YJ making horrible loud noise under load

DangerManV

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I have an 88 YJ. I6 with an automatic transmission. It's a 4.2/4.0 rebuild.

Anyhow, it does this weird thing that's hard to describe. After driving around for an hour or so when everything is warmed up, it will occasionally make this horribly loud and irritating grinding/zipping sound underneath the vehicle. It only happens when I am taking off, whether climbing up hill or whatever. Any gear, although pushing it up a steep hill on the highway triggers it more frequently. It usually does it once a day. The moment I hear the noise, I let off the gas and hit it again and the noise is gone.

I don't think there's any real loss of power when the noise starts, but it's hard to tell.

I can only describe the noise as being a solid mid to high sound like a train whistle mixed with this metallic rapid clipping/dragging sound. It is extremely loud. I can't stress that enough. The noise pitch doesn't change with the vehicle's speed. There is no wind up or wind down. It's solid, loud, and harsh. It only happens under acceleration. It does it in any gear. It is happening in 2wd. I haven't used 4wd enough to know anything there. It is not the motor. It comes from below the seats, but it's so loud that it's hard to pinpoint what direction. It's like a speaker next to your ear.

It has happened while climbing an on-ramp over 55.

It has happened while driving out of a drive-through restaurant.

Today, it happened after taking off from a full stop at a light in an intersection around 2nd gear.

I just changed the rear diff fluid and didn't see any major problems there. It does leak where the axle connects to the rear-end housing. The transfer case seems okay but it has a leak. I can't find any play in the drive shafts.

Any help? I have tried to record the sound, but it's so random that I can never catch it.
 

Welcome to Jeepz.com

If you don't let off the gas, will it last indefinitely?

I don't know what it is, but it sure does sound awful.
 
Welcome to Jeepz.com

If you don't let off the gas, will it last indefinitely?

I don't know what it is, but it sure does sound awful.

Yea, it just keeps going. If I let off and immediately hit the gas again, it doesn't come back...

Otherwise, everything works fine. Transmission shifts great. Fluid is nice and clean.
 

next time it does it, keep the gas on and hit the brakes to see if it makes it worse or less. see if more of a load fixes it or not. everything is tight under the jeep?
 
next time it does it, keep the gas on and hit the brakes to see if it makes it worse or less. see if more of a load fixes it or not. everything is tight under the jeep?

Tight?

Not exactly. If you grab the rear driveshaft and shake it, the transmission moves a little. The center mount below it seems loose on the bolts, but I don't know if they should have a little give or not. This is my first Wrangler. I've always owned ZJs.

Transfer case is leaking and I am going to check the fluid levels after it warms up today. I just bought this Jeep and the underside is still caked with river sand. I need to clean it off. That's why I changed the rear diff fluid, to make sure no water was in it.

I figure I should check the flex plate bolts and make sure the bell housing is tight against the motor, too.

I really don't know what else to do. It's so sporadic, a mechanic won't be able to find it unless they drive it around for a couple of hours. I can't find any evidence in google searches or youtube videos of people having this same noise.

EDIT: It has a bit of a jack-hammer 'ping' to it behind that really loud train whistle tone. It makes me think some splines are dragging against something. It's such an odd noise, like a heavy zipper.
 
you might just have to go over everything from the bell housing back to make sure the bushings are good and bolts are tight. its weird, I have never heard of the sound yours makes so its hard to help.

you need someone to ride around for a day and when it makes the noise, they can lean out and listen better
 

A good way to catch the sound would be to mount a gopro or simular device under the car and drive around you can do it in several areas to see if you have none normal movement on anything

Sent from my SM-G930T using Jeepz.com mobile app
 
Some updates.


I captured some of the sound, but it wasn't as loud today. It's louder when I have my stereo on, like it comes through the speakers somehow?


This morning I noticed that the PO didn't have all the bolts in the trans skid plate. It should have 6 and there were three in it. One was snapped off at the rear on the driver's side and the center bolt wasn't in.


I kid you not, there was one bolt holding the plate on the driver's side and it was at the front, not in the center where most of the weight is mounted.


I added the bolt to the middle and the transmission is WAY more stable. I tightened the two on the passenger side. I couldn't add a bolt to the front passenger side, the PO stripped the threads. I'm going to drill a hole through the top of the frame and run a long carriage bolt through there. I wonder if the unbalanced drivetrain wasn't causing some binding when I pushed it under load.


Here is part of the noise I captured. This is the howl pitch when I take off sometimes. At it's worst, it has a fast click to it that all stops when I let off the gas and hit the pedal again to keep going. Keep in mind that it is usually way louder. I wonder if tightening up the skid plate may have changed it. The noise is at the 6 second mark.


 
stupid work computer won't let me listen but you could easily be putting the drive train in a bind with only one bolt on that side and lots of flex going on.
 

wow, that is a super weird noise. like something is vibrating an odd frequency and creating resonance.

computer played finally
 
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