WTF now... Turbo/turbine like whine in 1st gear.

[f2racer]

A lot of the 3rd gens do it. But as soon as fluid starts to circulate its gone.
I would not worry about it

It's only in 1st gear and the sound is there regardless of whether or not the car is just started or if I've driven it for over 2 hours... At least with my Explorer, the sound does NOT go away...

 

[f2racer]

OK, another wrinkle... I figure that I should at the very least check the transmission fluid level. So after a short drive to the store with the kids (transmission fluid was probably a little hotter than the 80-120 degrees your supposed to check the level at, but it was definitely not scalding hot) I took out the smaller torx screw inside the drain bolt and at least a half gallon (2-3 quarts) of ATF came pouring out of the transmission...

From searching on this forum, it sounds like the level is good when you remove the torx screw and ATF trickles out. What would cause the transmission to be so overfilled? BTW, the ATF was dirty but it didn't smell burnt and didn't have anything metallic floating in it.

Even after the excess ATF drained, the transmission is still making the whining/whirling sound in 1st.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!