Steven Drought

Wondering why when I changed flex plate that it now sits back about 1/2 inch into the bell housing my starter will no longer engage the flexplate it is to far away I'm stumped pls help

tech

Are You sure it is the right flex plate , did you mach it up with the old one?

Steven Drought

Yes I'm pretty sure it's the right one auto zone replaced it due to their starter chewing up the teeth on it they checked to make sure it matched but I did not I didn't realize their were different flexplate

cruiser54

I bet the torque converter isn't fully seated into the trans.

Steven Drought

That would cause the flex plate to be inside the bell housing at least a 1/2 inch?? And causing it to be to far away from the starter?

lawsoncl

No, failure to get the t/c seat would push things towards the engine. There are two different flex plates for HO and non-HO with different windows for the crank sensor, but they should have the starter teeth in the right position. I'm thinking you got a flexplate for the wrong engine or it's defective. I think you'd notice it it was bellowed about 1/2" though. How much gap do you have from the starter gear and the ring gear when not running the starter. Sure this isn't just a failure of the starter solenoid to extend the gear when cranking?

lawsoncl

I found a list of Mopar part numbers for flexplates. 86-90 had different windowing for the Renix versus Chrysler system. I'm not sure what the differences are in the 91-01 plates. I thought they were all the same, since the block and bellhousing are interchangeable through all the years.

1986-90: 33002675
1991-92: 53006324
1993-95: 52117761
1996-01: 52118551

Steven Drought

I'm still having issues with this I have replaced flex plate with new one I double checked with AutoZone to make sure the part numbers matched they gave me a new flex plate but still same result flexplate sits about half inch inside bell housing, starter is working properly I'm just stumped. I have been working on this for two weeks I'm out of ideas and patience

fb97xj1

Do you have the old one to compare it to?

Steven Drought

Unfortunately I do not that's why I'm kind of pulling my hair out because I really wish I would be able to keep it to be able to compare but I don't know

lawsoncl

Per the FSM, when the torque converter is fully seated prior to assembly, the pads on the torque converter where the flexplate bolts screw in should be recessed 16.5-mm (0.650 inch) below the face of the bell housing. You normally have to pull the t/c forward about 1/8 - 1/4" to bolt it up to the flexplate. So that 1/2 setback you're seeing sounds normal to me. I assume the harmonic balancer on the front of the engine is still lined up, and it's not a thrust bearing problem.

I'm thinking your starter isn't extending it's gear enough to engage the flexplate when you crank. Sounds like that was the problem with the first starter too? Autozone remanufactured parts are generally crap, and I've had to replace a few under their lifetime warranty.

Steven Drought

All right thanks everybody I finally figured it out I ended up having to go get a new starter because the starter was actually malfunctioning and was doing the reverse order instead when I turn the key to start it it would pull the Bendix away from the flex plate and when I turned it off it would push it Forward don't know what the hell is going on with that starter but that was that problem solved and the new starter is much better I also cut out the face covering for the transmission and mounted the starter directly to the bell housing of the transmission because it still was a hair too far away but it engages nicely now it spins around but now it still won't start but I'm pretty sure that that is the crank position sensor that has filed out as well cuz I got good crank I got good fuel but I don't think I have spark I'm not sure but it wants to start but it just doesn't so I will report back and let you know if the CPS is was the problem thank you everybody