Transmission buzzing when put into forward and reverse.

O.K., weird question, I hope other Dodge/Chrysler owners have heard something like this or of it before.

I just bought a 1999 Avenger Sport 6 cyl with the auto trans. It has 58000 miles on it. When I shift into Drive or Reverse, the car shifts fine, but there is a loud buzzing for a second. Hard to describe, it sounds like a huge, lower-pitched novelty buzzer and it goes for as long as the transmission is shifting from one gear to the new one. The car buzzes when your foot is on the brake and you go from Park to Drive to Reverse and between any gear and Drive and Reverse. Also, when coming to a stop at lights, it does the buzz for a moment right before the vehicle comes to a complete stop. As the car starts moving again, it buzzes briefly.

I took the car to a mechanic, who looked at it, said he'd seen Chrysler transmissions buzz like this before, and people drove them for years with no problems shifting. He advised me to leave it and not worry about it until the tranny stops shifting. However, it's actually kind of embarassing to have this SUPER loud buzzing every time I shift into gear or stop at a light. Finally, I don't like the thought of driving a car that's making loud noises, as my hunch is that I'm doing more serious damage to it and fixing it now would be preferable to fixing it later.

Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about and how to fix it? Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

P.S. ALSO, THERE DO NOT APPEAR TO BE ANY FLUID LEAKS. THE TRANSMISSION FLUID LEVEL IS FINE, AND THE FLUID IS NOT BURNT OR OTHERWISE ABNORMAL. THE PLASTIC COVER ON THE SHIFT HOUSING IN THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT DOES SEEM A LITTLE WARM TO THE TOUCH, WHICH IS DISCONCERTING, BUT OTHERWISE, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE RUNNING ALL THAT HOT. AGAIN, ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED, I JUST HOPE I CAN FIND SOMEONE WHO KNOWS EVEN A LITTLE ABOUT THESE TRANSMISSIONS AND THE AVENGER IN GENERAL.

This is semi-normal for this type of trans. They all have a racheting sound when they engage first gear, some are louder than others. I don't know if there is a cheap fix to the sound.

Check out my response in the Chrysler Forum.

like neon rt said, this is a normal condition on your car. It's the shift solenoids and pressures switches which are housed inside of the solenoid pack that are doing their job. If your solenoid pack is unusually loud, chances are, the sound cover is missing off of the solenoid pack. But don't worry, all Chrysler front wheel drive cars equipped w/ the A-604 41TE Ultradrive transmission (including the A-606 42LE found on LH body style cars) make the same sound, so don't worry.

Actually, that's a pretty good thing to check, thanks! I'll look to see if the sound muffler is lost off the solenoid pack. The buzz does sound sort of like a solenoid engaging, that makes sense.

I appreciate the help. I guess I just couldn't wrap my mind around a major car company putting out a transmission that sounds like such garbage. On purpose. For ten years!

Oh, well, I'll check the solenoid and repost if it was missing.

Thanks again, everyone!