Hey guys - I took my truck (8.1L/Allison combo) to a local shop for the required state safety inspection and the tech swears my Allison is about ready to grenade. I don't drive the truck often (it's an '01 with 58K miles) and it sounds the same as it always has to me. My buddy who's a GM Service Manager says that all Allisons are noisy and to just keep running it.

I guess I'm looking for feedback from anyone with respect to their Allison transmission. Is it noisy? Mine has a steady "whine" to it that has been there since I bought the truck at 30K miles. Is this something I should worry about? Figured that's just how they sounded.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... thanks.

be honest, dont think i can hear mine, 2008 model 30k miles

steady whine is normal in a Allison,been a GM trans tech for 26 years,

I would worry about it if the whine was not there.

I can't hear anything over the sound of the diesel!

mine only whines a small amount when it is cold. Once the trans temp is up over 100ºF it quiets right down.

The 06 and later 6 speed Allisons are TONS quieter then the 05 and older 5 speed Allisons. My 05 has always been noisy since I bought it new. Gets a little quiter when it warns up, but still noisy. I am a GM tech. I have driven tons of them. Jeff Wurl

There ya go. REAL trucks don't have spark plugs.

mine is a 04 with 85000 miles and i have never heard it whine but it is a diesel

Thanks for the posts, guy... this is a little mom-and-pop repair shop and I doubt if they've ever seen an Allison. F it, I'm running it...

i went to allison trans school when i worked at the gm dealership and they told me at school not to worry about the whine that some of them make it is in the pump and when that pump starts to whine it is just working that much better that transmission is just a smaller version of the ones tey put in the big dump trucks they use in the strip mines