The current transmission probably has somewhere around 360 K miles.

Nothing is slipping and it shifts fine except for the occasional hard reverse, which hapoened after a fluid and filter change. On longer trips, the check engine light comes on with the code for the shift and lock solenoids.

I changed the solenoids. Issue persists. My bet is the torque converter is on its way.

Is it worth rebuilding? Are there parts that generally don't wear much? Meaning I could replace all the highly wearable stuff for less the cost then a new transmission from Toyota.

My feeling is that I should get the OEM reman unit

Sure the correct fluid was used?

I'd compare costs between the two options, though I would Only consider a Full Rebuild, why take a chance on a new component putting extra stress on old components causing them to then fail and another costly rebuild occurring?

That's exactly my thinking, especially with the high mileage on the rest of the transmission

I used Toyota fluid

Which toyota fluid as T4 is not compatible with our transmissions. Only T2 or Dexron II or higher. Neither is toyota WS not compatible.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I’d go with a remanufactured unit unless you really trust your rebuilder and they offer a solid warranty.

For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure you only get a one year warranty with an OEM remanufactured transmission. I’ve had a Jasper unit for five years now (going on 40K miles) and it’s still working well. Jasper offers a three year nationwide warranty. Buy once, cry once.

I too am looking to replace my transmission. At 363k on a 97 v6 4x4, the torque converter is shuddering when looked up and the bands are slipping and shuddering in first gear sometimes. I'm also leaning towards a Toyota remanufactured. How much does a jasper transmission cost?

Edit: Never mind the cost of Jasper transmission, I did some research online and Jasper has a lot of bad reviews. I'll go with Toyota.

Yup - It got you this far, right?

My 4Runner has a used transmission in it that was replaced about 10 years ago. The poor guy who owned didn't know a thing and burnt the transmission fluid till it was black. 10+ years and 70,000+ miles later the Toyota unit is doing great and I'm not very nice to it either. A good synthetic fluid helps a lot in keep the shifts smooth.

I went through the same decision when my engine blew with 221K miles. In the end I did not rebuild it and replaced it instead. There's just so many other things that could go wrong beyond what broke the first time.

It's funny you say that because just about every Toyota Lexus dealer just uses bulk generic T-IV for transmissions and power steering. I remember seeing a TSB or PANT bulletin that basically said it was fine to substitute it for all Dexron and prior T fluid specifications. I think Mobil 1 is who makes the current T-IV ATF and they just rebrand their "Generic" ATF which is supposed to be verified for Dexron and Toyota T Fluid applications... supposedly the issue was that DexIII was cheap back in the day and T-IV was the super secret modified DexIII you couldn't get ahold of, but by the late 2000's it was all over the place and got surpassed and absorbed into many of the "generic/universal" fluid specifications; at least that's what the story was when I asked long ago.

But now you got me curious and I'll have to see if I can dig up that old bulletin...

It's on this forum somewhere as I dug it up before that TSB that is It's extremely rare but this particular transmission may slip if you use T4.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

Some of The TSB on the transmission fluids for the 3rd gen. :-)

Attached Images

	T-TC001-02_Automatic_Transmission_Fluid_Requirements.pdf (30.6 KB, 34 views)
	T-TC003-98_Automatic_Transmission_Fluid.pdf (32.3 KB, 44 views)
	T-TC003-99_Automatic_Transmission_Fluids.pdf (35.0 KB, 45 views)

The bulletin I’ve seen regarding transmission fluid said not to use Toyato T4 in a Dexron 3 system. TC003 like Brillo posted above me.

I use valvoline max life full synthetic and have in all my past 4runners and never had an issue. I also run a magnafine filter and change every few years. Also there is a guy named joe joe on facebook, in your area, who is a dealer and sells toyota parts cheap you can learn more about him here.. who is joe joe parts on facebook

I do to 3bears use valvoline max life full synthetic. As it meets te spec and seems to work well for me.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I know about those, I pulled them up when I was a lube tech many many years ago when they gave me bulk T-IV for one of my first old vehicle (DexIII) transmission flushes and wouldn't order me some DexIII because we didn't stock it back at the first dealer I worked at. I made a mild stink about it and either the shop foreman or the parts manager showed me a different bulletin about acceptable substitutions to shut me up. Like I said every dealer I've worked at, seen, and techs from other Lexus/Toyota dealerships have all been using T-IV in place of DexIII for decades, makes me wonder if Toyota ever gave them shit for warranty, it isn't like Toyota isn't aware that all these dealerships are using T-IV for P/S systems and basically all non-CVT/WS transmission applications.

I honestly haven't heard about the slipping issue though, that's interesting to me (what piqued my interest in the thread). We have a ton of older 4Runners (mainly late 90's 3rd gens, a few 2nd and the occasional dinosaur of a 1st gen) that get regular maintenance out here and I haven't noticed any slipping or had customers complain about it (not that I don't believe you, I'm sure there has been issues since they were originally DexIII). You learn something new every day.

Post Note- I will say that I used to be far more vehement about using only specified/Toyota approved fluids for a long time. But as I've gotten older and looked more into the engineering of fluids and manufacturers, I've become a little more tolerant of "grey spec" fluids. I've had a few long discussions with a couple guys in the industry who do training and/or run some higher end shops working on some cool stuff about fluids. They know more about that stuff than i ever will probably and basically talked about how these days T-IV was basically surpassed from a formula stand point and that any decent Dex based synthetic ATF meets those older Dex specifications in spades.

The bulk T-IV we use is not Toyota stuff (I don't think I've ever seen "Genuine/branded" Toyota ATF of any kind besides quart bottles/cases & the large metal containers for CVT now that you've got me thinking about it), it's usually either Mobil1 or Valvoline ATF, both of which cover all older Dex and T fluid specifications per their spec sheets (we had to do a quick inventory check around the beginning of COVID to make sure what fluids we had and such when it was getting hard to order stuff so I remember doing that for the SM). We rarely if ever use the actual Toyota T-IV, unless a customer specifically asks for it or just buys it over the counter.

Maybe this is one of those situations where aftermarket is a better option than factory, since you are right; per the older TSBs, genuine Toyota T-IV isn't recommended.

In any case, I wasn't trying to say you were wrong or anything like that. I just found it interesting that some of you guys were so adamant about sticking to spec and had mentioned the slipping issue. It was very counter to the usual mentality I see from most people in general (and refreshing I might add) and counter to basically every "official" Toyota/Lexus service center that's been operating for decades. I like engaging in discussions like this because they usually end up in cool information.