Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Check your flywheel teeth to see if they are ok by removing the inspection plate on the lower cover by the oil pan. if you need one let me know. i have plenty and will send you one for the cost of shipping. This could also be your noise, it may have a crack or some form of damage that only shows up under load. i.e driving down the road. at a stop it's not under a heavy load. and no load sitting parked reving the engine. DO NOT spend money on the B&M fluid!!! all it is depending on which one you get is type f or dexron/mercon! read the back of the bottle, it even says so!
i use the dexron/mercon in all my twins.

Dexron/mercon is what i have used in my 56 T'Ultra for over 20K miles and 7-8 years. No trans problems. NO direct drive clutch groan. The cold very low speed groan/whine that goes away when warmed up has always been in the trans since i got it 10 years ago. I have no idea what kind of fluid the former owner used but i'm guessing he used what ever Kanter recommended because that's where he bought all of his parts.

Yes the noise is completly gone at stop.

The teeth on the flywheel that I could see anyway were fine. However three of the teeth on the starter were slightly chipped on their tips. They were fine before the new solonoid went in.

I'm starting to think that the noise might be coming from the starter, possibly trying to engage whiledriving or not moving back out of position.

I'm going to move the pin on the starter solonoid to the furthest position back an see if that helps.

The transmission is not making noise anymore, and I don't belive the mystery noise is related to the tranny either. It's feels too far forward.

I added the type f to it, and I might try the dex/merc when I flush it.
Also added true bardhal addative, but haven't run it yet.

The lifter noise is minimal now. Usually only pops up if I accelerate to fast now.

Speedo cable is in need of grease, but I haven't been able to drive it for a couple days so i will post more after I take it for a spin.

The power steering ram looks rebuilt at a closer look the seals that I can see look new along with the hardware. So I suppose if someone rebuilt it and it had a backwards seal they probably would have installed it just the same if the hadn't read the stbs.

And my voltage regulator looks horrible on the outside but brand new on the inside. With engine off one contact is open (left side) and two are closed (right hand side). How do I determine if they are sticking?

Thanks again for all of the help and suggestions. U guys are awsome!

The regulator appears correct. The left contact is the cutout and disconnects battery from generator when engine not running so should be open. The other two are current and voltage and will be closed until generator starts producing. Then they will both open and close rapidly to keep generator within spec.

If the contacts look very discolored (burned) or very rough and have bits of metal (pitting) on contacts, then there is the potential for sticking but not something you would ordinarily see was happening just by looking at it--unless you pushed on contact and it actually was stuck. The symptom you would see if they did stick would be in operation, the amp meter would suddenly spike to maximum and stay there when running or worse, you would see or smell smoke--during operation or if cutout stuck, when engine turned off..

There is adjustment info on the starter in electrical section of SM. Most important is when solenoid released and spring pushes plunger out, everything moves freely and the gear mechanism is all the way to back. If solenoid is cocked, there may be binding. When solenoid engaged, there needs to be the specified clearance at end so no damage is done when pinion slams forward.

Flywheel teeth neeed to be inspected at every 90 degree intervals. With good compression the flywheel will usualy stop at one of 4our different points each time the ign sw is turned off. so excessive wear to teeth will be at one of 4our points on the flywheel. Each wear point 90 degrees apart.

"The lifter noise is minimal now. Usually only pops up if I accelerate to fast now"

Only upon acceleration and then goes away after cruising speed attained????

Or does the noise only come in rather faintly at higher speeds of say 65 mph and faster and then come and go????

I'm voting for the speedo cable or speedo itself.

Alrighty it's been a bit since I've been on here, I had to park it for a week or so, but I got a chance to take it out yesterday and today. It would seem that noise was the speedo/speedo cable. I disconnected it from the speedo itself and haven't heard that noise since. So I guess the question now is it the cable or the speedo itself? I can see the cable spinning while driving, so it appears to be working but I can't tell if the gauge itself is working because the needle is broken off. It also appears someone let the grease work it's way all the way up the cable.

If I remove the cable from the tranny is it going to let fluid out?

On the nicer side it seems to be running beautifully with the suggestions you guys have made to me. They only thing that gets me is at start up and sometimes at a stop it smokes now, which it didn't do a month ago.

Just a little update, I'll go back through my post to see if I missed anything I brought up earlier when I get to a real computer.

And thanks again everyone!

Glad to hear you found the noise, the speedo was my suggestion way back when, when you first said you only had the noise when the car was moving.

Yes, if you remove it from the trans w/o plugging the hole, you'll loose fluid.

The cable itself will pull out of the housing from the dash end but will be very greasy. Would be a good idea to do this, clean, check for any kinks and regrease with proper cable lube.

The housing & cable will unscrew from the plastic adapter at trans and can be removed without losing more than a few drops of fluid but if you remove the adapter and gear from trans, fluid will leak.

I'd wager since the needle is off that the stem has broken and allowed the cup assy inside speedometer to drop and drag on spinning magnet. Probably need to start looking for another.