Alright Ill look into the shift solenoids. For some reason I remember someone saying these Toyota are notorious for those going bad. I really dont feel like the fluid is the problem because it did it before and after I had the dealer drain and fill the trans. And plus the fluid looks brand new. thanks for the relays, Ill update this once I figure out what Im going to do and hopefully I can solve this. Is there anyway to check which solenoid is bad when Im in there or should i just replace all of them?
Hey I got your PM, I'll respond here so that if others are looking to do this too, they might find some of this info useful as well.
Let me say first that I am not a mechanic or an expert in any way, so take my advice with a grain of salt and/or consult someone who is.
That said, if you are looking to replace the solenoids, I would just do all three. If one has failed then the others may or may not be in similar condition and you don't want to do all this again. Plus, by replacing all three, you don't have to screw around with trying to locate the bad one(s).
Replacing the solenoids is not difficult — it is time consuming however. Also, anytime you are screwing around with your transmission, there is the possibility of problems — so be methodical in everything you do.
There are write-ups on this subject online and I would recommend you find and study those before starting this project. To give you an idea of the job though, I'll outline the basic procedure.
The basics are that you drain your tranny and take note of (measure) exactly how much you removed so that you can return it (or use new fluid, that's even better).
Once drained, remove about 18 bolts from the pan and use a plastic or metal putty knife to carefully break the seal between the pan and the transmission.
Once free you will see the valve body and the metal "filter" which is really just a strainer.
You can see the filter in this pic. You can also see where I wiped away some of the dark grunge from it. I think there are four bolts holding the filter to the valve body. They are different sizes too so take note which went where.
Once the filter is off, you can look down into the filter and see what if any crap is in the screen. Spray all this down with some cleaner unless you are replacing yours.
You will need to scrape off all the old FIPG from the factory (unless someone else has been in there and used a gasket)
Be sure to get all the nooks & crannies too.
Once that is done, you need to do the same thing on the transmission underside. Be sure to not get any crap up into the valve body! Also be sure not to gouge the mating surfaces on both pieces. I found some little metal scrubby thingy from some other project that worked great for getting the little bits of gasket out.
Once your all done with that, remove and clean the magnets inside the pan, then place them back inside the pan.
Your pan should look like this when done.
Ok now it's time for the easy part. Swapping out the solenoids. First, determine what style valve body you have. Later models are different with the cable.
As for the solenoids themselves, this is the exact set I used on my 1997 limited 3.4L truck. It comes with two shift solenoids and one lockup solenoid.
Here's the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/TOYOTA-A340E...2333&sr=8-1&keywords=rostra+a340+solenoid+kit
Simply unbolt the old ones, and bolt in the new ones.
Here are the old ones:
And here is a pic of both old and new. The new ones are bigger but they fit fine:
Here are the new ones installed (you may note that I hadn't yet cleaned the old gasket material off. Shoulda did that first)
As for gaskets, I didn't want to mess with FIPG cause I'm not a Toyota robot and I wasn't going to be doing this in a factory. Nor did I want to mess with some floppy-ass rubber gasket that I was going to have to fight with and possibly spray with adhesive to get it to stay in place. So I bought a Felpro gasket from Orielie's and it worked perfect. It was a black fibrous/cork-ish type of material that was stiff enough to simply lay it flat and bolt it on. No fuss or bulshit to deal with. Here is the part number:
Use whatever gasket you decide on and reinstall everything in reverse order. Pay close attention to the tourqe specs on the pan bolts and be sure to tighten in the proper sequence as well.
Once it's all buttoned back up, reinstall the dipstick tube, and replace the lost tranny fluid.
Keep a close eye on your transmission fluid levels for a while and keep inspecting the pan/gasket for leaks.
Oh and disconnect your battery before starting any of this.
