2014 TE transmission replacement

G

Goflight2

New member
Bought my wife a 2014 Trail Edition three months ago. Great truck up until two days ago. Tranny seemed to be slipping, and the RPM's would shoot up with no power to the wheels. Brought it in to the dealer yesterday, and they called today saying that they were going to replace the transmission.
Now she is concerned that her new car needs such a major repair so quickly. (Car has 2100 miles on it)
Anything I need to check for when I pick it up Saturday? Has anyone heard of something like this happening so soon on a 4R? Should I be concerned or do you think it is a simple replacement?
Sorry for the noob questions, but this is the first time something like this has happened to us on a new car. Not happy right now!!
 
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Wow. No, I haven't heard of anything like that happening. That sounds like a lemon moment more than anything. Any one else have anything?
 
Goflight2 said:
Anything I need to check for when I pick it up Saturday?
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Pardon me if I sound like a smart-ass, but what would you check? You will have no idea what they've done until you drive it and feel a change in how it was vs. how it is.

Then you drive for 3 months as before wondering if it will pop up again?

What REALLY pisses me off about this is I bought the 4 runner because:

a. Wanted a newer SUV. My '95 Isuzu Rodeo with close to 300K is getting old.

b. The 4 Runner is MADE IN JAPAN.

I bought a 1983 Toyota truck(22RE) in that year - also made in Japan and put 415,000 trouble free miles on it. This sort of thing was unheard of.

Yes - vehicles are more complex today; nonetheless, this is unforgiveable.

I'm at the pojnt where I have ZERO faith in any car MFG.
 
Lester Lugnut said:
Pardon me if I sound like a smart-ass, but what would you check? You will have no idea what they've done until you drive it and feel a change in how it was vs. how it is.

Then you drive for 3 months as before wondering if it will pop up again?

What REALLY pisses me off about this is I bought the 4 runner because:

a. Wanted a newer SUV. My '95 Isuzu Rodeo with close to 300K is getting old.

b. The 4 Runner is MADE IN JAPAN.

I bought a 1983 Toyota truck(22RE) in that year - also made in Japan and put 415,000 trouble free miles on it. This sort of thing was unheard of.

Yes - vehicles are more complex today; nonetheless, this is unforgiveable.

I'm at the pojnt where I have ZERO faith in any car MFG.
Click to expand...


You dint sound like a smart ass. Was kind if a dumb question, but just am still spinning a little bit about the whole deal.
 
Goflight2 said:
Bought my wife a 2014 Trail Edition three months ago. Great truck up until two days ago. Tranny seemed to be slipping, and the RPM's would shoot up with no power to the wheels. Brought it in to the dealer yesterday, and they called today saying that they were going to replace the transmission.
Now she is concerned that her new car needs such a major repair so quickly. (Car has 2100 miles on it)
Anything I need to check for when I pick it up Saturday? Has anyone heard of something like this happening so soon on a 4R? Should I be concerned or do you think it is a simple replacement?
Sorry for the noob questions, but this is the first time something like this has happened to us on a new car. Not happy right now!!
Click to expand...

I’d be glad it was under warranty and be confident driving the truck for many years. Even on the most reliable brands like Toyota, there still are faulty parts that make it to the end user (otherwise there would be 0% failure rates- which do not exist). I agree it is disappointing but statistically improbable that you would have two bad transmissions. This is not the norm for that transmission. It it a known product and not a redesigned transmission. I have not heard of that happening yet.

I had problems with a brand new Lexus in 2007 (not transmission but multiple engine parts). Once it was fixed, it was as good as though it had never happened. I’ve owned 5 Toyota vehicles and they have all held up extremely well.
 
First of all, welcome to the forum. Sorry it's under these conditions, but that is rather strange. I have 20,000 miles on my '11 Trail, and not one real issue. I spent about 2 years researching the reliability with the 4runner before purchasing.You probably will not find a better made truck/car. I know of older 4Runners with 200,000+ miles without having a real major issue. I would probably be putting up a stink at the dealer and seeing if they will throw in an extended warranty. My guess, as with any complex engineered item, there is always a margin of error, and you just got the bad luck this time. A good site to look at is carcomplaints.com. Look at the # of issues listed under the 4Runner, then look up the # for the Jeep Grand Cherokee. You'll see why all of us picked a 4Runner. Granted Jeep probably seems more GC then the 4Runner, but even with that, the numbers do not lie.

I would ask them exactly what part failed and what they will be doing it, be it an entire new transmission, rebuilt, just a part, or even a computer issue. Keep up with the TSBs while you are under warranty. Might as well have Toyota replace possible issues for free before they become really bad. This forum is a great if not the best resource on anything regarding the 4Runner. Just do a search to see if anyone has had the same question or issue, if not, post like you did. You'll see that we're all here to help each other.
 
