What would make an automatic transmission make a whining noise when cold? I have this problem on my 05 TL. When I start the car there is a whining noise coming from the transmission, if I accelerate while in P it gets louder, if I shift to D it is almost gone, in N it is on again. After I drive the car for a few minutes the noise is not that loud anymore, I could barely here it while in P again. I am thinking at two things, bad torque converter or bad transmission oil pump???
Any ideas???

Thank you

 

Usually if it goes away in neutral or park it's torque convertor.

Have you checked the fluid level? Only 2 things happen when it warms up.... The fluid thins out and the fluid level rises a little. It could be sucking some air when cold and causing pump noise.

It won't fix the issue but if it turns out to be viscosity related you can always go to a thinner fluid or at least a good synthetic that will be thinner when cold and about the same when hot as Z1. Redline makes an awesome fluid that's way thinner than Z1. If you do a drain and fill you can use 1qt of the Redline "racing" and 2qts of the Redline "lightweight racing" fluid. This should take the viscosity down from the Z1's 7cSt to 6cSt at 212 degrees but significantly thinner when cold.


It might be a good idea to drain the fluid and see what you have. Most of the torque convertor components are aluminum so they may not end up on the magnet but should be easily visible when you drain it.

 

I have a 07 TL mine does this exactly but stays the same when warm and my 03 accord v6 auto does this to but a little louder. Plus I am running amsoil Super Shift Type F. So IHC what do you think, my car is under warranty but we all know what the dealer will say, "Its normal" or "Cant reproduce Problem"

 

Mine also has this sound but it's done it since brand new so I just ignore it. I don't know how loud the others are but I can only hear mine with the door open and really listening.

Has yours gotten louder over time or has it always been that way?

The OP's issue could be the super common power steering O-ring too especially since it goes away when hot.

 

Oh yea had to add that on my 03 Accord, the transmission was rebuilt and a new torque converter was installed, the noise is exactly the same as before the rebuild. So I am thinking this might be kind of normal. I had a ZDX loaner car the other day and that made no noise at all, so I don't know.

 

I bought my car with 39000 miles on it and now it has 45000 so its been the same for me. I know for a fact its not power steering I can tell the two apart, plus I did the O-Ring TSB and flushed the PS fluid out with Amsoil PS fluid so that part of the car is good now.

 

Sorry for posting too much but I can hear my car do this when sitting in the car with radio off and the fans off, I can hear it outside the car but I can hear it better inside the car, so it sounds like from IHC description that my car might be a little louder then IHC.

 

I just had a flush done at the dealer about a week ago because I had the following problems with my car stated in another tread "05 TL Transmission Problems....????" (not allowed to post links yet).
This made the car drivable but the noise is still present. I will check the fluid level and will check for air bubbles on the deep stick.
Based on the history of the car would you advice me to replace the transmission instead of trying to diagnose the problem? I have found one with a little over 40k for 700$ shipped.


"""My girlfriend has an 05 TL AT with 132K miles, at around 108k after driving the car a little hard one day she started experiencing transmission problems, it would slip in the higher gears and between gears. She drove the car like this (40mph, it wouldn't go faster)for about 15miles to get home and by then she overheated the transmission and some of the fluid came out through the breather tube. We took the car to the dealer and had a flush done. It drove good, for 25k miles, until a week ago when It happened again. One day the car drove good and the next morning when I shift from P to D it had an hesitation, a delay of about 2-3 seconds, I started driving the car and I could feel how the car wold slip between gears and it took longer time to switch between them. Finally it started slipping in the 4th gear, then in the 5th, I had to put in manual and drive in the 3rd gear until it started slipping too... First gear from a stop was fine, it wold take some time to shift into second and sometimes it would shift into 3rd...We barely got home. The check engine light came on and I had P0741 Torque Converter clutch Solenoid Stuck Off.
I took it to the dealer for another flush because the fluid was burned just like the first time, after that the car became drivable but it shifts poorly and now there is a winning noise at idle, when I accelerate becomes louder, when the engine and transmission gets hot I can barely hear it . I have replaced the TCC solenoid valve and I had pulled the other three (shift solenoid valve A, B and C) out to check them with a multimeter and all of them were good. There is no improvement after I had the clutch valve replaced.
I don't know what to do next, do I have a bad torque converter or my transmission needs to be rebuild or replaced?
What could burn the fluid in just 25k miles?"""

 

With that description it sounds like the torque convertor is coming apart. This is one of those rare times I would have to say don't bother dumping any more money into it, get it repaired/replaced.

My advice with the new one is to make sure it's filled with a Type-F fluid and make sure to use new 3rd and 4th pressure switches.

What usually happens is the torque convertor starts self destructing and sending crap all through the trans. Once the screen gets plugged and chokes off the oil flow, the clutches start slipping. In a normal trans you could replace the convertor, drop the pan and clean it along with a new filter if you caught it soon enough and you would have a chance of it working. With the Honda unit, you can't even get to the screen without removing the trans and taking it apart. As a last resort you can check the external filter but regardless the TC is coming apart.

 

The Slipping that you were having will kill the fluid and the clutch packs very quick more than likely the clutch packs (2nd and 3rd) are on there way out, so save up on a rebuild and search the forums for 2nd and 3rd gear sensors and the redline type F fluid this will limp along a transmission and or save a transmission from dieing.

 

Beat me to it IHC

 

Wow after reading that makes me wonder how my torque converter is doing with wining noise problem that is described almost the same to mine. I hope my accord and my TL are fine.

 

Thank you for all your replies. I will get another transmission. Will keep you updated. Maybe next week I will have it installed.