Are you hearing unfamiliar or unpleasant sounds coming from your engine when you start your car or begin to drive? Your transmission may be trying to warn you trouble lies ahead. Your transmission is one of the most integral parts of your vehicle. It is located deep within your car and is attached to many different parts of your vehicle. So in this article, we will be discussing how to stop transmission whining noise when accelerating and measures to prevent it.
Table of Contents
What Causes The Transmission To Whine?
Before jumping into the solutions directly let us first have a look at the common causes that cause the transmission to whine. So here are some causes.
1. Transmission Slipping
This condition is mainly caused due to low transmission fluid, or internal wear and tear of the transmission parts inside the transmission
2. Burning Smell – Hot Transmission
Transmission fluid keeps the parts lubricated and cool so they don’t wear out prematurely and break down, potentially ruining the entire transmission. If the fluid overheats and breaks down, the transmission will run too hot and give off a burning smell. The extreme heat will result in increased friction and buildup of sludge and potential debris.
This is often due to low fluid levels or incorrect fluid types – two other issues that should be self-evident if you are sure to regularly check the transmission fluid as recommended by your owner’s manual.
3. Bearing Wear of Belt Driven Components
A serpentine belt transfers the rotational force of the crankshaft pulley, to the pulleys associated with various additional belt-driven accessories. These accessories include an engine’s water pump, power steering pump, A/C compressor, and alternator. Additionally, systems of such a design also feature tensioners and idler pulleys.
When the bearings associated with any of the above-mentioned components begin to fail, a whining noise is often heard. As a result, a loud whining or screeching noise can be heard over the sound of a typical engine operation.
4. Dry, Cracked, or Slipping Serpentine Belt
Along with common issues, cold weather is a catalyst to a loud serpentine belt noise. In most cases in your vehicle, it will be that your serpentine belt is the culprit. These serpentine belt noises might get even louder and worse over time, or as you step on the gas pedal to accelerate.
How To Stop Transmission Whining Noise When Accelerating?
Gearbox noise can be attributed to 3 general phenomena: Whining, Rattle, and Hammering. Gearbox whine is the result of vibration generated by the meshing process itself, which depends on Material properties.
The Gear Whine Noise (GWN) and the gear rattle noise are one of the main vibro-acoustic phenomena of the gearbox. To prevent this Gear Whine Noise (GWN) these are some of the following
1. Prevent Transmission Issues
- Check your transmission fluid level, color and smell regularly.
Fluid should be checked regularly after every 1600 kilometers. The fluid should also be changed every 80,000kilometerss or every other year, depending on which comes first.
- Avoid Overloading of Vehicle.
Loading your vehicle with excessive load can make the transmission work hard and can lead to overheating, which can cause real damage.
- Avoid excess heat in your transmission.
Heat is a serious enemy of transmission health. Research suggests that 90% of transmission failures are caused by heat. You can increase the life span of your transmission by keeping it at lower temperatures.
2. Lightweight Gears
Most of the strategies relating to gear whine noise reduction are gear tooth micro modification. However, with a precisely designed optimum profile, tooth meshing remains a vibration generator. Using lightweight gears originated in the aerospace industry and is recently extending to the vehicle industry. Because of the stricter regulation on emissions in common fuel vehicles and the population of electric vehicles, lightweight gears are before solid steel gears in the gearbox.
Therefore, the modern gear design should meet the need for weight reduction without compromising NVH performance and reliability requirements.
3. Reduce Frictional Excitations
Time-varying sliding friction forces and friction moments between meshing teeth are significant excitations of gear whine noise. Therefore, by improving the surface finish of the gear teeth, the level of the gear whine noise induced by frictional excitations would be reduced significantly. Frictional excitation also has a close relationship with the viscosity of the lubricant oil. With a decrease in the viscosity of the lubricant oil, the frictional excitations decrease significantly.
How To Prevent Transmission Whine?
As we have covered the causes and solutions, let us see how can the transmission whining noise when accelerating can be prevented.
- Use High-Precision Gears
Reduce the pitch error, tooth profile error, runout error, and lead error. Grind teeth to improve the accuracy as well as the surface finish.
- Use a Better Surface Finish on Gears
Grinding, lapping, and honing the tooth surface, or running in gears in oil for a period of time can also improve the smoothness of the tooth surface and reduce the noise.
- Use High Vibration Damping Material
Cast iron gears have lower noise than steel gears. The use of gears with the hub made of cast iron is also effective.
- Apply Suitable Lubrication
Lubricate gears sufficiently to keep the lubricant film on the surface, under hydrodynamic lubrication. High viscosity lubricant will tend to reduce the noise.
- Lower Load and Speed
Lowering rotational speed and load as far as possible will reduce gear noise.
- Avoid too much thinning of the Web
Lightened gears with a thin web thickness make high-frequency noises. Care should be taken.
- Use High-Rigidity Gears
Increasing face width can give a higher rigidity that will help in reducing noise. Reinforce housing and shafts to increase rigidity.
Conclusion
Like our health, there is no foolproof way to prevent transmission problems altogether. However, when a fault does begin to develop, there is still an element of problem prevention. Catching transmission problems early can prevent them from worsening and prevent further trouble from developing. As a result, it can potentially mean a simple repair instead of a major one. Following these simple practices on how to stop transmission whining noise when accelerating can help keep your transmission well-cared-for.