2.7L auto trans noise

My auto trans started making a loud "slapping/ticking" noise upon cold start ups about 50K miles ago only after putting it in gear. The noise goes away if I put it in park or neutral. It doesn't seem to affect the drive ability of the truck which now has 112K miles on it but is very annoying.

I've changed trans fluid with both after market and original Toyota trans fluid but nothing has changed. The noise goes away after a few seconds to almost a minute at times after cold start up. Of course the noise never happened when I left it overnight at a trans shop to see if they could isolate it on a cold start up the next morning.

One thing I did notice recently was that if I put the trans in gear, hold the brake and increase the rpms, the noise will go away temporarily until bringing it back to idle.

I wonder if it's a clogged passage in the valve body?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

U joints?

 

Nope, checked those too.

The weather has been really warm here the last two days and the noise has not occurred on first start up each morning which leads me to believe that it is fluid related. The noise ranges from a very slight ticking noise to very loud metal slapping.

I've read about other owners of the 2.7L motor having similar issues and no one seems to know what the cause is. I've read that some had defective crankshaft dampener hubs, engine knock, etc. but none with the same symptoms I'm experiencing.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

My first and possibly last Toyota. BTW, it was assembled in Fremont, California. I'm not trying to knock Toyotas BUT I recently found out that the driver's side motor mount was missing the two bolts that attach the rubber snubber to the frame! Toyota refused to admit it was an assembly error and wanted to charge me $175 to install two lousy bolts. My local trans shop did it for free, but I slid him $20 for his morning coffee and donuts.

 

Bump Im havin something similar wondering if it were ever solved.

 

I would think that there is a possibility of a crack in the flywheel. I have not personally experienced the noise in question on a Tacoma, but when I was working for GM, we did run into several that were just like you are describing. Is there a chance you might be able to record the audio and post it for us?

 

After it cools a bit I'll try to get a better video (roll the windows up and get on it harder...)

Hope someone can tell me something..I'll try to get a better one soon...

 

Sorry for the delay, I just got out of the hospital yesterday from surgery.

I think the problem was sludge build up in the engine as originally Toyota recommended oil changes every 5 months or 5000 miles. I've changed to 3 months or 3000 miles and even less if the noise started and it hasn't come back since then but only time will tell. I'm guessing that under load conditions when the engine was cold, the sludge restricted oil flow. This will be my one and only Toyota as I've never had this problem with any other make of car, import or domestic.

^^^^What 'too old' (OP) Pmed me back. I changed my oil friday with 5-30mobil 1 so maybe it gets better idk

 

Really difficult to hear in that video. Yes, you can get some engine noise with not doing regularly scheduled maintenance. Since you have changed the oil and say it has gone away for now, let's see how this goes. Let us know.