A few weeks ago we found that the previous owner (i've had it 6 months) had swapped the engine and didn't torque the bolts on the bell housing. I had 3 that were broken, 1 was barely holding after a day in big-bear. Had horrible noise from the flex-plate/torque converter as it was moving around way too much and the flex-plate bolts were also loose.
We fixed that issue (removed trans, drilled out broken bolts, tap, new bolts, replace trans) and it ran fine for 3 weeks.

Now after a day on the trails I lost all gears while traveling home down the highway doing 65. No issues on the trail, but I may have noticed a slight lack of power at times or a little sluggish feel in the past week when warm. Mechanic says I've got no pressure, likely pump failure. I'm wondering if the torque converter being off-center (it was making some awful noise when loose) could cause stress on the pump and break something?

We've got noise again and no gears. Flex plate and bell housing are still solid.

Thoughts?

 

you dont say what year, but if the pressure is from the port, and there is no oil pressure, I would suggest a used auto trans from the wrecker,

as you probably know the oil pump is driven by direct engagement off tangs on the torque convertor, so they probably not in contact, possibly may have are sheared off

If the oil pump itself has self-destructed, I would expect metal in the trans fluid

 

It's a 98 that has a 95 engine...i am thinking the transmission is original. Previous owner did the swap so not 100% sure...but seems that the engine was replaced and the transmission was left in.

 

Thanks. An oil sample from the pan shows no metal. Dropping the trans tomorrow to see if it's he torque converter or something internal.

 

If you do look for a used trans, have a look at https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1053970 for swap info. If it's a 98+ transmission then it will have the extra input speed sensor show below. The replacement should also have this sensor.