Annoying ticking noise/Kind of a Metal on Metal Noise

[1974ChevyC10]

ok another thing has sprung up on my truck but i feel its minor.on startup,while sitting at idle,coming to a stop my truck makes this what i call a ticking noise-it sounds kinda like metal slapping against metal.it does it too off and on while im driving but you can barely hear it.i took my convertor cover off b/c it was bent and rattled like hell and was very annoying to me and the truck is a little quiter now but it still has this annoying tick.checked the convertor bolts and they all seem to be there,watched the convertor while the vehicle was on and it seems to be spinning true and doesnt look like its out of round or missing a bolt.the oil level in the motor is good.i even checked the harmonic balancer to see if it was ok b/c i had this problem once with a vehicle and it was the harmonic balancer at fault and in this case it seemed to be ok-no odd noises there and when it went on one of my old vehicles it was loud as hell no matter what.i think it may be a bad collector gasket but i may be wrong here.any ideas guys.

[apstguy]

Where is the flexplate located?

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally posted by Riptide's 78p/u
your flexplate MAY have cracked.

you may be right although i hope your not because i dont have anywhere that i can change a flexplate and sure cant afford to have a shop do it right now......one thing i neglected to mention in my first post is when my starter went out a few weeks ago i had to bend the convertor cover to put the starter back on and that is the only time other than when i replaced the pan gasket that ive touched anything on the tranny on my truck.if it did crack wouldnt it wobble noticably and eventually fall out or cause the bolts in the convertor to fall out?i wonder if maybe i have a blown header gasket-dont they make a ticking noise if there bad or maybe a bad collector gasket or maybe the metal piece on the collectors themselves dont fit right possibly causing the noise in question.oh by the way apstguy the flexplate is bolted to the back of your engine and it is also bolted to the torque convertor in an automatic-called a flywheel if you have a manual.

[1974ChevyC10]

if it is cracked in the area of the large holes to the center-i know they need to be replaced and this may seem like a dumb question but how do they usually last before going totally-i guess what im trying to say is are they known to break or anything bad like that or do they crack slightly?ive never had this happen before so that is why im asking all the questions.

[chevychic]

I had a noise like this until last weekend. I went out expecting my flexplate to be cracked but gladly, it was just loose. 2 out of the 3 bolts holding it to the torque convertor were loose and 1 was backed almost all the way out!
Tightened them up with a little bit of blue loctite and no more ticking when starting...actually, mine was a clanking sound
So go out and check out all the bolts when you're looking for that crack. It could just be a loose flexplate and a simple, quick fix.

[79BIG10]

Originally posted by apstguy
Where is the flexplate located?

It's located between the engine's crankshaft end and the tranny's torque converter (tc). The flywheel bolts to the crankshaft end and the tranny is then mounted to the engine block with the tc already mounted to the tranny. The tc then is aligned to the bolt holes on the flexplate and the tc. The bolts go through the flexplate and into the tc so when the crank turns the flexplate the tc turns as well to carry on into the tranny.

The flexplate has teeth around the edge so the starter can come into contact when it has power at ignition to turn the crankshaft over so the engine has rotation while trying to start the firing of the cylinders.

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally posted by chevychic
I had a noise like this until last weekend. I went out expecting my flexplate to be cracked but gladly, it was just loose. 2 out of the 3 bolts holding it to the torque convertor were loose and 1 was backed almost all the way out!
Tightened them up with a little bit of blue loctite and no more ticking when starting...actually, mine was a clanking sound
So go out and check out all the bolts when you're looking for that crack. It could just be a loose flexplate and a simple, quick fix.

i sure hope thats all it is.ill go get some blue loctite just in case.

[ocbaud]

i'm starting to think this is what may be wrong with mine

[mckpaul]

I've had one once that was cracked and making noise but not bad enough to make the converter not spin true. On the other hand, just had to replace the one on the truck I recently bought. It was cracked all the way around the center bolt circle about an inch away from them (crank bolts) so the crank bolts held this piece in, while the torque converter bolts were holding the rest of it in. You could see the wobble in the converter, not much, but some.

So yeah, if a cracked flexplate is the problem, could be a crack now, but could get worse.

[1974ChevyC10]

Originally posted by Riptide's 78p/u
if it is cracked I'm not gonna tell you not to worry(cause you'll do it anyway) but I had to run mine like that due to money situation for almost a year. as long as you baby it, you SHOULD be ok to wait for a little bit. just dont blame me if something bad happens ok!

im not really worried so to speak i just wanna know what is wrong and if its ok to drive as long as i baby it....i dont drive my truck hard and its no street machine either just something i drive daily.as long as it doesnt go in the next couple weeks ill be happy.