2002 Tansmission Trouble at 60,000 ???

[polvadis]

Hello,

Just today it happened for the first time.
While driving at regular street speed my '02 T4R jerked back and forth pretty violently. Happened a few times more along the drive.

I narrowed it down to the switch from 3rd to 4th gear. It jerks (pretty violently back and forth) for a second or two before going into forth.

Is it my transmission? Maybe the computer?
Should this be happening at 60,000 miles?

I'm just confused a little, just got this car 3 months ago and wasn't really expecting this...

Thank you for any input.

 

[riceandpho]

turn off the over drive, leave it off if u have a load in the back

 

[polvadis]

you're right,

I have been driving with the overdrive on all the time. But my car has been pretty mych empty, no load at all.

Is that what the problem is? The overdrive?
I noticed that the 2003 Tacoma has the overdrive on by default, whenever you start the car it's ON.

 

[jlboers]

leave the overdrive on. that is normal and will let your engine turn slower at higher speeds. turn it off when hauling heavy stuff or climbing steep grades etc.

If this is happening under no real load (ie. normal driving), check your transmission fluid level and the fluid quality. It might be low or contaminated.

 

[polvadis]

I'm getting some mixed 'opinions' on driving with or without Overdrive.

I was just told that Overdrive should be left strictly for highway speeds, he says he's been doing that on his Dodge Stealth all these years, has 300k miles on it and still going strong.

Someone else says that lower RPM means better gas efficency. Leave O/D on.

I checked the fluid levels, looks ok. Been told that it should be changed every 50k give or take, since I bought it at 58k I doubt the previous owner changed it. So maybe I'll do that today.

 

[lee]

I'm getting some mixed 'opinions' on driving with or without Overdrive.

I was just told that Overdrive should be left strictly for highway speeds, he says he's been doing that on his Dodge Stealth all these years, has 300k miles on it and still going strong.

Someone else says that lower RPM means better gas efficency. Leave O/D on.

I checked the fluid levels, looks ok. Been told that it should be changed every 50k give or take, since I bought it at 58k I doubt the previous owner changed it. So maybe I'll do that today.

leave o/d on all the time and change the fluid.. youll be fine

 

[polvadis]

... change the fluid.. youll be fine

It's getting done as I write this. Also changing my brake fluid and engine oil as well. Getting it all on one bill :bash:

But hopefully this will solve all my problems. The mechanic said it looked brown and contaminated. Not red as it should. We'll see...

 

[riceandpho]

i leave my over drive off wen im drivin local and under 60 mph, yes i drive a 96 base with only 67k right now, its only a 2.7l engine and i leave my o/d off wen im drivin local and highway speed up to 60 and turn it on, leavin overdrive will save gas but i ono if that will help me since im already drivin with a 2.7l engine, i think i average out 19 on local and 21 on highway, not sure but thats wat my dad told me since he bought tha car back in may 1996

 

[polvadis]

So I got my transmission flushed yesterday, and I haven't been able to duplicate the problem. I hope I haven't written too soon, knock on wood, and everything will be ok from now on.

I've also just read the Transmission Filter thread and by looking at the invoice I don't see my mechanic mention a filter anywhere at all. Judging from that post, the filter just needs to be cleaned, correct? And hopefully they did that yesterday.

 

[GSGALLANT]

Find out exactly what they did for you.

Did they:

1. Just drain the pan and re-fill it with fresh fluid (replaces only about 4 out of 16 quarts of fluid).

2. Do a complete flush of your system by connecting a flushing machine to your transmission cooler lines (replaces all the fluid, but does not clean filter or magnets in transmission pan).

3. Drain and remove your transmission pan, clean the magnets in the bottom of the pan, clean the filter (only accessible by removing the pan), re-install and re-fill the pan, then flush the rest of your fluid by connecting a flushing machine to your transmission cooler lines (cleans everything and replaces all fluid).

If they didn't remove the transmission pan, then they didn't clean your filter.