WillRadford

I have owned my '94 (3.0 w/ auto) for 4 years now, bought it with 100k miles and it now has 175k miles. Ever since I've owned it it has had a noise from the transmission. All is fine when I accelerate, but when I decelerate through about 30 mph or so (or even drive constant at that speed) there is this somewhat loud rattling noise coming from the transmission. It sounds like there is a plastic box with a bunch of golf balls rolling around in it. I have put up with it for 4 years, but it has gotten a bit worst lately and Im thinking about selling the truck now and I don't know what to tell people who come to look at it.

Has anyone had experience with something like this?

midiwall

In the 75k that you've driven it, have you ever flushed the tranny or dropped the pan to have a look? Sounds like it'd be a good time to do so.

Actually, you might want to start with draining a quart out of it and see what it looks like. No sense in wasting a case of fluid to do a flush just to find out that you need to drain it all for a rebuild.

WillRadford

Ya, flushed it and put in a new filter when I first bought it. A few years later I had that done again after it overheated a few times on me (got an extra cooler in the front now), and just recently I drained it again and replaced the filter. There has never been any metal shavings or crap in the filter or fluid. It always looks OK.

Dan_in_WI

I think I have the same problem on my 1992 4runner 3.0 with Auto. I can make the noise when I let off the gas or recently when I am stopped and in drive. It will not do it in park.

I can actually feel it when I hold the right shifter handle.

I recently changed the fluids and strainer and nothing looked bad.

I also greased the drive shafts.

Could there be anything loose?

Any ideas?

Corbit

Torque Converter bolts are more than likely loose. I've seen ( HEARD ) this one personally a couple of times. Check them out , if they are loose then you should pull them , clean and locktite them , because if they have bein ran loose for a while the hole's on the flexplate will streatch. Hope that helps.

mt_goat

Yeah check that and it could also be the flex plate breaking.

Dan_in_WI

Thanks for the replies.

I'm a little worried about this one. I hadmy dad in the car for his opinion and I couldn' get it to make the vibration sound. But it made it all the way from his house after.

I am also noticing a vibration at high speeds. You can't really notice it until 65mph plus.

How hard is it to check the torque converter? It sound like I have to remove the transmission.

I also just replaced the rear pinion seal on the differential and the companion flange. But the vibration feels like it is under the shifter. Could it be the differential?

What is the best way to chck the drive shafts? Can you just grab them and shake or twist them to see if they are bad?

WillRadford

I haven't taken off an automatic tranny before, but I've taken off a manual to do a clutch and it was a pretty big pain. As long as you have at least two guys its not impossible, but it would be impossible with only one person. The transmission is just so incredibly awkward and huge and heavy. And getting it off isn't the hardest part, its getting it back on. Getting the splines on the shaft to go back into it is a serious task. Thats probably a good bet on where to start checking. If I still had my auto that was making that noise I would probably check there first. I don't have that car anymore though. I crashed it then sold it for $1000 to a kid that wanted the engine.

mt_goat

You don't have to take off the tranny to check the torque converter bolts, in fact one of the first steps to removing the tranny is to unbolt the torque converter from the flex plate. Not sure if you could spot a broken flex plate without removing the tranny but at least shine a light up there and give it a look. To check the TC bolts you need to remove that little dust cover below the bell housing and you need some way to slowly rotate the engine around to get to the bolts one at a time. I used a crank holding tool, I guess you could also use the crank pulley bolt but make sure you don't loosen it up accidently.

mt_goat

I've removed 2 and installed one (with dual cases), all by myself, all you need is one of these:


Here's a A340 with dual cases, you just need to find a good balance point:

Corbit

Good work Dale. You can access the bolts with a little finesh , just get in and get it done , I'll bet you it should take no longer that 15 minutes and will more than likely be your fix !

Corbit

Any news as to what happened with it ?

Dan_in_WI

I checked the bolts and they were all tight. I grabbed and shook everything under I could find but I still can't find the source of the rattling.

Could it be the shifter or the heater between the seats rattling?

mt_goat

Does it make any difference if the OD button is on or off?

coldwiz

My truck started doing this right after the SAS but doesn't do it anymore and I can't really say what fixed it. Not much has been changed in this area other than the tranny/tcase mount, speedo cable, and heavier rear driveshaft. Maybe try changing the mount. I believe Advance on College Av order this up for me.

dirtroads_33

I had an annoying sound from my auto tranny that sounds suspiciously like yours. I took apart the console which houses the rear heat rad and blower to find the culprit. What I eventually found to be the problem was under the truck though. There is a long curved bracket right under the armrest console which spans around the tranny/transfer case. It looks to me to be part of the transfercase shift linkage. In the middle of it it joins to the case via a booted piston of sorts. My piston thing was dry and would rattle only under certain conditions, thus the NOISE. I stripped of the boot, greased heavily with Lucas Wheel Bearing Grease, then reassembled. Quick and easy. Now no noise two weeks later.

Dan_in_WI

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have to check it out.

881stGenRunner

i know exactly what it is. At the very back of the tranny/x-case, there is the linkage for the x-case that goes around the back of the case and driveshaft. Take it off, regrease it and put it back on as tight as you can.
Let me get a pic of it h/o

881stGenRunner

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...39removala.pdf

In thevery first picture, look to the very right of the page. There is a line poiting to it called the cross-shaft. My bros 4runner did this as well. Very easy to take off, make sure everything is really tight when you get done so it doesnt rattle very much.

NHyotski

I have had the same problem as you are describing will, I dont know if it turned out to be what is described above, but I found out yesterday what was causing mine. The rapping/golf ball noise you described was getting so bad i stopped driving the rig about a month ago and just this week got around to yanking out the 3vze, i was pretty certain that the noise was comming from the back of the oil pan and just assumed i was in for a rod bearing or something like that. This was not the case. I unbolted the flexplate and didnt notice anything unusual, but, after pulling the motor out i noticed that the ring gear (essentially the whole outside of the flex plate) was still leaning against the torque converter in the bellhousing, while the rest of the of the flex plate (the center) was still bolted to the motor. In other words the entire flexplate had snapped off of where it bolts to the motor, I am amazed that i had still been able to drive it before. I think this was probably caused by a collision i had with a tree in october, but i have heard it doesn't take a whole lot to snap these off. hope this might help!