Clicking noise.

Here's the situation

This past week,  prior to drag racing,I started getting a clicking noise. coming from the drive train.

 I do not hear noise when in park or neutral.  The noise is very apparent in reverse or drive. My foot is on the brake, and the car is not moving in any event  Seeing as the car is not moving, I would think that helps eliminate a few things.  When the brake is released  and the vehicle goes forward or reverse, the noise  continues. It is not there when slipped into neutral when the vehicle is moving. It seems to be getting louder over the past few drives. It is now sitting. 

 I was  thinking maybe one the the fins in the converter is nicking something, as the output side of the tranny is not moving, so by my limited logic it has to be on the input side of things. If it was the output side, the car would have to be moving., The sound seems related to, but not exactly in synch with engine speed, seems to lag slightly. Kind of makes me think torque converter. issues.

 The other concern is premature shifting. Hey, I know, the older we get the more premature our "shift" gets. When you stomp on the gas pedal it does not want to wind up before shifting. It wants second gear by 2000-2400rpm. Maybe a TV cable adjustment?  (tighter or looser?)

  The tranny is heavily rebuilt. Similar to Bruce Jenner in that not all the original parts are there. MY tranny  has been modded with Transgo high perf kits, beast sunshell, Vette servos and 4L65  input and output  planetary clusters. I don't know about Bruce had put in, but I have a pretty good idea of what  parts he had taken out.

Any thoughts or ideas,  or clarification that you can offer, on the transmission, not on Bruce, would be graciously accepted.

 Dave Buchholz

 Rochester NY

you 100% its trans?

header leak?

Ok, no clicking in neutral or park. But clicks when the car is stopped in gear, so it's not related to movement, eliminating u-joints, brakes, etc. etc. It continues when the car is rolling, disappears in neutral. Sounds to me like it's torque related. Any difference uphill/downhill? IE: when more or less torque is required in gear?

Any chance it's external to the drivetrain, like a loose motor mount allowing the engine to twist a bit and bring a pulley or belt in contact with something? Otherwise, I would suspect the torque converter or flywheel flex plate. I had a cracked flex plate once that was so loud it sounded like a bearing knock.

The TV cable should not be used as an adjustment of shift point. It should be set so that it hits maximum extension at the same time as the butterfly hits maximum throttle opening. If the TV cable has been over-extended, then yes, it will lead to late shifting. Retract the cable a few notches, have someone put their foot to the floor (extending the cable ratchet mechanism) and give the throttle mechanism a bit of torque by hand to make sure the throttle is fully open. Beyond that, any adjustment of shift points should be done in the transmission.

My daily driver has developed a horrible noise in the transmission. Its a very loud grinding noise only in reverse or drive, but only in drive while moving Color and smell of the trans fluid says it got hot, I didn't see any metal in there, but symptoms point to bearing failure and sending metal through the trans. I'm not taking any chances, home Friday night on a rollback and have been driving the wagon as a primary since.


TL:DR Dave, what color is your transmission fluid, can ewe tell us if it smells burnt?

The fluid was just replaced about two months ago, just before Wagonfest.

According to our own sticky:

20. Trans seems noisy when moving in 1st and Reverse, noise goes away instantly if you shift to N or the transmission goes into 3rd gear: Reaction planetary is worn out due to high miles or insufficient lubrication. Not a critical failure, but not a good sign either. Transmission must be removed and rebuilt, sooner rather than later.