Has anyone ever experienced a whining noise sounding like it's coming from the trans? 95% sure it's coming from my trans pump because last year I had the same noise and changed my filter and the noise completely went away and restored all function to my trans. I put two bottles of Lucas oil transmission restore in it when I did a full fluid flush and now I'm wondering if either my filter is clogging again due to the rest of the particulates being filtered out? (My trans was literally horrible. Black fluid.) Now my fluid looks brand new. But the Lucas oil was thick so I'm wondering if the viscosity is now too high because i added this in. Any thoughts? Sound compares to a power steering pump going out almost but comes from trans area / under the truck.

When's the last time you have completely flushed all the old fluid out? You said your fluid was black but now it looks brand new. Did you just drop the pan and not actually flush all of it out?

In any regards you might have a serious problem. I'd consider trying to source a spare transmission.

How much locus did you put in this tranny?. I agree the other poster. Black or burnt fluid is extremely bad. Locus is not good for engines or transmissions. If you thicken that tranny fluid too much you burn the transmission up. That's what locus does. All kinds of documentation out there on bob the oil guy forums on why you really dont want to use that product. Can do alot more harm then good in most cases. :[

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e trans was in horrible operating condition at first.

My fault in not properly clarifying. I was having horrible issues theres a thread out there somewhere about it lol. Taking minutes to go into gear etc. Ended up dropping pan and topping off fluid to see what that would do. Immediate results. Rode that was for 5k miles with the dirty fluid. Had no issues. Went to the sand dunes for a week and rode it crazy hard. No issues. On the way home it was changing rpms by 3 about 300 +/- at 70mph so I knew the fluid was to be changed to promote better health.

Get home buy 6 gallons of valvoline maxlife full synthetic drain and fill 1 quart at a time out of trans cooler line untill fluid went from black to new. Have had zero issues and upgraded to 33s a couple weeks ago drive strong shifts perfectly etc etc etc. Now getting this noise I'm thinking about dropping pan and inspecting filter maybe thinking I left it in the nasty fluid too long.

I'm inclined to drain a couple gallons and refill just to have strictly atf in there.

Either pump is starved due to clogged filter or the viscosity of fluid is too high. In my mind at least. These symptoms only happened when temps dropped dramatically in the past couple weeks out here in Michigan.

I do have a spare trans already with 100k less miles than my current one has on it but I'm not interested in swapping untill this one absolutely gives out.

I should also mention it's been about 15k miles since black fluid incident. This symptom is strictly due to colder weather

Sounds like you got a lot of miles on the OEM transmission. What year 4 runner and how many miles, please? Was that the first tranny drain and fill?

I think you did the right thing using synthetic Valvoline - with some Lucas. Is it still shifting OK? How many miles since that drain and fill?

BTW there is about 13 quarts of Tranny fluid in a Asin/Toyota 4runner tranny. Toyota does not seem to want you to completely "flush" the tranny, but drain and fill.

In your case switching to synthetic Valvoline with the Lucus was smart. Scott Kilmer recommends synthetic tranny fluid with Lucus stop slip in some of his YouTube videos. Kilmer has 50 years of mechanic experience, and has a net worth of $20M - but still lives in the same house in Houston since the 1980s.



Kilmer owns three Toyota vehicles - all purchased used.

I’d do a drain and fill a few times to get rid of the Lucas stuff and see how it behaves.

Pull the plug and drain out a gallon and put a gallon in. Drive it a few days and replete a few times.

I use the Walmart supertech and do a drain and fill once a year. Only difference between synthetic and regular DEX3 is how long you can go before the oil starts breaking down.

I have around 5 gallons of mopar ATF+4 in my garage and no mopar to use it in. I’d love to put it In The Toy. It’s the same viscosity as DEX3 but had a friction modifier in it. Plus it’s synthetic. Our A340F trans is also in the jeep Cherokee as an AW4. Mopar specs ATF+4 for that trans.


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256k miles. First flush since I owned it. I also agree with you on that trans fix Lucas. I also agree with you on the maxlife all I run oil and atf is maxlife full synthetic high mileage. Its cleaned my engine out tremendously. Its allowed my trans to run better than it ever has. I think the mistake I made was putting two bottles instead of just one.

Yes the good ole XJ! I'm about to rebuild the spare trans I have in my garage and I'll he using an AW4 guide.

A little locus isnt horrible. However, there are other options out there that dont thicken or change the viscosity of the tranny fluid { that's the issue with Locus } Transmission fluid gets really contaminated in time. It will essentially turns to and abrasive fluid as all the components wearing in the transmission are absorbed into the fluid. This is why it's good to replace it every so many miles or years of use. My 4 runners take really close to 3 gallon of fluid to exchange it. While some 2wd or 4 cylinders may take slightly less. It's best to use a fluid that is dextron II or higher certified. The 3rd gens do not use T4 or Toyota WS and they even have TB out to not use T4 fluid.

I will exchange fluid every 100k or so if I am not towing. If I am heavily towing I will exchange it in 50k. I use a homemade bucket and oil pump to exchange my tranny fluid.

If anyone's curious what it looks like search Brill's bucket fluid exchanger to see it. I also drop the pan and check the magnets screen filter every other fluid exchange. I like the buckets as I can see exactly how much is coming out and how much is being pumped in as my buckets are translucent and have Mark's for quarts and gallons. My hoses are clear too so I can tell exactly when the old fluid is out and the new fluid made it through. I only have to pull one tranny line at the transmission cooler too to exchange all the fluid out and the new fluid in and it's extremely easy with this setup.

If fluid is regularly exchanged these transmissions will last a very long time. Granted they are not overheated alot or milkshaked etc as that will do extreme damage very quickly. :[



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Burnt fluid will kill these transmissions. The previous owner of mine ignored the black, burnt fluid and kept running it. Transmission died. Can't ignore bad fluid and expect it to run perfect forever.

Try another fluid exhange but I think your transmission has met its end.

I appreciate your comment! But it did make me laugh. If you could experience the trans in person you would know shes got plenty of life. I'll be honest I guess I'm just not doing a very good job of explaining the situation. My apologies for that. I'll update the thread with the new info I find out after dropping the pan.

Yep that what it sounds like to me too, clogged up with debris.

I usually try and not drive a vehicle with problems, good way to end up stranded somewhere.

If the Transmission looks good. I would suspect the Torque convertor as they can whine when they go bad. Will not shift properly as they regulate the flow of fluid. Put in 4wd will get louder. Cause it not to instantly shift or shift really slow because the flow of fluid is diminished. I have a 3rd gen with 250K with a bad TC in my fleet. Its scheduled to be replaced in a few years.