New Owner. AT whine in high revs normal?

[darkslide18]

Im the new owner of a 2014 FRS Automatic with 29,000 miles on it and yesterday I took it out into the country side for a proper day of spirited driving. At high revs in Manual Mode and in Sport mode I could hear a distinct gear/transmission whine. Is this normal? Im guessing so as the car doesn't seem to have a lot of sound proofing. Also, having the engine sound piped into the cabin probably doesn't help either(I will be deleting the sound tube). Just figured I would ask if this was a normal sound before I call up the dealer and accuse them of selling me a vehicle with transmission problems. The car drives and shifts great. Cant really see how it would be low tranny fluid as the vehicle has had all of the prior service done at correct intervals and the fluid wouldn't even be changed until the 60, 000 mile mark.

[churchx]

Bought used? Are you sure, it is completely stock? After all, there might be some aftermarket bushings in suspension/transmission/engine, that may increase NVH/whine. Not familiar with ATs, but some of transmission mount bushings / rear crossmember and diff bushings added slight "supercharger alike whine" on my MT.

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by darkslide18

Im the new owner of a 2014 FRS Automatic with 29,000 miles on it and yesterday I took it out into the country side for a proper day of spirited driving. At high revs in Manual Mode and in Sport mode I could hear a distinct gear/transmission whine. Is this normal? Im guessing so as the car doesn't seem to have a lot of sound proofing. Also, having the engine sound piped into the cabin probably doesn't help either(I will be deleting the sound tube). Just figured I would ask if this was a normal sound before I call up the dealer and accuse them of selling me a vehicle with transmission problems. The car drives and shifts great. Cant really see how it would be low tranny fluid as the vehicle has had all of the prior service done at correct intervals and the fluid wouldn't even be changed until the 60, 000 mile mark.

Welcome to the forum.


Fellow Oregonian


Removing the sound tube makes the cabin 3db quieter. It was one of my first mods. (And it's Free!)



I have an AT. I would highly advise changing the fluid sooner. My car started to shift like crap at 45k. The salesman at the dealership said that I was doing the transmission fluid change early. (he tried to talk me out of it) So, I walked out into the shop and talked to the mechanic. He told me the fluid was dark and needed changed. My car drove great after the fluid change. I did it again at 75k. I drive my car pretty hard.


I bet your car's noise is normal, but without actually hearing the noise, I am just guessing that it is because you say it drives good.

[OwlDance]

New 2019 AT; I get it as well. It's not very consistent but it seems more prone to whine after highway driving for a time. I also get the higher RPM whine when letting it fully go.

I think you're fine for the most part, I'm still getting used to the harmless odd noises myself which seem common in this car.

[86TOYO2k17]

The only time my AT ever "whined" was right after putting in fresh fluid in the diff after my FD swap break in period. but it would only happen at lower RPM when coasting down a hill. and it went away within 200 miles of driving. otherwise no real noticeable noise from the tranny, although car is only at 8k miles.

[N1rve]

I had the same concern:

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...t=65412&page=2

Toyota Rep considered it normal.

[darkslide18]

Originally Posted by churchx

Bought used? Are you sure, it is completely stock? After all, there might be some aftermarket bushings in suspension/transmission/engine, that may increase NVH/whine. Not familiar with ATs, but some of transmission mount bushings / rear crossmember and diff bushings added slight "supercharger alike whine" on my MT.

Yes it is completely stock except for the K&N drop in filter I installed.

[darkslide18]

Originally Posted by Leonardo

Welcome to the forum.


Fellow Oregonian


Removing the sound tube makes the cabin 3db quieter. It was one of my first mods. (And it's Free!)



I have an AT. I would highly advise changing the fluid sooner. My car started to shift like crap at 45k. The salesman at the dealership said that I was doing the transmission fluid change early. (he tried to talk me out of it) So, I walked out into the shop and talked to the mechanic. He told me the fluid was dark and needed changed. My car drove great after the fluid change. I did it again at 75k. I drive my car pretty hard.


I bet your car's noise is normal, but without actually hearing the noise, I am just guessing that it is because you say it drives good.

Thanks for the info on the fluid. I am coming up on the 30K service and will ask that they inspect the tranny fluid. Im not too concerned. It sounds normal to me but wasn't sure if the sound was normal for this particular vehicle. Might crawl up under the vehicle this weekend and check the fluid level for some piece of mind. Where about in Oregon?

[darkslide18]

Originally Posted by OwlDance

New 2019 AT; I get it as well. It's not very consistent but it seems more prone to whine after highway driving for a time. I also get the higher RPM whine when letting it fully go.

I think you're fine for the most part, I'm still getting used to the harmless odd noises myself which seem common in this car.

Yeah, this is a clackity clank noisy engine. Had to talk to my buddy who drives a WRX. He told me welcome to Boxer engines.

[churchx]

darkslide18: it's not so much level that needs to be checked (rather i doubt it wll be below required level) as oil state (which should be sent in lab to check state/contents .. but by then much simpler is just do flush/refill instead). Simply by time due temps some fractions in oil break up/degrade, and despite filtering, more crap like metallic particles get's in, and it starts to work less reliably/with more wear and such. Even if level is ok. Even if manufacturers (not sure the reason) often claim that oil is for the life of vehicle or simply too long change intervals, often it's advisable to replace oil way sooner.

[tyler_win_photo]

I get this whine when my transmission is still cold in the morning and at high rpms. Changing the tranny and diff fluid did seem to make it quieter. But from what I can tell it appears to be normal. It's been doing this before and after I was boosted so it doesn't appear to be any form of damage.

[Decimus]

When i had my auto brz, the whine came from low tranny fluid. It wasn't all the time but when i got around to checking the fluid... it was definitely lower than normal. I added fluid after that and everything went away. It also happens when i started the car after letting it sit overnight and if i didn't warm it up a little bit it shouldn't want to drive nicely either. Both things led to me checking the fluids.

Check the fluid / swap it anyway for piece of mind.

[VoltsFRS2013]

Originally Posted by Leonardo

Welcome to the forum.


Fellow Oregonian


Removing the sound tube makes the cabin 3db quieter. It was one of my first mods. (And it's Free!)



I have an AT. I would highly advise changing the fluid sooner. My car started to shift like crap at 45k. The salesman at the dealership said that I was doing the transmission fluid change early. (he tried to talk me out of it) So, I walked out into the shop and talked to the mechanic. He told me the fluid was dark and needed changed. My car drove great after the fluid change. I did it again at 75k. I drive my car pretty hard.


I bet your car's noise is normal, but without actually hearing the noise, I am just guessing that it is because you say it drives good.

Out of curiousity, what kind of symptoms was your car having when you felt like it was driving poorly? I drive an auto as well sitting at 58k right now planning on doing my change pretty soon here. I don't really feel like my trans is in any bad shape though. I'm always using the paddles and for the most part shifts are pretty smooth. occasional grunts when its not warm yet but thats all

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by VoltsFRS2013

Out of curiousity, what kind of symptoms was your car having when you felt like it was driving poorly? I drive an auto as well sitting at 58k right now planning on doing my change pretty soon here. I don't really feel like my trans is in any bad shape though. I'm always using the paddles and for the most part shifts are pretty smooth. occasional grunts when its not warm yet but thats all

It was 3 years ago... Um, it shifted like crap. Wait, I said that already.

So, yeah, Like I said I changed the trans fluid the next time waaaay sooner. I have not experienced the crappy shifting in a long time. So, if you feel your car has changed in how it shifts compared to new... Chang your fluid, it's time.

I use the paddles 1% of the time. I'm from the NEVER LIFT camp.