??? About my 90 Conti

[parks911]

OK, it's been awhile since I've posted. But trust me when I say I looked at the forums daily.
I've just been deciding on what to do about my car, whether I rebuild it or part it out. That is a very hard decision to make.

But anyway I have a few mechanical questions.

Would a bad torque coverter cause a nasty sound like a engine knock?
If so, if the torque converter finally dies, would it lock itself so the engine can not be started?
Giving symptoms of a blown engine?

Now if the answers are yes, is there a way to check if this is the problem I'm experiencing cheap?

[Steve Moran]

Yes to the knocking sound.
Yes to the testing it cheap.
Unbolt it from the flexplate and start your engine if the knocking goes away it is the torque converter or some other transmition problem.
Check the bolts first and see if any are not tight and then secondly look to see if the flexplate is not cracked around any bolt holes or at the flange around the crankshaft.

[parks911]

quote:Originally posted by Steve Moran:

Unbolt it from the flexplate and start your engine if the knocking goes away it is the torque converter or some other transmition problem.


See this is the problem. The car won't start anymore. I had it running around Christmas, even drove it around town so the snow plow can do my driveway.
Pulled it back into the driveway & thought I would let it idle to charge the battery because this is the first I had it running in moths because of the knocking sound. Then the car just died from and idle & I haven't been able to get it fired up since.

Now I don't want to put a new engine in the car but I don't want to just junk it either. Expecially if I only need a torque converter.
I did have the Tranny rebuilt a couple years ago, but to tell you the truth I'm not sure if he replaced the torque converter or not.

Would the torque converter lock everything up to make me think the engine has been siezed?
The car still had tremendous power & acceleration with the knocking sound when it was running.

[Steve Moran]

what I said still applys but in reverse if you unbolt it and it wont start then it is the engine.not the tranny you just uncouple them and try the one you can and that just so happens to be the engine.

[parks911]

Please be patient with me, I'm rather stupid right now. I'm trying to understand this correctly. Let me know if this is right.

The torque converter, when going bad can cause a loud clanging noise. A noise replicating about the same noise as a rod knocking in the engine.
The torque conver can freeze up, cause the engine to stall if running & making the engine seem siezed up.
Now to test it to see if the torque converter is my culprit, all I do is unbolt the torque converter. If the engine turns over normally then the torque converter is the culprit & would need to be replaced.

I would never of thought of that until a person mentions some like that in the forums linked below. I would say that would be much cheaper then redoing the engine. And if I don't need to then I wont.
Thanks Steve. You are a great help here on these forums.

[ February 10, 2004: Message edited by: parks911 ]

[Steve Moran]

A converter its self shouldn't make an engine not turn over but if it came apart and stuff goes in to the pump it could cause problems.
And I would hope to never make any one in here feel stupid, If I ever get the feeling someone is not qualified to do something I will refer them to a shop.
As do many of the people that give assistance in here.

[ February 10, 2004: Message edited by: Steve Moran ]

[parks911]

Sorry Steve. You weren't making me feep stupid. I have so much on my mind these days with a 3 of my vehicles down, a pending divorce, & 2 lawsuits on my mind. What should be general knoledge for me just isn't there right now.

So my problems do lie in the engine most likely then?
I got my hopes up. I had another person that they experienced the same problem above with a Ford Truck & I got to thinking it could be possible with my car.