A little background:

Last week my tranny went boom bitch on the dyno. All 3 converter bolts ripped out of the flexplate and grenaded out of the bellhousing. Not sure exactly what caused this, but I'm guessing it was due to the bolts not being all the way tight, seeing as how I replaced my 3500 stall w/ a PT4400 just a month previous. Took apart the tranny and found that the pump was shot, but everything else, including clutches, looked ok. Replaced pump, and bought brand new PT4000, flexplate, and bellhousing. Put everything back together and everything was fine.

Well on the tollway today, I was leaving one of the booths at about 75% throttle and as soon as I hit 5000rpm or so, it just felt like it was in neutral. I let off quickly and haven't gotten on it since. It's shifting fine during normal driving and I'm not feeling any slippage at all.

Could this be attributed to the new pump or is this more than likely a clutch issue?

 

I would say a clutch issue,but it seems wierd that it is driving normally other than that

 

If you have a 2001 or 2002, it's likely the flexplate broke. Many of us have suffered through this.

As far as the slipping.. sounds like it's time for a rebuild. More than likely your 3/4 clutches are going.

 

Nah, it's a 98. I'll post pics of the flexplate later. All 3 bolts were ripped out but the flexplate itself had no other breaks.

And I hope it's not the clutches since they were just out and looked ok

 

Pics of the flexplate. Notice the way the bolts were ripped out of it.

 

damn thats weird...

what flew through the bellhousing?

looks more like what might happen if you had some slicks on and sprayed from the line...ripping them out like that...

ive killed one flexplate...i think it might have been because my mount was out and the tranny was not kept level on launches...

it just cracked at a couple bolts and bent off to the side...

how much stronger are those sfi flexplates?

 

The converter bolts and the mounting hubs on the converter flew out of the bellhousing. If you look closely, you'll see that the way the bolts ripped, it looks like the tranny seized or something but the motor kept spinning. Or maybe the converter bolts were loose and when 1 went out they all did. I'll probably never know.

 

It's not unusual for the trans to not slip under normal driving. It will eventually start if that's the problem. Mine did what you describe. It was mostly the 3-4 clutch pack and some was the 2-4 band.

 

oh damn so the nubs on the converter broke off too? that is really strange...

i was going to say it looked like the engine was moving and the transmission just locked up since they are just ripped out like that...

good luck getting it working again...sorry to hear about your problems...