I'm having an issue with my 2001 F350 V10. A seriously annoying high pitched whining noise appeared a while ago, then disappeared, and has now come back. I've searched all over without finding an answer so I'm posing the question here.

It happens as soon as I start my truck, whether it's cold or warmed up already. it increases in pitch and loudness as I increase RPM, it also does exactly the same in neutral. As soon as I put it in gear (R, D, 2, 1) it completely disappears and will come back as soon as I shift back to P or N. Strangely, if I drive around town for a few minutes, when I get back home and shift to park the sound doesn't really come back, sometimes it will be faint but usually it's totally gone. But if I shut the truck off and turn it right back on again then it's there again.

It's coming from somewhere in the engine compartment or close but due to the nature of the sound it's very difficult to locate. I got underneath using a screwdriver as a stethoscope and listened to the transmission, transfer case, starter, oil pan and even the gastank and it doesn't sound like it's coming directly from any of them. While underneath I noticed power steering fluid leaking from the pump behind the pulley and dripping off the hose. Somehow though I don't think it's related as the sound disappears in gear and doesn't change at all when turning the wheels. I cleaned the fluid off and drove around a bit and it doesn't seem to be leaking too badly and my resevoir is totally full.

The truck otherwise is driving as good as it always has and whatever this sound is doesn't seem to be having any effect on performance (yet...) Any ideas would be great, I'm taking it into my mechanic Monday but would love if I could figure this out over the weekend. Thanks for reading!

 

I've got something similar on my '04, but I don't have any fluid leaks, I suspect mine has something to do with the EGR valve or vacuum pump just from doing research on the forum, mine's not a squeal like a belt but a very high pitched whine (lasts maybe 3-5 seconds), comes and goes and doesn't last very long, everything is working, no leaks, plenty of power, good gas mileage, so I've just been ignoring it for the past year, lol, for all I know I might explode. If you get it figured out I'd be interested to know your solution My noise is like when as a kid you wet your thumbs and blow between a piece of grass, the peanut gallery need not respond, but you know what I mean?

 

Hmm doesn't sound exactly like my problem but I'll certainly update if the mechanic finds the problem, hopefully I can figure out before then though!

 

Definitely post back, rereading your post my guess would be torque converter or something along that line, maybe ask Mark the Transmission guy on here, he was a Ford transmission engineer. I can't remember his last name, not to be un PC, but it is Polish sounding, Kovalskey? At least you may be able to eliminate that as an issue.

 

Thought I'd post a quick update. I got my truck into the transmission shop I wanted to get it to (after pulling it out of Ford, whole 'nother story) and it's the torque converter. He says the rest of my tranny looks great and that we caught it early enough that no damage was done beyond the converter. So that's that, he's putting in a performance converter and all should be good.

What can I expect in terms of performance with a new converter?

 

mine started making the same high pitched whine only in park or neutral. My truck only has 65k miles on it (2001 F350 with V10). Trans fluid looks perfect. How did your tranny guy determine it was your converter?

 

This is an old thread! I actually don't even own the truck anymore haha, if I remember correctly, he found very fine shavings in the pan which I guess indicated that the converter was going. Long story short, he replaced it (for a pretty penny) and everything was fine with it for the remainder of the time I owned the truck.

 

The converter sounds like one of the only logical choices for those kinds of symptoms. The engine accessory drive doesn't care if the truck is in gear or not, so torque converter or transmission is about the only thing that makes sense.

 

I have a 2001 AWD Exploder with the same whining while in park and neutral. Do ya think it's my converter as well?