Lester Lugnut said:
What REALLY pisses me off about this is I bought the 4 runner because:

a. Wanted a newer SUV. My '95 Isuzu Rodeo with close to 300K is getting old.

b. The 4 Runner is MADE IN JAPAN.

I bought a 1983 Toyota truck(22RE) in that year - also made in Japan and put 415,000 trouble free miles on it. This sort of thing was unheard of.
Click to expand...
You are pissed off because someone possibly had a transmission failure, on the same model of vehicle that you own?:confused:

I promise there was at least 1 transmission failure in new, 1983 Toyota trucks.
 
rocklighting said:
I would ask them exactly what part failed and what they will be doing it, be it an entire new transmission, rebuilt, just a part, or even a computer issue.
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Unlikely to get a definitive response. Toyota is going to have them remove/replace the transmission, they aren't going to pay for the dealer techs to do anything else.
 
Why do people still think that "made in Japan" confers some mechanical superiority over cars made elsewhere?

It doesn't, and hasn't for decades.
 
LandCruiser said:
Why do people still think that "made in Japan" confers some mechanical superiority over cars made elsewhere?

It doesn't, and hasn't for decades.
Click to expand...


Because of this thing known as history we can review the reliability of vehicles. The Japanese may not have mechanical superiority, but they certainly have proven their quality superiority. You can read about some of it here:

And the most reliable used car is... - Telegraph

The 6 Most Reliable Used Cars - CarsDirect


Consumer Reports History of Reliability | Years of Reliability Surveys - Consumer Reports


East is still best for car reliability - Business - The Driver Seat | NBC News


Consumer Reports reliability ratings: Japanese dominate, Ford lags - CBS News
 
There have been a few 5th gen trans failures on this board. Seems to be very rare and they fail at very low miles. Does not appear to be a systematic problem or worth worrying about, particularly if you are past 10k miles or so.
 
LandCruiser said:
Why do people still think that "made in Japan" confers some mechanical superiority over cars made elsewhere?

It doesn't, and hasn't for decades.
Click to expand...


Even though today a large percentage of vehicles are made by robots, there is still a decent amount of human involvement for some parts of the assembly.

The typical mentality of a Japanese worker is to do the best you can at whatever you do. The typical mentality of say an American worker is "I am too good to be doing this kind of work for this kind of pay".

Someone assembling a vehicle, or QAing a vehicle with a Japanese mentality, will likely do a better job then someone with a resentful mentality.

However, I don't think we can still reference the quality and durability of older Japanese vehicles, brag about how your 20+ year old toyota went 300-400k miles, and expect a new Toyota to do the same. They have to cut too many corners these days. I think the "Toyota Quality" of today is just a perceived quality, built on the history of the actual quality Toyota used to provide.

Sadly, my 2013 4runner with 15k miles has more issues with it then my 2012 VW Golf TDI with 12k miles.

2012 Golf TDI Issues:
-Bad Selector Shaft in Manual Transmission
-Small leak in turbo oil return line

2013 4Runner Issues:
-Rear diff leak between the 3rd member and housing
-Both Automatic seats grind and click when sliding back and fourth
-Air Injection Pump now makes a popping noise when turning off
-Rough slow speed 1-2 shifting
-Gear Shift doesn't always fully shift into park (it clicks into place several seconds later)
-Breaks squeak when coming to a stop (And yes they have been properly bedded in)
 
FWIW I had an 02 Accord that needed a new tranny at 28k (in warranty still).
Honda extended an additional 30k warranty on the refurbished tranny and it ran like new until I sold it at 100k.

This didn't scare me from Honda's, just made me realize that problems can happen even on quality products. The fact that the Accord was basically problem free other than the tranny being replaced reinforces to me that Honda makes good vehicles. I would assume the same with this 2014 tranny issue given the 4runners reputation.
 
Whiplash Willy said:
2013 4Runner Issues:
-Rear diff leak between the 3rd member and housing

Ok.
-Both Automatic seats grind and click when sliding back and fourth

Dirt accumulated in rail? Still working fine though as far as I can see.

-Air Injection Pump now makes a popping noise when turning off

Still working though.

-Rough slow speed 1-2 shifting

all tacoma and 4runners have this behavior, some are just not aware of it. Mine feel that way too depending on the speed slowed down at a stop sign, for example

-Gear Shift doesn't always fully shift into park (it clicks into place several seconds later)

All automatic transmission do this. There is a pin that is engaged in a gear when placed into park, if the pin is not directly aligned with a tooth of the gear, it will click later when the vehicle move slightly.

-Breaks squeak when coming to a stop (And yes they have been properly bedded in)

Would seriously not call that an issue, your brakes are doing well. More of an irritation. Might get fixed just by changing brake pads when yours are used up.
Click to expand...

So you got a total of 1 more REAL issue with your jetta than the 4runner as I can see.
 
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