Dan,
I did here something different. I did this trip over 2 -14 hour days of driving and I think that contributed to the problem. Although I have put 20,000 miles on the setup I had, I believe the affects of running the engine not stop for 14 hours was key in the torque converter bolts vibrating loose. I believe the long duration of heat soak the engine sustained and the constant vibration over that extended period of time has a different impact on the engine components then if I were to get the engine up to temperature and drive it on 14 seperate 1 hour trips.
I noticed about a 1/2 hour before the torque converter seperated what sounded like an exhaust leak at idle. It was a popping sound that came from the back of the engine in about the same location as the exhaust header pipe connection. I assumed that over the long drive that an exhaust gasket had failed or and exhaust bolt had worked loose. At this time there was no noise at higher idle or at hiway speeds. Write before complete failure I started to here a tapping sound from underneath the truck. As I was slowing down and headed for the off ramp the truck made the distinct scrapping and popping of metal as if I was dragging a muffler or the rear drive shaft. I can remember looking in the rear view mirror fully expecting to see the muffler pop out the back side of the truck. When I got to the top of the off ramp I had no power to the rear wheels although the engine was still running but now it sounded like an ice crusher at idle. I was very disappointed to see no exhaust pieces on the gound or a busted drive shaft. At that point it was obvoius to me that it was a major failure of the torque converter.
I picked up the truck yesterday from the transmission place and I inspected the busted pieces. What a mess. The starter had a chunk of metal missing from the front bushing support. The tranny case had major cracks and metal separeration at the mounting bolts. The torque converter mounting bolts were stripped out. The Flex plate mounting holes for the torque converter were elongated, the transmission oil pump had some chunks of metal missing from the front cover and there is still a big hole and some crack in the torque converter cover. I have used some duct tape to keep the dust out until I can find a replacement cover.
TimK
85\' GMC Sub, 4x4, 3/4Ton, 6.2L Diesel<br />67\' Land Rover Series 2A, 2.5L Diesel<br />00\' VW Beetle, 1.9L Diesel TDI <br />90\' Range Rover - soon to be Diesel<p>So what do you do with gelled Diesel fuel? Smear it on toast and have another cup of coffee until it gets warmer outside.