1998 Toyota Corolla - Automatic Transmission Help - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

My girlfriend has an 3 speed automatic 1998 Toyota Corolla VE with about 150k miles on. I actively maintain it, but yesterday when trying to drive to church it started to have a transmission problem that I have not been able to diagnose. (though haven't dug too deep yet)

She said she was attempting to go up a hill, and I am going to assume she was traveling at about 20 mph because it was the hill going up right after she left her driveway, and she said it felt like it shouldn't shift from 1st to second, then made a screeching noise, then pretty much stopped going. So she shut it off, called her dad, and he drove it very slowly the rest of the way home which was maybe a 1/10 th of a mile.

When I got to it in the afternoon, I could turn it on, and it warmed up just fine with no noticeable noise, went to drive and "crept" forward without any noise, and reversed into the road fine. However, when put into Drive (D3 I believe is what it is), it was fine until I got to about 10 mph and then it made what sounded like a dragging noise that was coming from the transmission I believe. I parked the car and got out and looked to double check it was in fact the transmission, and drove it back to her driveway. (probably about 1/10th of a mile)

The fluid is crystal clean from when I changed it a few weeks ago with the filter, and does not smell burnt and is full. The only things I have been able to hypothesize, but have no idea are:

1) Maybe a magnet from the transmission pan came loose somehow and is jamming into something? And if so, what where would it be and what would it be jamming to cause the noise? (I haven't taken the pan off yet, but that is next)

2) Somehow one of the bolts to the filter came loose and something got sucked up into the valve body? (not sure how I would verify if something got sucked up in there though if that were the case)

3) A bearing or clutch of sorts is going bad and just happened to occur not too long after the transmission fluid was changed. (and yes, I used the correct fluid for the transmission, I use Valvoline MaxLife which is compatible and many people have used with favorable results for many thousands of miles)

4) A ball or valve is stuck in the valve boy? (and if so, I could swap a valve body from a similar year into this one to correct?)

Again, just throwing these ideas out there, but I have never heard of a transmission making a sound that sounded like a chain dragging noise before so I am not sure what it could be (without dropping the pan and investigating further this weekend). I am almost 99% positive it is the transmission and not the timing chain somehow. (because the car doesn't make any noise when in park and revved higher) I checked all the belts and the pulley's as well and didn't notice anything wrong with the axles or anything by chance, and there is no CEL. So maybe somebody knows something based off this information and can help! Thanks in advance!

Does the noise seem to be keyed to a certain speed (you noted 10MPH) or RPM/RPM range? Have you tried to brake torque the engine and see if you can duplicate the squealing noise? Tried to duplicate the noise with the wheels in the air?

At this point, if you are pretty sure it is transaxle related, you pretty much have to drop the pan to get more answers, as anything else is just speculation. If the pan drop shows nothing amiss, you likely have a problem internally - where that problem is at that point will be hard to say for sure without opening up the transaxle.

Does the noise seem to be keyed to a certain speed (you noted 10MPH) or RPM/RPM range? Have you tried to brake torque the engine and see if you can duplicate the squealing noise? Tried to duplicate the noise with the wheels in the air?

At this point, if you are pretty sure it is transaxle related, you pretty much have to drop the pan to get more answers, as anything else is just speculation. If the pan drop shows nothing amiss, you likely have a problem internally - where that problem is at that point will be hard to say for sure without opening up the transaxle.

Nothing in the pan. The noise started right about where the 1st to 2nd shift would be, and girlfriend said that when it happened to her the first time, it refused to shift into gear and lost power. So now I am thinking it's perhaps the torque converter. I won't know that until I drop the transmission though....

Anyone have a detailed write up on replacing the transmission? (and torque converter at the same time)

Does the noise seem to be keyed to a certain speed (you noted 10MPH) or RPM/RPM range? Have you tried to brake torque the engine and see if you can duplicate the squealing noise? Tried to duplicate the noise with the wheels in the air?

At this point, if you are pretty sure it is transaxle related, you pretty much have to drop the pan to get more answers, as anything else is just speculation. If the pan drop shows nothing amiss, you likely have a problem internally - where that problem is at that point will be hard to say for sure without opening up the transaxle.

Alright, got it diagnosed as a valve body issue and need to swap that out. Thanks

Thanks for posting back the cause. Hmm, pretty odd for the valvebody to just go belly up like that. Did they say exactly where, was it just a gummed up a valvebody or did a spring/checkball fall out, etc.?

Thanks for posting back the cause. Hmm, pretty odd for the valvebody to just go belly up like that. Did they say exactly where, was it just a gummed up a valvebody or did a spring/checkball fall out, etc.?

Ya, checkball fell out. Anyways, they want too much to fix it, so I am going to go the route myself. I have another 3 speed tranny I just picked up, but to make sure I do everything completely right: from the way I remove parts, to the torque I tighten them back in at, so I would prefer to have a manual handy. I know that ALLDATA is pretty good about having almost everything (because this isn't covered in the Haynes manual), so I was wondering Fish if you by chance have an ALLDATA subscription that you could pull the guide on this from, or if someone else on the forums does.

I don't - but someone here might. I know Toyota has a specific factory service manual on the transaxle, but I don't have that handy at the moment. Might be able to get those torque information from the dealership - sometimes they will print out an exploded diagram for you if you ask.