97babygreenXJ

Hello and thanks in advance! So Thursday evening I purchased a 97 XJ. Has its issues but was really excited about it. That was until it started knocking 2 hrs into the drive on the way home. I had it looked at by a local mechanic and he thinks it's my Flex Plate. Long story short most of my cash went into purchase of the Jeep and was wondering if anyone local to Humboldt County, California would be able to help me out with any discounted labor. I am evening willing to get my hands dirty and help I just don't have the know how and mainly the tools necessary to get the job done on my own. Any help or any leads to it would be greatly appreciated.

investinwaffles

Verify that it is a cracked flexplate, very easy to check and needs minimal tools. The bolts can work themselves loose as well, so it is possible that they are just loose.

Watch both of these videos;


Especially this one, will give you a good overview of what the part is and how it fails. The plate spins with the engine crankshaft, so lots of rotation/vibration on it. While you are inspecting everything, you could run the motor, slide under the jeep and just put your ear near the flexplate area, then directly under the oil pan to make sure it is the flexplate and not a rod knock.




I would help but I am in Florida for a few months so not really that close to you. Unfortunately if the flexplate is cracked, you will need to pull the transmission to replace it. Really not that difficult but takes some time and confidence. And a transmission jack + smooth surface never hurts.

EDIT:
But still, since you are hard up for cash I would at least recommend removing the inspection cover, and tightening the bolts down. If it works, you will want to use blue loctite on all the flexplate bolts before calling it fully good. Fingers crossed

You do have basic hand tools, right? If not, stop by Harbor Freight in the morning and pick up a set of the cheapest wrenches and screwdrivers you can find. Or thrift/pawn shops/used tool stores

mschi772

If it's the bolts, it's easy. Even if the plate is cracked, it's not a super expensive part, and if you can't DIY, the right shop won't charge too much to do the work. Mine was cracked so bad that it was actually in two pieces.

97babygreenXJ

Gonna get under it tomorrow. Only worried about dropping the tranny if the flex plate is cracked. I am confident I can find the bolts and locktite them down.

97babygreenXJ

So took the cover off and nothing looks cracked but the holes are ovaled out a bit. Locktited everything back up and still knocking. Gonna continue the search for a local mechanic that can give me a hand at a decent rate.

investinwaffles

Bummer, at least the parts are cheap.
Labor shouldn't be too much, you don't really even need to completely drop the trans out of the way if you use an overhead lift and good trans jack. Just slide it backwards, change the flexplate bolts, and bolt the trans back up

bluejeep2001

Where the flexplate bolts to the crank...they are round....................Where the flexplate bolts to the torque converter.. they are oval. Put all the bolts in loose, torque converter (4) and then slowly turn the crank pulley bolt in the tightening direction (clockwise) until the flexplate /torque converter bolts hits/bottoms on the oval, then tighten that first bolt fully...then complete the sequence