2002 Transmission problem related to trac lights or faulty sensors?

tommysalami

New member
Sorry for the vague post title, I'm just a bit dumbfounded at the moment because I got hit with a "you need a new transmission" call from my mechanic.

I apologize for the wall of text, but I'll post some cliffs at the end.

Some background: 2002 SR5 4x2 automatic, probably around 70K miles. Never had any issues with the tranny aside from having it flushed out a few years ago when it seemed to loose power if I excelled too fast from a stop. No problems since. The only other issue was having the trac off/vsc trac/check engine lights come one a few years back while high in the Sierras in bad weather. After searching this forum I ended up cleaning two oxygen sensors (which were black with grime) and the lights went off, but have since came on again more recently. This did not affect performance or gas mileage that I have been able to notice.

Last Friday I was coming off the freeway (ac on if that matters any), and headed into traffic when my car just completely dies at the stop. I turn off everything, put it into park, starts back up perfectly. I shift into drive and it turns off. After a few more tries I was finally able to coast it over to the side and park. Once safe I tried it over and over, only to have the same results. I could feel the car shift into the different gears (reverse, neutral, drive) but as soon as I stopped at an engaged gear, the car would shut off. I want to say it may have started to move and then died, but am not completely certain.

I had it towed to our general mechanic who works on our work vans. He initially mentioned something about a "transmission lockout" but searching for that only resulted in vague explanations. I received his call yesterday stating I needed a new (or used/rebuilt) transmission.

Having owned other vehicles that had the transmissions go out I was kind of surprised there was no warning at all - No slipping, shifting hard, etc., although anything is possible. That's what got me to thinking maybe it is a sensor(s) or cylonoid that finally went out and he is not correctly diagnosing the problem.

Cliffs: Had trac off/vsc trac/check engine lights on for a while. Car shuts off out of nowhere and I'm told I need a new tranny. Could it just be broken sensors?

I greatly appreciate any suggestions and apologize again for the novel!
 
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I'd start with Why?

Where is the proof i need a new/rebuilt tranny?

Yes there usually is a little more warning than the engine shutting off right at take off. Odd.
 

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