Transmission makes a noise when in Drive

2001 DC 4x4, 3.4, Automatic Transmission. 156,xxx miles

My Tacoma makes a sound like an electric car (for lack of better terms) when I put it in Drive, the sounds gets louder as I accelerate, but when the transmission shifts up in higher gear the sounds goes away. The sound is not there in neutral or park. I was wondering what it would be, I am hoping not the torque converter. Any ideas???

Thank you!

 

TTT

 

Mine has the same sound. Slight high pitched whine, right? Goes away upon shifting into second?

My guess IS the torque converter actually, although I wouldn't rule out tranny problems. What I have tried to fix the problem was a flush of the tranny system, and this fixed nothing.

I would take it to a mechanic if it really bothers you. Personally I'd go with a transmission shop, and not the stealership. My truck has driven about 7 thousand trouble free miles for me with this issue, just so you know.

Also, my truck has thrown a code for throttle position sensor, maybe yours has as well? A long shot, because I don't see how that would matter at all with this issue, but hey, worth a try.

 

Thank you for the reply, that is exactly what the truck is doing, I have also driven several thousand miles with the issue, trying to save the money for worst case scenerio. I have not had good experiences with the dealership, so I do everything that I can to my truck, but automatic transmission, is way past my mechanical skills. The truck is not throwing any codes, so I was thinking torque converter too.

 

Yup, I have this same problem with my 4runner. Had my mechanic drive it and he told me its the planetary gear causing the whine in 1st gear. As soon as it shifts into 2nd, it goes away. He told me that it wouldn't be worth do a rebuild/open the tranny at this moment since the problem its pretty minor since the transmission shifts perfectly and the fluid looks beautiful.

 

the sound could be from broken or cracked flex plate

 

Did you ever find the root cause? I have a similar situation with 185,000 miles on my 2004 Tacoma. All shifts are fine, fluid looks good too, but my continues the noise into second gear.

 

My ‘13 v6 auto does this when accelerating from a stop. Up until about 3rd. I have 225k miles on mine. I just want to know if this is an issue worth putting money into. I would like to avoid chain reactions