2004 Lemon 4runner

[sparkyNK]

Hey all, new to the Forum but have been browsing for sometime. I need some advice on my 2004 4runner , I bought it used with 149000km on it. It ran great and i never had an issue with it. I kept up with my regular maintenance and I had big plans for it (lift, bumpers, sliders, yadda yadda yadda). 3 months ago the automatic transmission wouldn't shift after it got hot (driving on highway for 45mins) and left me on the side of the highway. No check engine lights or anything but it would not shift past 80km/h even manually and eventually it stopped shifting altogether. Got it towed to my mechanic and he couldn't find the problem, It fired up ran and drove fine. I took it to a local yota dealership and they decided it was a catalytic converter that was plugged so I did a full header back magna flow exhaust. Plugged cat wasn't the problem. I believe its my solenoids and positioning sensor in my transmission as it still hesitates to shift after it gets hot and requires manual shifting from time to time and will not go into overdrive. Last week my cam sensor light came on. Got it to my mechanic and he replaced my cam sensor. After listening to it run and driving it my mechanic thinks it may need cam phasers. In the last 5 months I've spent close to $8k chasing out my problems new tires, exhaust, regular upkeep. I still have a pooched tranny and now phasers......Engine/tranny swap.....burn it to the ground. Need some opinions.

Thanks,
severely frustrated, disappointed, going broke 4runner owner.

 

[sparkyNK]

I should add, My 4runner only has 178000km on it now, I have only put 1500 kms on it in the last 3 months because its constantly in the shop......

 

[gm350reratliff]

Sounds like a few things going on.

First off, you bought a bad runner. Probably abused and neglected.

Second, your so called mechanics are ripping you off. I would take it back and throw a sh!t fit if I paid for work that didn't fix it.

Honestly, I would cut my losses and move on. Not all 4runners are like yours but all vehicles will need work at some point.

 

[sparkyNK]

I spent a lot of that money on things that i fixed as i went that were not part of the problems, but my brother is an apprentice at the mechanic shop I go to. I get most of my parts at cost and they cut me a huge deal on the installs. Plus they let me use their hoists on weekends to do the small stuff. Toyota wanted $2500 to fix the cat converter so I spent $1800 on the header back exhaust and my mechanic put it in for $350.

 

[Kenworth]

Y give up now u already put shit load of $$$ in it find issue repair and continue
Down the road

 

[Jeremy556]

You need to find someone that can diagnose the problem, not throw random parts at it. They should be doing data logging with techstream, while reproducing the problem, as step 1.