This is more of a story than it is a request for info.
Back in July of 2004 my 98 4Runner 4x4 LTD(automatic )scared the daylights out of me. I was out one evening and the car sat parked for about 4 hours. I started it up, put it in reverse and basically as soon as I went into drive it shook violently and slammed into gear. It was without a doubt the tranny. I 'nursed' it home because it was about 1am and I was about a 15 minute drive from home. Once it settled into gear, it actually ran 'okay' the rest of the way home. The next morning I began to investigate the situation. It was a Sunday so I was pretty much stuck till Monday anyway.
Reverse worked absolutely fine. When I would shift into drive it would require a good bit of gas pedal to get it to 'climb' up into first and it would do so with a pretty good 'slam'. However, once it got over this and got into gear, it would run fine. I let it warm up for approximately 15 minutes before I went to work the next morning and it responded pretty much the same...I had to give it gas to get it to 'climb' into gear and it eventually 'popped' in.
I took it to a pretty reputable transmission shop on my way home from work. I explained all of the above and the guy didn't even want to test drive it. Said he'd seen it before. Said the tranny's rubber seal sometimes moves around and basically gets 'misformed'. His recommendation, other than spending the 1800 on a rebuilt tranny (that I truly could not afford at the time), was to let it warm up 10 minutes or so before I run it to heat up the seal. He claimed it could last for 2 years like this.
Well, I really did have to 'nurse' it for a solid 8-10 months or so...but little by little the problem just simply went away. I was 'broke' and truly didn't have a choice.
It's been over a year and a half and the tranny functions absolutely fine. I had approximately 140,000 mile on it when this occured in July of 2004 and I currently have approximately 179,000 on it today.
I use the car exclusively for work and (knock on wood) I only need it to get about 11 more months. I wouldn't even care if the tranny went now - well, I'd prefer it didn't but...
I know I'm extremely lucky for one...but any thoughts on what this might have been? I did have to replace the trottle control sensor this past October, but the symptoms that showed weren't exactly that of what I had seen before.
Since all this occured I haven't done anything to the tranny, other than to make sure the fluid level is okay. The fluid doesn't smell burnt or anything either. I'm scared to have the fluid changed or get it flushed for fear that the tranny would 'go' shortly after. The tranny fluid was changed by me at least twice prior to 100k.
Back in July of 2004 my 98 4Runner 4x4 LTD(automatic )scared the daylights out of me. I was out one evening and the car sat parked for about 4 hours. I started it up, put it in reverse and basically as soon as I went into drive it shook violently and slammed into gear. It was without a doubt the tranny. I 'nursed' it home because it was about 1am and I was about a 15 minute drive from home. Once it settled into gear, it actually ran 'okay' the rest of the way home. The next morning I began to investigate the situation. It was a Sunday so I was pretty much stuck till Monday anyway.
Reverse worked absolutely fine. When I would shift into drive it would require a good bit of gas pedal to get it to 'climb' up into first and it would do so with a pretty good 'slam'. However, once it got over this and got into gear, it would run fine. I let it warm up for approximately 15 minutes before I went to work the next morning and it responded pretty much the same...I had to give it gas to get it to 'climb' into gear and it eventually 'popped' in.
I took it to a pretty reputable transmission shop on my way home from work. I explained all of the above and the guy didn't even want to test drive it. Said he'd seen it before. Said the tranny's rubber seal sometimes moves around and basically gets 'misformed'. His recommendation, other than spending the 1800 on a rebuilt tranny (that I truly could not afford at the time), was to let it warm up 10 minutes or so before I run it to heat up the seal. He claimed it could last for 2 years like this.
Well, I really did have to 'nurse' it for a solid 8-10 months or so...but little by little the problem just simply went away. I was 'broke' and truly didn't have a choice.
It's been over a year and a half and the tranny functions absolutely fine. I had approximately 140,000 mile on it when this occured in July of 2004 and I currently have approximately 179,000 on it today.
I use the car exclusively for work and (knock on wood) I only need it to get about 11 more months. I wouldn't even care if the tranny went now - well, I'd prefer it didn't but...
I know I'm extremely lucky for one...but any thoughts on what this might have been? I did have to replace the trottle control sensor this past October, but the symptoms that showed weren't exactly that of what I had seen before.
Since all this occured I haven't done anything to the tranny, other than to make sure the fluid level is okay. The fluid doesn't smell burnt or anything either. I'm scared to have the fluid changed or get it flushed for fear that the tranny would 'go' shortly after. The tranny fluid was changed by me at least twice prior to 100k.
