Hey all,

Nooooob here. The girlfriend has a 2003 S60 that I've thus far done a pretty good job of keeping alive. I've put a lot of work into the beast over the last few years and would like to keep it for a couple more but in all honesty I can't figure out what the hell this noise at start up is. At first I thought the starter gear wasn't retracting but it just doesn't sound like that the more I listen to it. It sounds as if it's in the transmission housing near the diff. It rattles and clunks around for a few seconds on cold starts and then goes away after the revs drop. Can anyone of you help a brotha out? Lord have mercy if I have to replace the transmission...Ill then have a couple more questions.

 

That sound only happens at startup and only when cold? If the sound was RPM driven I would think you could recreate it by revving up the engine back to its cold start RPMs. It went away too quickly to be temperature related but pressure related maybe... You asked your girlfriend if she put the car in drive. Does the sound normally go away when the car is put into gear? It almost sounds like a part of the wiring loom in the transmission pan has come loose and is tapping against pan but I wouldn't expect that to just go away like that. However, if there is something loose in the pan the pressure generated by the trans pumping its fluid through might push the offending item around or press it away from the pan to stop the noise. I guess what I'm thinking is that it might be time to drain the fluid and take the trans pan off and see what falls out... But before you do that I would be staring at the rear underside of your engine bay looking at thin metal like the trans pan or heat shield to see if something is showing a rub pattern or dirt is getting knocked off...