Yesterday I pulled out of a dirt side road onto a paved at the bottom of a hill. I was accelerating up the hill to reach the speed limit of 55 mph. I was almost at the top having reached about 50 mph when the rpm spiked. I had no more acceleration. There was bang or crack or ping or snap or grinding or anything noise other than the engine idling. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road. i sat in the cab listening to engine idle normally. I revved it a little expecting to hear some kind of noise other than the norm...but nothing. I then tried L1 then L2 then R, but there was no movement and no noise. I shut the engine off thinking maybe let it cool down then see what happens. While I waited for it to cool down I popped the hood and checked all the fluids...they were fine. I both driveshafts... neither one of them spun freely. I checked the linkage at the transmission...it was fine. There was no leakage or damage or holes that I could see. I'm not sure what possessed me to do it....but i reached up to see if the flywheel would spin or not, sure enough it spun freely. This all happened yesterday. I got the truck back home today. I have not dropped the tranny yet. Can anyone give any advice on what to look for and how to handle this situation. I would be grateful. Its a 2007 F150 FX4 I've owned it for 6 months. when I bought it it needed a rear-end and transfer case which I had put in by a professional. Prior to purchasing it a new engine and transmission had been put in by the previous owner. It had been in a wreck and has a salvage title.

 

"but i reached up to see if the flywheel would spin or not, sure enough it spun freely. "
Are the bolts in the flex plate still there and attached to the torque converter? Flex plate may have failed.

 

I don't know. I'm not real familiar with the back end of the motor/tranny transition. I was going to start by unbolting the trans from the motor and see what I have. Is that a good start or would you recommend something else.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

I've seen flywheels Crack around the flange where they attach to the crankshaft bot there always was some sort of noise associated with the failure. In any case it sounds like the trans hast to come out. After all of the prior repairs things should hopefully come apart easy.

 

The flex plate (flywheel) bolts to the back of the crankshaft and is then bolted to the torque converter to transfer the engine power to the transmission.
Your statement "but i reached up to see if the flywheel would spin or not, sure enough it spun freely. " implies that you have removed the dust cover in order to rotate (via the teeth) the flex plate. If this is what you have done and the force applied to the teeth rotates the flex plate freely the flex plate is broken. If the flex plate was intact, rotating using the flex plate teeth would require significant force in order to rotate the engine/transmission combination.

Disconnect the battery before working on this project.

My guess is that you can replace the flex plate without completely removing the trans. The trans has to be disconnected from the engine and pulled backwards far enough to remove/replace flex plate. This is a significant work effort and you might want a trans shop to perform this effort The two top bolts that hold the trans to the engine are very difficult to access and wiring harnesses need to be restored to their original locations. Take pictures before hand especially the dipstick bracket.
If you are going to attempt this make sure you construct a bracket to hold the torque converter in place otherwise it may fall on you when the trans is moved backwards.

 

Fly wheel failure makes a lot of noise and sometimes vibration when something goes wrong in that compartment of the trans you would know for sure. Hopefully you didn't sheer the crank off.
Could be a valve body issue though, pull the pan see what's going on inside before you pull it

 

Thanks to all that have replied. Work starts today. I have it up on jack stands, battery disconnected. Ill begin by removing the starter and go from there. Im marking and taking pictures as I go.

 

I'd pull the pan first off first see if you got lucky. But thats just me

 

Davem61,

It’s been a few days since you last posted. Have you resolved this issue and if so, please post the solution? Feedback is important so that we all learn solution paths to these issues.

Thanks in advance

Jimboy