Hi,

I'm getting a low squeak type noise, (much like a tennis shoe rub on a tile floor), when I turn the driveshaft over by hand.

Funny thing is, the noise is apparent only on the forward turning, nothing in reverse.

I had my wife rotate the tire by hand, while I checked for exact location of noise, and it comes from the transmission pan area. I thought it was U-joint related, or hoping at least it was this, but it's much further up and into the drain pain area of tranny.

Truck has 140k miles now, and no surprise, but I was wondering what is happening here.

Thanks.

 

does it happen when you drive the truck? When I was rebuilding my 4r75, I could turn the input shaft and get a little squeak, but it doesn't do it now that it's installed.

 

I can pick up a little 'noise,' only when the sound is reflected back off of the side, of say, trees, or idling/coasting along a building. I thought it'd be a U-joint, but it is not anywhere near it..... the sound comes from near front of transmission, almost in the center of pan area.

One unrelated thing, (I think), is the tailshaft seal is going, I can see a little fluid slung on underside. I'll wait now and see if this develops into something before I change this out.

The Truck shifts great --I've always used Ford Mercon 5 and changed fluid and filter between 30-40k. Truck has aftermarket auxiliary cooler I put in in 05' for one heavy tow.

On every fluid change the color was bright cherry red, it'd look like it just came out of the bottle -- (unlike the C-6 in my old Bronco, it was pretty hard on fluid at 30k - the color/scent was off).

 

I know this thread is a 3 yrs old, but my 1997 F150 4.2 RWD has started doing the exact thing. Makes a sqeaking noise at idle or when coasting. Can reproduce it by turning the driveshaft by hand. My truck only has 93,000 miles and has the original transmission fluid still in it.

Did you ever solve the problem or figure out what was wrong?

 

Well, at almost 200k nothing has happened.
I'm due for a fluid change in October and i'll see if it still does it. I almost forgot about it...Lol...

 

Thanks for the reply. I've since read somewhere that the noise when turning by hand is normal. But I definitely have a noise that's not normal when the engine is running, in gear, and stopped. Sometimes a high pitched chip, and sometimes a low howl when coasting or coming to a stop. That and a "deflating balloon" sound every time I turn off the engine. I've ruled out the pulleys and belt, and the transmission shifts perfectly as far as I can tell. Just the annoying noises.

 

Anything like this:

 

Nope, my noises occur when the truck is in gear, but stopped, or slowing down to a stop, as well as when I shut off the engine. My instinct is that my problem lies with the torque converter, but so far I haven't experienced any issues other than noise. One of these days I'll try to make a recording of the sound.

 

I've ruled out pulley/belt noise.

 

MLD, I just noticed my truck making this noise the other day. I was in a drive through and could hear it reflecting off the building. I put the rear end up on stand and put it in drive and the noise is coming from the exact area you described. My tail seal looks good, I don't have any oil leakage any where under there. The tranny oil itself looks perfect, was serviced every 30-40 thousand at Ford. I just turned 144 thousand. I'm going to have a mechanic look at it next week see what he thinks. Have you had any issues since discovering the noise? The transmission still shift fine, goes into gear like normal. That noise is just bugging me.

 

None at all, sir. So far I'm at 201k miles and nothing. It shifts perfect. I have not tried a driving test for a 'sound reflection' to see if it's still there, the same, or worse.

 

Thanks, that makes me feel a little bit better. I definitely don't want to have to change a transmission right now.

I did some more checking on it this afternoon. It only makes that noise in 1st gear. If I put it in 2 and accelerate from a stop it doesn't make any noise. If I put it in 1 or D even if I'm already moving the noise starts again. I think it's just a issue with first. I'm wondering if maybe the teeth have worn a little or if it's something else.

 

My 1997 did the exact same thing. Tried to pinpoint the noise and it was everywhere under the truck rearward of the engine. Finally removed the drive shaft and replaced the u-joints and problem solved. The u-joints felt tight but the rear one was dry. Mine squeeked only when backing up.

 

Turns out I was wrong, with the recent cold weather, the noise has become more frequent and changed in pitch. I can now hear that this particular noise is actually coming from the front of the engine, and I now believe it is the power steering pump. It never occurred to me to check the P/S fluid before and although the level is OK, it's black like used engine oil.

What threw me off earlier is the noise only occurred after warm up, and at idle in gear (but not in neutral). When I changed my AT fluid and filter, the noise seemed to go away for a week but then came back, although it seemed not as bad as before.

The fact that I couldn't detect any rough shifting or noticeable slippage had me second guessing the transmission as the problem. My next step is to try flushing the P/S fluid before replacing the pump.

 

Make sure you use ATF, not power steering fluid.