My car has been making the ticking/tapping noise and has gotten VERY bad lately so I can't drive it any more. Time to get it fixed. One independent shop I've taken it to (I'm all done with the dealership here) gave me a quote of 14 hours to R&R to the transmission to replace the flexplate, is this accurate? Their labor rate is $80/hr. The quoted price on the part is $208, I'm located in northern Mass, southern NH. Thanks!

 

Is this problem covered under any tsb's or is the repair up to me?

 

Describe the noise that you heard & where it was coming from.

 

Try inspection via the small black plastic cover on the underside of the transmission first. I have found on a few cars that displayed the ticking noise the flex plate bolts were finger tight. Thread-locking fluid and re-torque did the trick each time.

Cheap and easy so worth a try, but remember you will need to turn the engine by hand to gain a clear view to each bolt.

 

My 03 had this problem. The dealer fixed it under warranty at the time - they had the car ready in 4 hours.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

For those of you that are paying attention (or care, lol), this is an up to date list of everything that broke on my car:
flexplate (I guess there's a new design on the flexplates?)
flexplate bolts
rear main seal
water pump
some plastic water thermostat housing thingy (evidently a common failure)
some torque brace thingy (anybody have any pictures of this? my car is 75 miles away right now)
oil plug
possibly may need to refill the transmission and transfer case
I'm sitting at about $2500 in repairs right now.

I think that's about it. Please tell me it's not going to be like this for the rest of my life?? LOL I only had it on the track three days, I hope most of these failures aren't due to track time or I'll be looking for another car.

 

Chkn---,
Cracked pressure plates are usually the result of an improperly mated engine and transmission.ie: sombody tried to bolt the two components together with the torque converter not fully seated. It's a real bone head move but not unheard of even to the best of us gear heads .
Has either the engine or transmission been out of this car?

 

Not that I know of, but then again I bought it used.

 

just took the inspection cover off and cant see any bolts do you have to take the starter motor off to gain access