Loud Scrape when shifting into reverse

Moist

Member
I've been noticing that when i shift into reverse I hear an abrupt, loud, and expensive sounding, metal scrape.
It sounds like gears on gears, or gear touching metal.
It doesn't happen every time, and it only happens when shifting into reverse. It does not matter where you're shifting from. (P or N)
It sounds like it's coming from below the gear shift and more towards the engine.
I'll see if I can catch it one of these times. Upload a sound.
 
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I don't know how many miles you have on it but I've never had problems with any of the transmissions in my Toyotas, but I don't go off road. I do pull a 17' Ranger bass boat and a 23' Airstream travel trailer. No problems.

I would suspect something else and that could be just about anything. Does it just happen when shifting into R and not when you move after shifting? Maybe a broken transmission or motor mount? Does having the Emer brake on/off make a difference?

You'll have to have someone near the underside when you shift to see if they can detect the location. This is going to be tough to locate IMO. It may have to get worse to locate it
 
I don't know how many miles you have on it but I've never had problems with any of the transmissions in my Toyotas, but I don't go off road. I do pull a 17' Ranger bass boat and a 23' Airstream travel trailer. No problems.

I would suspect something else and that could be just about anything. Does it just happen when shifting into R and not when you move after shifting? Maybe a broken transmission or motor mount? Does having the Emer brake on/off make a difference?

You'll have to have someone near the underside when you shift to see if they can detect the location. This is going to be tough to locate IMO. It may have to get worse to locate it

It only happens while shifting. could well be that the mounts are old, there's sometimes a sudden thunk and jerk when shifting into drive. (That could just be TCS it is winter after all)

Could be an Ebrake horn not working properly. This one sounds the most plausible, there's supposed to be a buzzer when the E-Brake is engaged. Mine doesn't seem to work, I've accidentally driven a couple of feet before with the E-brake engaged.
Thank you for the reply. It's certainly a start.
 
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It's not the E-Brake horn. Although it rarely works in the first place.
Sound more like it's coming from the pedal area.
It's really hard to pinpoint becaus it doesn't happen conistantly. You're right, I'll just have to wait to see if it gets worse.
Thank you for the help!
 
It's not the E-Brake horn. Although it rarely works in the first place.
Sound more like it's coming from the pedal area.

You think it's coming from inside the car? Maybe you mean outside on the other side of the floor from the pedal area. Do you have 4WD? Could it be a U-Joint going bad? You should grease those with every oil change.

It's a head scratcher, for sure. :noidea:
 
You don't mention which motor you have. The V8 models with full time 4 wheel drive seem to wear out the u-joints near the transfer case. Chock the wheels, put the e-brake on and the car in neutral and check to see if you have any loose. If one breaks it can hit the transfer case and ruin it.
 
Check the drive shaft and fuel tank skid for scratches.


Sorry for the delay. I haven't heard it in a while.
It's a V8 Sr5 4WD. 187,000 miles
The Driveshaft is scraped to hell, but that's from the heat plate above the exhaust falling onto it a while back.

I'm not sure the condition of the U joints. Nor when they were last greased, there are many holes in the service history of the truck. I will check the next warm free day I've got. (Mostly because the sympoms are so minimal and there's no vibration or sounds that follow vehicle speed. It may just be better to wait to see if it gets worse too since it's so inconsitant and rare.)
 
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Sorry for the delay. I haven't heard it in a while.
It's a V8 Sr5 4WD. 187,000 miles
The Driveshaft is scraped to hell, but that's from the heat plate above the exhaust falling onto it a while back.

I'm not sure the condition of the U joints. Nor when they were last greased, there are many holes in the service history of the truck. I will check the next warm free day I've got. (Mostly because the sympoms are so minimal and there's no vibration or sounds that follow vehicle speed. It may just be better to wait to see if it gets worse too since it's so inconsitant and rare.)

Just heard it again. I wasn't even shifting. I was on the brakes right before I let off the parking brake. Happened while the brakes were humming. Sound is coming from the pedal area.
I'm thinking it's just cause it's cold outside, and the motor in there is struggling. Seeing how it's been in the forties for the last two or so weeks that would explain not hearing it at all.
 
I've never heard it on my T4R but our '99 Sienna ABS makes a weird noise, some kind of test, when you first start it. It's like a soft boom noise, then stops. But the T4R makes no noises like that, nor any grinding noise.
 
I know this is an old thread but the forum wont let me start a thread due to my new account status.
I hear a loud sound coming from the inside of the transmission pan of my 99 T4R 2WD. It only happens when shifting into Reverse and it also has a sort of chattering sound you can hear from the drivers seat.
This sound only happens when I have warmed up the vehicle and then driven it a couple miles and then park it back home to check.

I checked my AtF level while the engine was running its right at the Full line for Hot, the fluid itself is in good condition have added some new to the old (Would say 4ts new, 8 qts old), no shaving just smudge on the pan magnets, the transmission seems to be in overall good shape.

I cant post the video but heres the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ZOIRWi9aQ

Should mention its mostly sat around for 6 months but has been driven 3-5 and the engine has been run 12+ times within that timeframe and the problem only recently showed up a week ago
 

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