someotherguy
Truly Awesome
I'll "third" the flexplate.. those other 2 dudes beat me to it.
If you have the old style stamped steel inspection cover, you can remove it, then use your choice of tools (channel locks, vise grips, or an actual flywheel tool) to turn the flywheel around and remove the torque converter bolts, and push the converter back towards the transmission. That *might* give you enough gap so that the converter doesn't interfere with you ringing the flywheel with a wrench to see if it actually makes a "ring"-ish noise, or sounds dull and dead. A broken one will generally not "ring"...
They just about always crack completely around the crank bolt flange so it's very difficult if not impossible to SEE the crack without removing the transmission.
Mind you it's been probably 20 years since I battled one so my memory could be really fuzzy on all of the above details, so perhaps others could clarify a bit for you.
Richard
If you have the old style stamped steel inspection cover, you can remove it, then use your choice of tools (channel locks, vise grips, or an actual flywheel tool) to turn the flywheel around and remove the torque converter bolts, and push the converter back towards the transmission. That *might* give you enough gap so that the converter doesn't interfere with you ringing the flywheel with a wrench to see if it actually makes a "ring"-ish noise, or sounds dull and dead. A broken one will generally not "ring"...
They just about always crack completely around the crank bolt flange so it's very difficult if not impossible to SEE the crack without removing the transmission.
Mind you it's been probably 20 years since I battled one so my memory could be really fuzzy on all of the above details, so perhaps others could clarify a bit for you.
Richard