4th Gen V8 Transmission Durability

T

TheOrteganator

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I've been a loyal Ford owner for my entire driving history, but the thing that makes me nervous every time is how well the transmission is going to hold up when towing which I do on a pretty regular basis. My Fords have always been great to me but I know that puts me in the minority of owners who use them for towing. Transmission failures seem to be a normal way of life for Explorer/Exploder owners and I'm simply not ok with the thought of dropping $3k-$4k for a transmission that should last through some abuse without issue.

I had a 1991 Explorer, a 2003 Explorer Eddie Bauer (V8), and now daily driving a 2006 F250 Powerstroke. I bought the F250 to tow a 10,000lb enclosed trailer that we no longer have so it doesn't really make sense to keep driving an unnecessarily large vehicle. The trailer I have to tow now is an open flatbed with a track car, total weight of about 5000lbs plus probably 200-400lbs of spares, tools, and food/water as payload.

I decided to go back down to a midsize SUV since the F250 is simply miserable to drive on a daily basis and is way overkill for towing and hauling less than 6k.

My search for V8 SUVs with real towing capacity left me with either getting another 03-05 Explorer Limited/Eddie Bauer (~$12k), 06-10 Explorer Limited/Eddie Bauer (~$18k), or a 05+ 4Runner Limited (~$22k). The 06+ Explorer has Ford's newer 6 speed transmission that is supposedly much better but since few of them have made it to high mileage, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with trusting it for years to come.

Does anyone have long-term experience with the durability of the 4R's transmission when towing on a regular basis and up to high mileage? Obviously any serious towing is going to shorten the life of a transmission but the Fords seem to keel over and die from it even short of 120k miles sometimes.

As I said before I'm a very loyal Ford fan, but after test driving a couple of V8 4Runners I think I would be just as happy driving one on a daily basis as I would be with an Explorer. I just want to make sure the extra cost is worth it and that I'm not just going to end up in the same transmission replacement scenario as if I stuck with a cheaper Ford Exploder.
 
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I used to have a 2004 4Runner SR5 V8 4x4.

I used it semi-regularly to tow my Suzuki Samurai on a fairly heavy duty trailer loaded with some parts/equipment for off-roading to and from the off road areas in Washington State. When I bought the Samurai I even towed it home from across the state with my 4runner with an oversized rental trailer and it did great. Now, I can't speak for real high mileage or super-long term towing, but for the few summers that I routinely towed with my V8, I had no issues at all. That transmission seems to have a solid cooling system, and durable components and held up well. I guess the terrain might make a huge difference, as continually towing uphill, etc would likely take a harder toll on the transmission, but for my purposes towing on reasonably level terrain with the occasional steep hills, I never noticed any problems.

I remember once going into the local Toyota dealership and asking them about getting my transmission serviced and they told me it was all sealed and would never need it. I was skeptical, but went along with their recommendations anyway, and never had any problems. Come to think of it, that 4Runner had the best transmission out of any rig I've ever had. Other's "mileage may vary" but that's my two cents.
 
T4RB said:
I used to have a 2004 4Runner SR5 V8 4x4.

I used it semi-regularly to tow my Suzuki Samurai on a fairly heavy duty trailer loaded with some parts/equipment for off-roading to and from the off road areas in Washington State. When I bought the Samurai I even towed it home from across the state with my 4runner with an oversized rental trailer and it did great. Now, I can't speak for real high mileage or super-long term towing, but for the few summers that I routinely towed with my V8, I had no issues at all. That transmission seems to have a solid cooling system, and durable components and held up well. I guess the terrain might make a huge difference, as continually towing uphill, etc would likely take a harder toll on the transmission, but for my purposes towing on reasonably level terrain with the occasional steep hills, I never noticed any problems.

I remember once going into the local Toyota dealership and asking them about getting my transmission serviced and they told me it was all sealed and would never need it. I was skeptical, but went along with their recommendations anyway, and never had any problems. Come to think of it, that 4Runner had the best transmission out of any rig I've ever had. Other's "mileage may vary" but that's my two cents.
Click to expand...

So why did you get rid of it?
 
an exploder is an exploder in my opinion, dont matter how new it is. thats my .02 but i have nothing to add really besides the fact that i have 115k miles on my V8 03 and she runs like a top and never had problems with the tranny or really anything
 
I got rid of it for reasons that were beyond my control. Trust me, if I had my way, I'd still be driving it. The original plan was to drive that truck until it's wheels fell off, which judging by it's durability, was gonna be a long time.

That's why I am in the market for another one. =)

I loved it so much I'll be pulling the trigger on another 4th gen soon.
 
Just to give you some peace of mind, the transmission you are referring to is a sealed transmission, meaning it does not have a traditional dipstick or method to check the fluid. These transmissions ussually take our Toyota WS transmission fluid and are often not reccomend to be flushed for roughly 100k.

I'll have to double check as I do not remeber if those sealed transmission take WS fluid (at least off teh top of my head right now), also there is a special procedure for checking the fluid level on sealed transmissions.
 
Trans

I strongly recommend draining and filling even the super special 'WS' transmissions before 100k.

