Ive been noticing more and more latley that while my trucks in 1st or maybe 2nd gear, say, slowly coasting around a parking lot for example, theres a whining noise coming from either the rearend or the tranny (cant tell which). It gets louder and more high pitched as I move faster then disapears as soon as the truck shifts gears..

Is this something serious like my transmission on its way out? From what I gather a lot of people seem to have a similar thing going on.. From what I can remember my truck has done this since I bought it, but latley (and maybe its just me) I seem to notice it more like maybe its getting louder.. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

Pretty normal, but depending on miles on the truck you might consider having the trans fluid changed.

 

For what it is worth also check the idler pulleys, I had tranny rebuilt in Feb and a month or so ago it started whining so I took it to the rebuilder and he took it for a test drive and used a stethescope and said it was the idler pulley on the tensioner. I replaced it and no more whine.

 

agree that it's likely a pulley

my 08 Expy did that crap at low speeds in 1st and 2nd gear. thought my trans was about to explode. Dealer replaced the idler and was magically quiet again.

 

What kind of whining is it? Is it like a "whistle" or "howling" noise in first gear, or something like that? My 2007 F-150 has a whistle all through first gear. If it sounds like that, then that's normal. It's the transmission that makes that sound and very common.

 

My truck does the same thing. Has a very noticeable whine at low speeds - should I be concerned? I'm planning on doing the 150,000 mile service soon and that includes transmission, hopefully it gets quieter.

 

Well, it just depends on what kind of whining noise you speak of. Does it sound like a whine, or more of a deep pitched howl or whistle? I've put my truck down in first before to test the noise and let it rev up to about 4,000 RPMs and it just sounds like a whistle. Starts out with a deep pitch and gets higher and higher in pitch as the truck speeds up. This only occurs however if it's in first gear. Once it's in second, it goes away immediately. My truck has made this noise since I bought it back in March, 2010. Had 42,000 when I bought and now has almost 117,000 with no issues. My family has had several Ford's as well and made this same first gear noise as well. All lasted well over 200,000 miles.

 

To me it's a whine, not a howl or a squeal. I'm going to try to experiment and see what speeds/gear/rpm it happens at.

The sound really bothers me though.