What's this sound?....

[steveinslo]

Well I ended up taking it in today. They scanned it and nothing came up. So I decided to let them take the tranny out. $450 for R&R instead of $700. They thought it was the flex plate. It's not. They said the pan was very clean so they don't think it's the torque converter. It shifts fine and there are no signs anything is wrong. There is a TSB for the valve body for a ticking noise at idle. Mine is noisier when in gear and moving as I said above. It would be another $400 to replace that. They aren't pushing me to do anything and don't want to open it up to keep chasing the noise. I really don't know what to do at this point. Tempted to just live with the noise. There are no signs of anything wrong with the transmission or engine. Any suggestions?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Why didn't they perform the TSB for $400 first instead of pulling out the transmission for $450? The valve body could be removed while the transmission is still inside of the vehicle.

 

[steveinslo]

Obviously I don't know anything about transmissions. They took it out because they thought the flex plate was cracked. Is the valve body inside the transmission? Because it is a sealed transmission are you still able to get to the valve body without taking the transmission out?

 

[BrooklynBay]

It's in the same place as other rear wheel drive transmissions. You will see it when you drop the pan.

 

[ezeedee]

my ohv/auto does this too, i thought it was the cat also! very odd. transmission is reman with under 10k miles. i dont know if they replaced the torque converter too, though, so that doesnt really help.

 

[woodtwood]

mine has the same noise, it was the valve guides on the exhaust side, ford has a tsb on it. the only fix is newer casting heads or just have the noise.try tsb #03164. might help you out a little

 

[steveinslo]

i just heard it on another mountaineer in the parking lot. people think i'm crazy listening to their cars! (maybe i am). so if it is the tsb #03164 is it ok to just live with the noise? because at this point that's what i plan to do...or else sell it or trade it in.

 

[woodtwood]

I have a friend who is a ford instructor at the UTI school and he is a 25 year ford recall/tech desk/ tsb writer and he said it is the valve guides don't have inserts on the aluminum heads. it is just a noise from the guide and it is ok to drive just noisy. also there is a low coolant flow in the area so the head gets hot back by the drivers rear and most of the noise should com from there

 

[steveinslo]

Woodtwood...just to double check...is that 03164 or 31604? Because I found more info on 31604...thought it may have been a misprint.