I have a 2000 4 runner with 100,300 miles on it, and 10 days after my extended warranty expired I got the check engine light with the P0770 error. Dealer says, it will cost $1400 to replace the solenoid and that there is 50% chance it will fix the problem or replace the transmision for $4500 to be sure.

Does this sound reasonable? Any recommendations on what I should do.

BTW, the check engine light has gone off (not sure if the dealer reset it), cameback (after a couple of days), and then went off again (within 10 miles of coming on).

The dealer says that I can use the truck and the only issue i will face is a drop in gas mileage.

Thanks

Jay, welcome. I hate that your first post has such bad news with it...

I'd get away from the dealer and see what an independant shop says. There are many good shops that specialize with Toyota's.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Most dealer techs seem more interested in swapping parts than fixing the old one. Probably more the shop policy then them personally, but when my diff was making noise in my 00 they wouldn't even open it up, they just ordered a whole new carrier all set up. I am also having tranny issues in my 02 now, also with just over 100k and 4 months out of my platinum warranty, though mine is rendered useless by its condition. Personally I am a bit lucky to have a friend who is going to try and work on it, but depending what happens when we open it up I'm either going to send it to a tranny shop or get a reman from Jasper. I haven't called Jasper but they say on their website they research and fix any OEM weak spots, so maybe they have some insight into why from 96-00 the A340F in 3rd gens was indestructable and then in 01 and 02 they seem to be made of tin foil. So I guess my advice is to get the truck to either an independent Toyota guy or to a decent tranny shop as the dealer clearly just wants to get you out of there as easily as they can with no regard for your monetary output. I mean seriously, these are nice trucks but $4500 is nearly 50% of the value.

I just had that same code come up on my way to vegas. I was worried as once I arrived in vegas I would be towing my boat for a few miles. I figured I wiuld run the code when I got home, when I had access to my scan tool, and low and behold a was driving by an autozone I pulled the code and continued on throughout the day as planned. The next day as I was on my way home the CEL shut itself off, and it hasn't come back since.

I would say if the CEL doesn't come back on just let it ride. Also if you feel comfortable dropping the tranny oil pan you can replace the solenoids yourself for $160 for all three.

Working on the same issue - mine falls out of gear in R when going over a bump. Just threw P0770

I had that same code on my '02 Tacoma when it had about 125k on it. I replaced the solenoid but it didn't fix the problem. About 5k miles later the tranny died a pretty painful death. While I would try to fix whatever is causing the error code now, I would also be socking a chunk of money away in case the tranny take a dump.

I just got the same code on my 2000. It popped out of reverse into neutral when cold going over a bump. did it 2 times - not sure if that caused the code or the solenoid issue caused it to pop out of R.

Those numbers seem really high though.