block, I did notice that after I torqued the bolts down, the crankshaft was very difficult to rotate by hand. At the time, I had assumed this was because of the amount of friction inside the engine, since there was no oil in it at the time. So I went about my business, slapped all the accessories on (including starter) and dropped it back into the car. Upon realising the engine would not turn over, I noticed that despite being fully retracted, the starter was impacting on the flexplate. That's when I realized something must have been pushing against the flexplate, forcing it inwards, towards the block (and into the starter gear).

I pulled the engine back out, and separated the transaxle and motor. Looking inside the input shaft, I found two small flakes of metal. I think they are from where the torque converter aligns along the input shaft. I also noticed the outer spindle, the stator spindle, on the torque converter itself, is moving freely in both directions, with no resistance at all. I can not move the inner spindle by hand. Not only that, but that same spindle is wobbling all over the place. I can shack the entire torque converter and hear it. Now to my questions.

Does free rotating stator spindle, and the fact it is wobbling, indicate the torque converter is damaged? It is welded together, so I can't look inside.

What could be damaged inside the transmission itself?

Could I have damaged the crankshaft?

I know the flexplate itself is meant to flex, but could I have flexed it to much?

http://imgur.com/a/iqPIE#0
(should be four images illustrating things here)

In the future post what engine, car, trans you are referring to. Ok, by forcing the trans forward to the block when the splines were not fully engaged , which normally you would not be able to do, you may have damaged something in the convertor or input shaft or reaction support on the pump. I would have someone check the convertor for you.

Both are from 2006 Mazda 3 2.3L. So the engine is a FoMoCo and I think the transmission is a Ford FNR5.

Hope you don't mind ,but after reading you story and looking at pics it appears you may have caused a big B00 B00,,,,,,,you may have broken the stater ,it should be able to move a little, but not wobble around as you said it should halve a lot of resistance easer one way then the other because of a sprag type 1 way gear in the converter / because of where you found the flaks ( looked like the front pump of trans in pic ) it could be pump damage as the pressure had to go some where,,, I would check to see how much end play in the output shaft of the trans if it is a ford built trans ( FoMoCo ) it can 1 or all 3 types of shims in it nylon/brass coated/steel needle bearings ,,,,,,,also check end play on the engine you may have smashed thrust washers or shims :banghead::runaround:also to error on the better side of judgment when you get ready to go back together and have the converter planted measure from the edge of the bell housing to the converter write it down/then measure from the block to the outside of flex plate that will tell you how tight your fit is you should have about a 1/4 in difference at least to allow for heat expansion of the engine/converter/trans and never bolt the converter down until last that way you are Shure there is space all the time

I'm pretty confident the stator, like you said, is toast on the torque converter.

I'm assuming there should be zero play on the output shaft, correct?

Yup, I plan on checking the lateral movement on the crank tomorrow.

Any thoughts on damage to the flexplate? It's a pretty sturdy piece of metal, so I'm guessing I'm OK there.

Thank for your comments.

So at my last step, after bolting bellhousing to engine block, I go to tighten the TC nuts down -- when I do that, should it pull the TC towards the engine a little since there should be about 1/4" of play? Am I understanding that correctly? Since obviously the flexplate isn't going anywhere, and the TC is free moving along the input shaft.

Yes......on your reply on converter movement as long as you can move converter freely ( no binding )1/4 in is not an exact measure but t think you get what I mean there is a tolerance measure for end play on your motor and trans /if you have a local builder there you can call them fore specs, or reply back to me with tag # off trans /engine block #

Yes......on your reply on converter movement as long as you can move converter freely ( no binding )1/4 in is not an exact measure but t think you get what I mean there is a tolerance measure for end play on your motor and trans /if you have a local builder there you can call them fore specs, or reply back to me with tag # off trans /engine block # about flex plate you should be ok but find a good flat table just to make Shure:biggrin: you didn't tweak it

The only thing I see on the transmission pump is the keyed part where the TC slides on is damaged. But since I don't want to take any risks, and I'm not sure what else I would be looking at on this pump, I went ahead and ordered a new one. New pump and TC should arrive on Monday.

Dacco TC and pump, $193 and $167, so that's not too bad.

http://www.daccoinc.com/

since I cant see it and u say you can tell its damaged id go with that did you get a chan to check finel out put shaft end play was it with in specs ??

I'm looking through the manual, I don't see a spec for the output shaft endplay. I may just not know what I'm looking for though.

http://am.mazdaserviceinfo.com/emazda/dealersystem/service/esi/en_us/OH/1859-1U-05F.pdf

Any clue as to how much it should be?


"reply back to me with tag # off trans /engine block #"
What do the tag # looks like?

I don't know the exact measurement your book should tell you I an inclosing how you measure it you may find something like this in your book measurement is not necessarily for your trans