Invisibleman

I have a 93 ES300, when I drive at constant velocity, there is this whirring noise that comes from the car. and when i let go of the accelerator, then the noise stops. This noise doesnt occur under acceleration but only when I am going at a constant speed. What could it be? An airleak somewhere? any help would be great. thanks

Jim

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

does the abs light cmoe on occasionally over bumps?
does teh wirring get louder when teh wheel is turned more left or right?
it might be a wheel bearing on the hub.
but you do say it stops when you let off the gas

if you let go of the gas and it stops it is not an airleak
does it happen with the stereo on or off?

if while driving and you put the car in neutral and rev the gas does it come back?

it might be the transmission or its diff
how is the fluid level?

adam1991

I had this same type of noise in my 94 with 125K miles, from the day I got it as a gift on Christmas day a few weeks ago.

It comes back from getting the transmission rebuilt tomorrow.

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

what did they asy was wrong with the transmission
and
how much to remove and replace as well as repair or rebuild the tranny

adam1991

Aamco. Basically, it's getting entirely rebuilt--including the electronics/valve assembly. $2350 plus tax (plus rear main seal, while they're in there). They started with a $400 quote to remove, inspect internally, and reinstall the unit if I ended up not having them fix it.

He said that it was simply all crudded up, due to "lack of maintenance"--and the crud had invaded the valve assembly, unfortunately.

I heard the whirring sound first, then with the first real cold snap it took forever to go into gear and then slipped BIG time between gears, complete with the shudder that feels like you're going over some really, really bad road.

Interestingly enough, for the last year or two of its life it *didn't* go to the Lexus dealer (as it had for the first many years of its life) but to the previous owner's local Shell station. This service station documented two transmission services: "complete transmission fluid exchange, add conditioner for longer life". Yeah, sure. First of all, there's no way to completely exchange the fluid; secondly, I doubt their additives were helpful and in fact probably contributed to if not caused the damage; and thirdly, I don't know at all if they used the proper fluid.

I get it back this afternoon. We'll see if that whirring sound is still there or not. My wife bets not. She thinks it was related to the transmission. Could have been; that could have been the sound of the torque converter not having a good time with things.

adam1991

Aamco did their thing, and I think the whirring noise is gone.....