2002 SR5 - Hard Shifting

[JewFro]

I've done some googling about hard shifting on 3rd gen's and often times it comes back to:

* Do a trans flush
* Clean the throttle body & IAC valve
* Adjust the kickdown cable

My truck has 182,000 miles and I'm hoping the transmission isn't toast but fear the worst.

Out of the above I did a trans flush using 14 quarts of ATF before it was bright red coming out of the cooler line. Unfortunately that has done nothing to cure the hard shifting around 50% of the time, especially between 1-2 where it can send a solid jolt through the truck. It doesn't matter if the truck is cold or warm. Last week we put 1200 miles on it for July 4th and when downshifting from 4th to 3rd to go up steep hills it was often very abrupt.

It also doesn't look like the 2002 has an adjustable kickdown cable. The plan is to clean the TB/IAC when doing the valve cover gaskets in the next few weeks.

Any tips/words or wisdom?

 

[thegipper]

Your 2002 does not have a kick down cable so it's not that.

Maybe the shift solenoids? Dirty or faulty valve body?

Or the tranny itself is on its way out.

Since you did a full fluid exchange, there isn't much more left to try unfortunately.

 

[JewFro]

Your 2002 does not have a kick down cable so it's not that.

Maybe the shift solenoids? Dirty or faulty valve body?

Or the tranny itself is on its way out.

Since you did a full fluid exchange, there isn't much more left to try unfortunately.

Thats what I fear but we'll see. Are solenoids or valve bodies known to fail on these? I'm still new to these rigs but have heard valve bodies were a weak point once you added a TRD blower.

My next plan was to drop the pan, check the magnets, and replace the filter.

 

[thegipper]

The solenoids sometimes go bad and sometimes the valve bodies get messed up from debris.

I would definitely drop the pan next. If it has a bunch of metal shaving in it, start looking for a new tranny...

If there is no metal in the pan, you can use a volt meter to check the solenoids (ohm test, power test, pressure test), the details are in the FSM.

 

[JewFro]

The solenoids sometimes go bad and sometimes the valve bodies get messed up from debris.

I would definitely drop the pan next. If it has a bunch of metal shaving in it, start looking for a new tranny...

If there is no metal in the pan, you can use a volt meter to check the solenoids (ohm test, power test, pressure test), the details are in the FSM.

It looks like they're easily replaceable if needed, I'll try to get my hands on a FSM in the coming days but it'll be a week or two before I can dig into this.

My 2011 Mini needs a thermostat housing before the truck can come out of action.

 

[thegipper]

Just search on here, there are several links to download the entire FSM in PDF form.

Good luck

 

[JewFro]

Figured I'd update this post.

Somehow I overfilled the transmission by about 2.5 quarts in the midst of the madness of doing the trans cooler, timing belt, radiator, and a few other things simultaneously. :doh:

I didn't drop the pan but drained 2.5 quarts to get the level right. Low and behold the thing shifts like butter now.

 

[thegipper]

Love it when its a simple fix. Yeah overfilling the tranny fluid is definitely not good, especially by 2.5 quarts.