2003 Impala 3.8L- Loud whine when making left turn

[robharrisva]

When making a left turn, there is a whine. The faster and sharper the turn the louder the whine. After completing the left turn, the whine continues for a few miles before subsiding. When making a right turn, there doesn't seem to be a whine.

As an aside, following a cold start, the transaxle is slow to engage from a stand still and lunges into gear. Lastly, after starting the car and a short warm up, during fall and winter, their is a scraping sound heard once when shifting into reverse.

I currently have approx. 83,500 miles. I had the transaxle flushed and filled at about 70,000 miles. The filter was not changed.

Could the engine mount on the transaxle be an issue? Thanks.

[gmtech1]

Have you checked the transmission fluid level? It may be low.

[SleepyHead98]

Should have changed the filter. Might be clogged.

I would do a pan drop on the trans change filter, replace fluid with store bought dextron 6 (or what ever it takes) and put in some Lucas trans slip treatment. Been doing it for over 10 years. Got a 98 olds cutlass with 255k on it, trans was getting stuck and vibrating violently shifting into second with only 165k on it. Did the lucas as described, hasn't done it since.


Oh and this is a no brainer, did you check the power steering fluid? What does it look like? Bubbles or anything?

[robharrisva]

Originally Posted by gmtech1

Have you checked the transmission fluid level? It may be low.

No I haven't. Thinking that the dealer checked and topped off the fluids when I recently had the oil changed. I'll check it. Thanks for replying.

[robharrisva]

Originally Posted by SleepyHead98

Should have changed the filter. Might be clogged.

I would do a pan drop on the trans change filter, replace fluid with store bought dextron 6 (or what ever it takes) and put in some Lucas trans slip treatment. Been doing it for over 10 years. Got a 98 olds cutlass with 255k on it, trans was getting stuck and vibrating violently shifting into second with only 165k on it. Did the lucas as described, hasn't done it since.


Oh and this is a no brainer, did you check the power steering fluid? What does it look like? Bubbles or anything?

I'll check both the transaxle and power steering fluids. If they look OK, then I'll probably have the pan dropped. Thanks for the suggestions.

[robharrisva]

Just thought I'd come back to say that it turned out to be the power steering pump. Pump replaced, no more noise. Thanks to everyone that replied.