Unsure what is wrong with my truck

I have a 2003 Tacoma prerunner with a 3.4L engine, recently I replaced my power steering pump because it was making a lot of noise and I bled the system. Now my engine is making some weird noises and struggles to pick up speed, I am hearing some sort of grinding noise but it is more prevalent when I’m in gear, I read that it might be the torque converter but I don’t want to start pulling stuff out and replacing stuff at random. I notice that it makes the grinding noise between 1-3 gear. Could it be my transmission?

 

How long have you owned the truck? How many miles are on it? Have you ever serviced the transmission at all? Did the sound begin only upon replacing the power steering pump?

Do you get the sound when revving the engine in neutral all the way through the rpm range that would make your trans shift into those gears?

You could also you put the rear axle on jackstands and cycle through the gears to see if the sound changes with reduced load in the gears - obviously use this method with a dose of safety to get more datapoints for the problem.

 

I’ve had the truck for almost two years, it is at 240,371 miles, I have replaced the transmission fluid. The symphony of noises I hear right now started after I replaced the power steering pump. I was watching a few YouTube videos and one video where a truck made a similar noise was a Tacoma that needed a new belt pulley near the AC, I’ll need to get a stethoscope to try and pinpoint the noises when I do what you suggested. I appreciate you reaching out and I’ll update when I’ve done some testing

 

I also replaced the timing components and water pump about a year ago but I need to go back in and replace the cam seals because the ones I replaced leaked

 

How long was it after the pump was replaced - just curious because it’s not really related to the trans but if the sound started right after it could be a bad pump although if you’re experiencing power loss then I’d imagine you’d get a lot of problems from your power steering if the new pump was locked up enough to be noticeable in terms of power loss. Just trying to determine the pump r&r is not related to the transmission issue you’re thinking is happening now.

@gearcruncher

 

I want to say it was a couple days after the pump replacement

 

Do you know if I am able to post videos from my phone on here I’m sure it would help with diagnosing my issues

 

Did you do the work to replace the PS pump? If you did, you would have had to remove the drive belt for the pump, right? Are you sure you've tensioned the belt properly? When I last did my belts, and actually my PS lines, I also changed the ac idler pully bearing. The bearing is a

$17 6301-2RS Bearing - Lubricated Chrome Steel Sealed Ball Bearing - 12x37x12mm Bearings with Rubber Seal & High RPM Support

6301-2RS, I have a press, but it's probably doable without it.

 

Yea I second what @Andy01DblCabTacoma said. You need to check your belts and pulleys up front. The grinding noise could be the AC idler pulley perhaps. Duralast makes an AC idler pulley that uses the same bearing as OEM and it's fairly inexpensive (around $30) at VatoZone

 

RR’d pump…..understood

did you clean the P/S screen that is incorporated in the p/S reservoir?

new pump might be starving for ATF fluid bc screen clogged

 

Update for everyone it was the idler pulley, I replaced it and the noise was gone, as for the “transmission issue” I was having I guess it was in my head as I was not accelerating normally due to the noise the pulley was making I want to personally thank everyone for their help I really appreciate the input you guys are awesome.