I had the dreaded 'rumble strip' transmission problem and solved it myself by draining and filling the transmission several times over a period of about 1000 miles (12 quarts of Toyota WS cost me about $90 shipped on Ebay). This was at about 70,000 miles. Another gentleman posted in my thread about this and it also solved his issue. I know Toyotas fix is to replace torque converters, there are several postings about that on various forums.

Proper drain and fill (or flush if you prefer) instructions complete with which pins to jump for proper transmission temp for fluid level are on this site just do a search.

Transmission maintenance is cheap peace of mind if you ask me. I've always changed the fluid in my previous vehicles (auto or manual) every 30-60k or so. When I got the 4Runner, the transmission was supposed to be maintenance free till 100k but after my experience and reading similar experiences of others I dont think thats wise.
 
Yeah I'm highly disapointed that toyota said this is a service free trans, BS! 30-60k is really a great interval for this trans under ALL driving conditions. As for the servicing of this trans you have to have both the trans and the new trans fluid up to operating temp in order to prevent damage. in the case of reliability the A750 is good providing you take care of it.
 
Back to towing, though... I regularly tow a 12' box trailer with motorcycles (from 2-4000 lbs, depending on who's going riding with me) through lots of hills, and have yet to have a problem. This includes trips of several hundred miles through the desert, and a cross country trip where the trailer and 4Runner were both fully loaded. I'm nearing 100K now, and haven't had an issue yet.
 
I am just reaching 60K on my 4Runner. I was going to have the trans fluid changed out because I just thought it was the right time to do it. Now I am debating...what I should do.

I do almost the exact same as JD914, but maybe not as often. This spring/summer I was going to take my truck fully loaded up, trailer loaded up with bikes, etc. on about a 1800 mile round trip. So that was another reason why I was thinking about getting new fluid put in. Thoughts??

Sounds like if I do it I should have the dealership change it since there is specific fluid/procedure. Anyone know the cost off hand??
 
Tranny fluid change is required on the Canadian service schedule for the 2004 v8 at 98000km (around 60k miles) towing or not - there is no difference between US and Canadian drivetrains so that's probably a good yardstick.
 
I've towed extensively with my 4Runners with no problems yet. Started with a V6 and 2000lb pop-up, then a 20' 3800lb hybrid camper, baught the V8 next and towed the hybrid easily. Now have a 26' bunkhouse approx 5500lbs. Keep it in 4th gear and you should be fine. Only downside is there is no way to monitor trans temps. Dash has a warning light but no readout and aftermarket comps (Scanguage etc) won't work. I also have the tranny and diff fluids changed every fall.
 
Personally I agree with you guys, even as a technician I have a hard time believing 100k out of the WS Fluid with no issues. 60k is a reasonable number.
 
I have a 2008 T4R with V6. My manual states to change the tranny fluid every 30k if towing frequently. I thought the trannies were the same on the V6 and V8 after 2005 or so when they switched to 5 speed. Is this incorrect? Do the V6 and V8 have different transmissions?

OP- I just went through the same thought process you are going through. I was a Ford guy until the tranny in my 2003 Ford Explorer V8 failed at 100K. I changed the tranny fluid every 30k and kept it out of OD when towing and it still took a dump. I was only towing 4k lbs too.

I bought the T4R about 8 months ago and have been happy with it so far but I only have 28K miles on it so I can't comment about long term reliability. I just hope it lasts longer than the Ford.
 
I used my '03 V8 Sport to tow about 4500 lbs a total of about 1000 miles last summer with no issues with the motor or tranny but I don't do this very often.

BlackWorksInc said:
Just to give you some peace of mind, the transmission you are referring to is a sealed transmission, meaning it does not have a traditional dipstick or method to check the fluid. These transmissions ussually take our Toyota WS transmission fluid and are often not reccomend to be flushed for roughly 100k.

I'll have to double check as I do not remeber if those sealed transmission take WS fluid (at least off teh top of my head right now), also there is a special procedure for checking the fluid level on sealed transmissions.
Click to expand...

I keep hearing the 4th gen do not have a dip stick for the tranny but mine does and I check it regularly. Since mine is a '03, the 1st year of the 4th gen, do you think maybe it's a very early '03 before they switched to the sealed tranny? Is there a VIN decoder floating around on the innertubes to check?
 
camit34 said:
I keep hearing the 4th gen do not have a dip stick for the tranny but mine does and I check it regularly. Since mine is a '03, the 1st year of the 4th gen, do you think maybe it's a very early '03 before they switched to the sealed tranny? Is there a VIN decoder floating around on the innertubes to check?
Click to expand...

You should post a picture!
 
MicD said:
I have a 2008 T4R with V6. My manual states to change the tranny fluid every 30k if towing frequently. I thought the trannies were the same on the V6 and V8 after 2005 or so when they switched to 5 speed. Is this incorrect? Do the V6 and V8 have different transmissions?
Click to expand...

All V8s and V6 ('05 and up) same transmission. V8 comes with external transmission cooler and, having more torque, can be easier on fluid especially when towing, so there would be a logic if the recommendations were different between the two.
 
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