Oldgold

Hi all, I'm thinking aloud here and I suspect what the culprit is so will expect either confirmation or a slap for being wrong (hopefully). When starting cold my 2003 E500 has a pronounced whine which stops suddenly when reverse or drive is engaged. Engagement in either is instantaneous. Fluid is clean and level is normal.

My nightmare tells me it's either the torque converter or trans oil pump.

I wouldn't mind a slap?

SLcharge

What about when it is warm ?

Does the whine get louder with rpm ?

Does the whine change frequency with rpm ?

Oldgold

Thanks for asking..

Warm is fine. Cold is also fine as soon as drive or reverse is engaged, it stops immediately then. If park is selected again when cold it won't do it until dead cold again or nearly dead cold.

Not louder just changes frequency with rpm. I will double check in the morning to make sure I'm describing the symptoms exactly.

Edit:will try for a video

E500 AMG Sport

I would take off the serpentine belt and then start it to eliminate the possibilities of power steering pump, pullies, etc......

SLcharge

Since OldGold say it only occurs when the transmission is in P and disappears in D or R, What is your thoughts behind taking of the serpentine belt ? In what way would position of gear selector influence components driven by the serpentine belt ?

Oldgold

Just a minor update for anyone interested, I haven't had a chance to track it down but the noise either stops dead after a couple of seconds or as mentioned, when reverse is engaged. Still drives great.

It's going in to my indy thursday so I'll wait for his diagnosis. I don't have the patience🤔

ot1

How do you know the level is good, do you have dip stick A140589152100 ?
how old is the fluid? Miles?

Oldgold

Good questions! Fluid was checked two weeks ago actually. At my specialist MB indy so I assume he has the right dipper. Quality was pretty good too apparently. The tranny was rebuilt around 50k ago because of a problem with coolant in the fluid? If that makes sense.

Overall my car has done 207k or roughly 120 K miles.

Oldgold

My bad for not getting back earlier but I haven't really bothered with the noise except I found out its the auxiliary Air pump up front. Apparently its a common issue and the reason the noise stops suddenly or dies down is the pump only does its job for a short time then you don't hear it again until its cold.

I'll try and get a good used as the dealer wants in excess of $1200 :-O