searcher

For a long time (years), I would periodically hear a clicking sound coming from the area of the torque converter. I could rev the engine or shift gears and it would go away and usually not return for a while . After getting my truck running again (lot of trouble bleeding injectors), I was coming back from Lowes and could hear the clacking. I checked a while ago and it is pretty loud in park, rev, and all drive gears, but goes away in neutral. Any ideas what it could be? Transmission drives and shifts perfectly and I would think that the TC would have no reason to go quiet in neutral. I was thinking maybe the parking pawl but I just don't know.

NJTman

Flexplate is cracked, and failure is in your future. Lots of us went down that road.

Could last, or fail immediately.

Best to replace before it trashes your adapter plate.

Mine cracked, and only made noise under load. In neutral, the broken section realigned itself. Replaced with an SFI rated unit. Never looked back.

searcher

Thanks NJTman for the info. Somehow I had never heard of the flexplate being a common failure, but all the problems with it are now clear. I'll start pulling the trans next week.

NJTman

This is the one I used.
I also ordered new flexplate and torque converter bolts from dodge. Weren't terribly expensive, and they were the correct ones. Make sure, if you call dodge, they look at the diagram correctly, as they were going to sell me the flywheel bolts for a getrag. I looked at the diagram, and told him which ones. Flexplate bolts are shorter than flywheel bolts.

Best to you.

MrFusion

Haven't had the problem you describe with a Cummins truck but what you describe is classic cracked flex plate symptoms. I've had numerous Jeep Cherokee's (XJ) and its a pretty common problem with them. I have seen them with the entire center section cracked the whole way around the crank bolts. No Bueno.

searcher

Thanks MrFusion. I guess it's always better to be aware than oblivious. Hopefully my XJ (80k miles) will give me some warning before it goes. Maybe I'll just start running the TDI only (just turned 200k miles on it).

Stock-3

May also be an exhaust leak. If the truck has the original exhaust manifold on it, the bolts stretch over time and may cause a leak. I know you said the noise sounds to be coming from the bell housing area but just another place to look for the culprit. Noises can be hard to locate sometimes.

mknittle

have seen/herad that on a 64 dart. that one mads sound like shing shing shing

maybe368

My first car was 1965 dart with a slant six. I loved that car, for some reason...Mark

edwinsmith

I had one of those for a while. It had a 3 speed manual trans but the trans was noisy. I had to sell it before I could fix it. Too bad because at the time a used tranny cost $35.00. Otherwise the car ran fine.

Edwin

maybe368

Yup, mine was 3 on the tree. I also put a used tranny in for 25 dollars from a junk yard. 25 then dollars are around 4000 now dollars, I think...Mark

mhuppertz

I had a '64 Dart, and still have a '69 Dart GT, 440 going in with A833.

I'm surprised a cracked flexplate would last for years behind a Cummins because they fail pretty quickly after they crack in the performance world.

nothingbutdarts

Post #2 here has 1 of 3 69 Darts I have.
https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170800