Whining/Wind-up sound on acceleration. Transmission issue? New Owner-any advice welcome!!

Hello everyone!

I recently (finally) purchased my FIRST Tacoma, and couldn't be more excited for what's to come. Woohoo! She's an '03 3.7L automatic with a nice 150,000 miles and I love every inch of her.

So here's what's going on. Not long after owning it I started to notice a whining/whirling sound which seemed to be coming from the transmission "area". I will post a video tomorrow to demonstrate what it sounds like. But the pitch correlates directly with the RPM. Starts low and gets higher. At about 40 mph it gets hard to hear due to the road and engine noise. It also only happens when in Drive (2wd and 4wd) and slightly in Reverse. Revving the engine in park and neutral and there is no "whine". Everything sounds great. It also disappears when I let off the gas, so everything sound fine when I'm coasting. But tap that gas pedal and the "whine" whirls right back up. Temperature gauges have all been fine. A/T Temp light has never come on (knock on wood).

I took it to a local transmission shop, the only one that was open on a Saturday. LG transmission in Allentown, PA. The tech working there was super busy, but was kind enough to find 10 minutes to do a couple laps and tell me what he thought. His believes it is a faulty/restricted/clogged transmission filter. He mentioned if it is restricted, that it can make that sound when the tranny is trying to pull fluid through it. Recommended that I get a transmission service from the shop of my choice. I asked him if it could be the tranny pump, and he felt strongly it was not the pump.

I mentioned the pump because I found this video. The sound is pretty similar. I see in his comments he mentions it was his tranny pump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-lorm5TpPY

Has any one ever had this same issue? Any advice? Just want the best for this fine piece of machinary!

Thank you for taking the time to help!

-Tacojoe68

 

IMG_4014.MOV

^^^^^ Link to video of the sounds ^^^^^

I apologize its a little hard to hear....I'll try again later today.

Thanks again!

 

@gearcruncher

 

im assuming you checked AT fluid level? also maybe check diff fluid. You can always drop the transmission pan and take a look

 

Hey @Toyoda213 ! Yes, I've checked the AT fluid several times now. Looks really fresh. Clean and no glitter. Wondering if maybe the fluid was changed before it was sold, and they skipped the filter? I got it from a used car dealership so who knows.

I actually have not checked my rear diff level/quality yet. Ill give that a look tomorrow.

Definitely going to drop the pan on my next free day and get a better look at what's going on in there.