how worried should i be...found a crack

[black71]

Found this crack in the bellhousing when i was checking out my trans...looks also like at some point the torque converter hit it as well...this is the numbers trans to my car and not wantin to risk ruining it...what do you think i should do?

[black71]

Pic2

[Street_Challenged73]

I would probably source a replacement bellhousing and find someone you can trust to do a professional repair to the damaged original.


Sent from the gasoline garage

[jimynick]

The only problem with the situation is that it's an automatic car, so you can't swap bellhousings, just whole cases. It shouldn't make any difference as long as it doesn't grow and I'd drill a 1/8" hole in the end of the crack to stop that happening. Since it appears to be primarily cosmetic, you could use some of that aluminium powdered epoxy and just fill it, carefully, otherwise get someone to tig it up, grind it off and a little massage with a de-scaler should make it look pretty much like it used to. Good luck 

[dutch]

I`d cut a V into the crack and tig it up. The hole at the end is a good plan too.  make sure the material is clean before welding.
did I mention the material needs to be clean....?

[brads70]

I`d cut a V into the crack and tig it up. The hole at the end is a good plan too.  make sure the material is clean before welding.
did I mention the material needs to be clean....?

  I've seen it done a few times.

[dodj]

I'd first be more concerned about why the converter and bell housing made contact with each other. 

Then do the welding.

[74challenger03]

  do you know why it happened ?

[brads70]

Pic2

That looks more like it was machined rather than scraped off by a convertor/ring gear. I was thinking if it was from convertor contact then it would have material "piled" up on one end . Also something would have to be majorly wrong for it to make contact? No?

[spamtank]

Looks like there's another crack, or it extends through the scrape mark.

[jimynick]

Yep, and I'd be VERY interested to hear how the flex plate/converter hit the case like that. 

[black71]

I am clueless as to what mighta/did happen...i've had the car a year now and never had any trouble...found the crack while inder the car and decided it'd be a good time to pull things out and get them cleaned up......car has bee almost untouched ..i am the second owner of it...nothing at all looked out of the ordinary except one of the bolts on the engine to trans brace was backed almost half way out

[brads70]

I'm still guessing it was casting flash/ imperfection from the mold that got machined off instead of scrapping the casting. Looking at the marks still in the casting right below the "machined" part, looks like disc grinder marks in the mold to smooth off a flaw in the mold.
I used to make molds and repair them for die cast transmission housings and they literally run them till they break apart from the heat stress. Been flown to the Chrysler Kokomo casting plant to fix them a few times.
If that was converter damage hitting a way over there ...you would know it before it was taken apart!
Again not 100% sure but that's just my guess?
See the raised part/crack in the first picture beside the actual crack, that is from a crack in the mold surface  and it comes out the opposite as a raised flaw in the casting.

[73EStroker]

That kinda looks like starter ring gear rash to me! But how? Could be another tranny from a previous calamity.

[jhaag]

definitely a machining mark as Brad said. ring gear or convertor would not hit the case without major damage all the way around and also damage to the trans internals and possibly the crank. Things don't move around in there without major damage. As far as the crack, you should check all the mounts and bolts. make sure you don't have any flex because something is loose or worn out. Repair as mentioned above by welding.