i have a slight whine noise on my v6 08 4runner as well. but its only noticeable when its cold, meaning winter temps cold like 30's or below, & its at start up & idle & when normally accelerating. then it mostly goes away once its warmed up. sounds like a power steering noise or possibly a drive pulley/bearing. but could also be a trans pump noise, have heard whining in other vehicles with bad or going bad transmissions.

you mentioned you did a full "drain & fill"... is that a full fluid exchange or just a pan drain & fill? im sure you did, but are you positive you checked the fluid level the correct way after the drain & fill?

also if you ordered a pulley & belt, you can easily verify if its drive pulley/belt related by starting the engine for a short time (30 sec to 1min) & listen for the noise to go away or change. if the noise is still there with the belt off, its not pulley/bearing/belt related.

just a few things to consider & try.

Thats a great idea about running it without the belt. I will have to try that.

I did a full drain and fill through the lines, not the pan. I need to go back and make sure its got enough fluid though. Maybe I will add little by little and see if any change in the noise occurs. I can always let out if I end up over filling

From what you have described I would say the noise is coming from the transmission, but hopefully it's not.

That being said from what you said in your last post I would say the transmission is low on fluid which will usually make it whine, the reason I think this is because it doesn't sound like you went through the steps/trouble to properly check the fluid level and I'm guessing you just replaced the same amount of fluid that came out during the exchange/replacement, I have read of others doing it this way but if you don't know for sure the fluid level was correct when you started then you don't know it it's correct when you finish and even then I wouldn't trust the level to be correct without going through the proper procedure to verify it's correct.

Modern transmissions are very sensitive to either being low or being over filled even a little bit, either one will have an effect on how it performs, so it very important to check the level properly.

I checked it. It was fine.

Its been whining since I bought it at 160k with original trans fluid. I swapped trans fluid (and verified level correctly) to see if any change occurred. I'm at 189k and its stayed the same.

also, I don't need to be lectured but thanks anyways I guess ?

yeah i would check the level before just adding some to see if it changes.. could already be over filled. very simple to check the temp with the trans light using the factory method. but try with the drive belt off first to verify if its belt/pulley related.

The hesitation to shift into 5th is apparently pretty common. I do know that the ECU will do everything it can to keep you out of 5th gear until the engine is warm. I’ve also found that letting off the throttle slightly and then getting back onto it slowly helps it know to shift in my specific vehicle.

I have a stoplight at the bottom of a 3/4 mile hill that I have to climb in the way home from work every day. Some days it’s near impossible to get it into 5th. I’ll have to overshoot the speed I want to drive then ease off for it to upshift.

We sound like we are having the same issue exactly. I have to do a similar thing with the throttle in order for it to shift. I have also found that turning on and setting cruise control, IMMEDIATELY fixes the issue and shifts into 5th (if you are on a flat incline that is). Try this and let me know how it works for you! Its my temporary workaround

I never saw where you stated that you check the level using proper procedure, if you did then I missed that.

I wasn't trying to lecture you, just trying to help and give advice...BUT since you misinterpret when someone is just trying to help and you wear your heart on your sleeve I will refrain from offering you any advice in the future.