yossarian19

I've heard everything from "You need a new torque converter, front pump & flex plate" on the internet to the trans shop owner saying "If you didn't start the engine, you should be fine. You can't break it just bolting it up. If it's seated now, start the engine & drive away"
I still haven't started the motor, though I've moved it by hand a little bit.
Basically, my question is "Will I do further harm by firing the engine even now that the TC is seated? " or "Should I pull the trans just to check?"

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

How do you know it is now seated?

mike06tork

iTrader: (5)

nahh u need to fix the pump check it. there is a round thing in there that brakes i dont know what it is called. it happen to me too... well my friend that helped me out didnt put it all the way in.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

I'm curious how you guys are not getting it seated? It is extremely simple.

yossarian19

I'd never run into it before - didn't realize it needed to be seated. I just figured "TC onto shaft: Check. Now trans to block"
I know it is seated now because I took it off after realizing the engine wouldn't turn by hand, spun it onto the shaft until I heard two clicks, reassembled & the TC now turns w/ a ratchet on the crank bolt.
I guess I'll pull it and make sure. I've been wanting to avoid it for ages but if it's going to be a broken pump rotor, I may as well know it now as opposed to later.

ExtremeLs1blazer

Should be three clicks just went through this couple months back

Circle-D

iTrader: (21)

You could get a flashlight and look into the trans pump and check if you see any cracked or broken rotor pieces. I have seen this end good and bad, could be no damage and it just works. Did you hear any pop noise when you bolted the trans to the block?

Chris

a4ls2goat

Happend to me too.
Luckily I didnt damage anything.

mrvedit

While Lemons has done this a hundred+ times and therefore finds it simple, there a dozens of threads here by people who also messed it up. Sometimes it takes me 10 seconds, sometimes a few minutes of struggle to get a TC seated.

Part of the problem is there is a belief (more a myth) that you have to count 3 clicks corresponding to the input shaft, stator shaft and pump.

The IMPORTANT thing is that the TC's mounting pads need to be between 1" and 1-1/4" (ideally 1-1/8") from the edge of the bell housing. MEASURE (!) it with a straight edge over the bell housing and a ruler to the mounting pads.

Anything under 1" indicates the pump is NOT yet engaged.

Besides people that immediately break their pump rotor, there are also many stories here about pump rotors that break weeks or months later. I suspect that many (most?) causes of broken pump rotors is an incorrect TC installation at some time, perhaps years earlier by a different owner.

After such a mistake, I would recommend having a trans shop replace the pump rotor as it may have invisible/internal cracks. It shouldn't take a shop more than 2 hours and rotor is $25. If the rotor breaks later with the engine running, it will spread metal shavings, requiring a complete trans rebuild, a converter open/clean/rebuild and a replacement trans cooler.
Just my opinion.

yossarian19

I dropped the trans and sure enough, the rotor was cracked. I talked to the trans shop across the street, he said "Bring me the pump. I'll get a good used replacement and gasket / seal kit"
He doesn't like doing the rotors because, apparently, there are a ton of different ones and you have to get the correct part or it won't work properly. I'd rather replace $25 worth of rotor than $150 worth of pump, but I'm not going to argue with the expert. I'm *VERY* glad I dropped the trans rather than running the risk of trans death.

mrvedit

Bummer about needing a new rotor/pump. Sometimes a cracked rotor will damage the pump too, so your shop is playing it safe. But as you pointed out, better to get this fixed now and not ruin everything upon startup.