DHaralson

Got the cap off, and found a ball bearing which I lifted out with a magnet. I then used a can of compressed air like is used to clean computer equipment (friend had the air compressor today).

Sprayed that down the tube and a small piece of metal jumped out of the hole because of the air lifting it out.

I then gently used an awl to probe into the whole and see if there was anything blocking the passage. Nada, so I used a bit more compressed air from the can.

Put everything back together and we'll see what happens tomorrow AM after the tranny and fluid get back to ambient.

My guess is that if this doesn't fix it, then I have an issue with my filter not seating correctly causing the rattling noise.

Next job would be to drain/change the filter/and refill.

I was able to snap a few photos along the way and will post tomorrow if the fix works.

Biscuit141

I have noticed that my car isn't doing the rattle so much anymore, but I usually remote start it in the mornings. However, when it was rattling really bad, it would still be doing it quite loudly when I came out to the car 15-20 minutes later. I guess I'll have to stop remote starting it and see if it still does it. I feel quite confident that if this solves your problem it will solve mine too, so I've got my fingers crossed.

DHaralson

However, my rattle always goes away as the engine/tranny warm up and reach close to operating temps. Your's sound more like it could be a bad filter/filter gasket based on the research I did.

The link to that is buried in here somewhere.

DHaralson

didn't last as long today and not as loud. May be onto something here.

I'll take Dave's advice and open the fill port on the tranny prior to blowing compressed air through.

If that doens't work, I'll probably go the route of dropping the pan and doing a new filter/filter gasket from the dealer v. autohausaz where I got the current one last January.

If it failed or didn't fit perfect in less than a year that's not so good.