Noise/chirp/squeal/rubbing sound is coming from torque converter area when in drive or rev at idle with the brakes holding. Not in park or neutral.

The vehicle is a 2001 Expedition with 105,000 miles and I replaced the transmission and T-Q at about 90,000 with a Ford rebuilt.

Had noticed a sort of faint 'hissing' sound coming from the TQ area prior to replacing the tranny. After the replacement, it was still there, that was 2 years ago.

Recently [15,000 miles after tranny replaced] the noise has changed to a sort of faint rubbing and chirp/squealing sound that is in sync with engine RPMs and I can hear it at...


... idle when the transmission is shifted to drive or reverse. The sound completely disappears in park and neutral.

This is with the brakes holding the truck.

If I increase RPMs by say a 100 or so the chirp gets louder and as speed is increased another 100 or two, the sound stops.

I put it on the lift last night and used a stethoscope with an adapter for higher freq sounds and the noise is coming from the T-Q because I probed the access openings at the bottom and left side of the tranny where the rubber plugs are.

The flex plate bolts are tight. Didn't find any debris in the area of the T-Q and surrounding housing.

ATF is normal in level, color, and smell.

Tonight I'm going to flush and replace the ATF with Mercon but I don't have much hope... Maybe will get symptom change.

Anyone have any idea what else I can do before tearing it apart?

 

Changed 17 qts of ATF and symptoms didn't change.