I let a friend borrow my Durango to move his daughter home from college. I told him not to pull that huge enclosed trailer in overdrive but he did it anyway. I thought that he got away with it but less than a week later I started hearing a loud whirring noise while backing up. A week later it was whirring when driving in overdrive and now it whirrs anytime the motor is under load. Coasting downhill or letting off the gas and it goes away. Going back up a hill or accelerating on the flat and the whirring is back. The sound appears to be coming from right under the hump between the front floor mats.

My Durango has just 100K miles, has no rust, brand new tires, new power steering pump and radiator. I am not giving up on it. Not sure if this is related but was back in the toolies deer hunting recently and had to lock the transfer case. I like to never got it back out of 4 wheel lock. I had to back up and then go forward 3 times before it disengaged. It had probably been 2 years since I had locked it in as it does fine in snow while coyote hunting without going to 4 wheel lock.

Is it the tranny that I'm hearing? Transfer case? Was it caused by pulling that heavy stinking trailer in over drive....not that it matters, I will be footing the bill myself!

thanks for any advice. EKC

 

What does the trans fluid look/smell like? (probably burnt.....)

 

Actually it looks good. Smells like right out of the bottle and looks the same.... clear with a purple/pink tint. I have seen a bad tranny dipstick like your talking but this looks nothing like that as it's real clean!

 

its making some noise but is it shifting normally?

 

That is correct! The noise only happens when the motor is under load. In gear and coasting it's quiet. It's most noticeable at lower rpm. Like going up hill in town or pulling my mower trailer out of the backyard!

 

if its shifting normally and the fluid looks good i would take a look at the t-case or the rear end gear oil. see what they look like and let us know, usually transmission noises are accompanied by low fluid, burnt/dirty fluid, poor shifting, or slipping (or some combination of the above).

one other thing, can you tell if the torque converter is locked up when it makes the noise?

 

Well to be honest I really didn't know exactly what "torque converter locked up" meant and that's just ignorance on my part. I watched a couple of youtube videos on the operation of the torque converter. As I understand it phase one is when the front half of the converter not interacting with the back half. Stage 2 is when the lock up happens at low RPM. Stage 3 is fully engaged at high (normal driving)RPMs. I would say with certainty that the noise is during the lock up and at low RPMs right after lock up. The noise sounds like someone with a deep voice saying wah wah wah wah. Sometimes there is a slight clunk when accelerating from a dead stop or when coasting and then accelerating to reengage the drive train! I assumed the clunk was a "U" joint so had them replaced recently. The clunk is still there but not every time I engage the drive train. The clunk noise comes from the same place(to the right of my feet under the hump) as the whirring noise.

After you mentioning torque converter and me educating myself on the matter a bit......I'm thinking that's it. I have killed so many coyotes out of this old Durango that it's part of me. I have taken the snow catcher running boards off and put them away. It has skid plates under the front half that make less likely for corn stalks and light brush to get hung up under it. I don't candy *** the old girl but I use my head in regards as to not abusing it as well. It uses no oil, tires are new and it still drives tight. If I half to put a couple grand into it to keep it rolling that beats the heck out of spend twice that to buy another one that I know nothing about.

Your thoughts?

 

Take it to a local trans shop with a good reputation. See what they have to say. If it's rebuild time, have it done.

 

it sounds like your in good shape generally speaking id definitely get a second opinion from a trans shop. Without driving the truck its very hard to diagnose it.

I agree if money is tight that as long as everything else looks good it would make more sense to repair this one instead of buying another used one.

 

The plot thickens. I retired preacher here in town has a 2004 Durango for sale. It's a gen 2 in real clean shape with the 5.7 hemi. 97K miles. It's never pulled a trailer!! Haven't talked price yet....what's it worth?