Adios Transmission

[KellyJ]

At 154k, juuuuuust as I was about to sell this damn thing, my transmission has kicked the bucket. Rev rev rev and no movement. Worked great all day, and on my way to my girlfriend's house I was no longer able to accelerate. Transfer case won't get me anywhere either. If I keep the throttle PEGGED, and I mean bouncing off the rev limiter, the thing inches forward. Bought a bottle of Penzoil ATF Fluid/sealer at a convenience store to see if that fixed the problem - nope. Effin' pissed right now.:rant: Had to leave my baby 3 miles down the road in a bank parking lot..

 

[Clemsonfan15]

That really stinks.

Any idea what caused it?

 

[Champ306]

shift solenoids took a dump I bet, should not be too costly. relatively speaking.

 

[Qyota]

I assume you tried 2, 1, and reverse, right? If you're getting nothing in ANY gear, it's most likely not solenoids. No fluid anywhere? Any symptoms leading up to this?

Sorry to hear it Kelly!

 

[KellyJ]

Nothing engages when I move from P-R-D-2-L and back. Couple pics from earlier this morning. Shedding a few tears as my baby sits behind the dealership and I drive this ghey Yaris around for a while.


Puked up all over the place last night as it sat...

No one likes to see their truck move under another device's power...

Fluid seemed fine. Topped off with a bit more ATF but no dice..:wtf:

 

[BTO]

Puked? :barf:

What puked? The tranny?

 

[KellyJ]

Puked? :barf:

What puked? The tranny?

Indeed. That's all relatively new, fresh ATF on the ground you see there. There's even a little pool of it just to the right of the right front tire in the first picture. That was from moving through PRND2L a few times...:smashputer:

 

[KellyJ]

Apparently my radiator lines came off, I had no coolant apparently(?), and got the tranny milkshake. Getting a new radiator, new timing belt and some new hoses. Looks like I'll be keeping her a bit longer, to the tune of $1600..

 

[BTO]

In the immortal words of Freddie Mercury:

Another one bites the dust.

I had a bad feeling pink milkshake was behind all this.

 

[RC57]

Anyone heard of this happening on other Toyotas, or is it strictly 4Runners? Should I be swapping out radiators on _all_ my old Toyotas with automatics?

 

[theizzardking]

Apparently my radiator lines came off, I had no coolant apparently(?), and got the tranny milkshake. Getting a new radiator, new timing belt and some new hoses. Looks like I'll be keeping her a bit longer, to the tune of $1600..

is that with a new tranny?

or are they rebuilding yours?

can you go through this please, as i've had to do this before on jeep and i plan on keeping my 4runner forever and am thinking that i may need to go through this at one point.

i'm picking up a spare motor and a tranny and storing it for say 10 years or so or at least until i need it, i see no reason why this won;t be a good truck to me in ten years and will still be as cool as an old scout or bronco is now.

 

[rivets]

Apparently my radiator lines came off, I had no coolant apparently(?), and got the tranny milkshake. Getting a new radiator, new timing belt and some new hoses. Looks like I'll be keeping her a bit longer, to the tune of $1600..

Wait, your list of mods includes a tranny cooler. Isn't that suppose to prevent the pink milkshake from occurring?

 

[econhonda]

Wait, your list of mods includes a tranny cooler. Isn't that suppose to prevent the pink milkshake from occurring?

Some people don't completely bypass the stock cooler. They install the external cooler to supplement the stocker. There is some debate over whether an external cooler on its own won't allow the tranny fluid to warm to a normal level as the stock cooler would since the radiator heats up so much faster. This obviously wouldn't be an issue in warm climates or in summer months, but winters can keep ATF pretty cold for a while. Some believe it hurts the tranny to drive consistently on cold ATF. I ended up bypassing the stock cooler altogether.

 

[004Gunner]

Some people don't completely bypass the stock cooler. They install the external cooler to supplement the stocker. There is some debate over whether an external cooler on its own won't allow the tranny fluid to warm to a normal level as the stock cooler would since the radiator heats up so much faster. This obviously wouldn't be an issue in warm climates or in summer months, but winters can keep ATF pretty cold for a while. Some believe it hurts the tranny to drive consistently on cold ATF. I ended up bypassing the stock cooler altogether.

I bypassed mine completely too and that was one of the issues I was worried about. I'm debating whether or not I should put some cardboard over part of the cooler to keep it running warmer. So far I feel that the tranny heats up to good operating temp fairly quickly. That's just using the 3rd to 4th shift point as a reference though. A scan gauge would be a real plus in this case.

Good luck with the repairs Kelly! It doesn't seem too bad for the price you were quoted, but it isn't my wallet being cracked open here

 

[BTO]

Mine is bypassed. It does not get too cold here in Cali. On top of that the cooler I installed has some sort of thermostat gimmick built into it.

 

[KellyJ]

Izzard - I believe they are just rebuilding my transmission. My buddy of over 5 years at the service department said that there was no real harm done to the transmission, it was just completely plugged up from that milkshake garbage. I'd suggest taking all preemptive measures in preserving the life of your transmission. My heart sank when I felt the transmission acting like a manual and not an automatic. I'll let you know the outcome of the service being performed - make sure you take care of your trans! Flush that sucker more frequently than you think is necessary.

Rivets - Yes I do have the TRD cooler installed but as others have mentioned, I didn't "completely" bypass the stock cooler. It's been warm up until 2 days ago basically (above 50 degrees) but I guess once it dropped below 50, that was the final straw for my transmission. Goes to show you that adding a tranny cooler at 135k won't necessarily add much life to your transmission... Although I did notice an improvement in overall performance after installing the cooler. I'm having the TRD cooler reinstalled as well, with new hoses and what not.

 

[DTMtoT4R]

Apparently my radiator lines came off, I had no coolant apparently(?), and got the tranny milkshake. Getting a new radiator, new timing belt and some new hoses. Looks like I'll be keeping her a bit longer, to the tune of $1600..

my 2000 had the same problem. I had a puddle of fluid on the ground where my truck was parked. i drove it straight to the dealer and they said the same thing. lucky for me it didnt get too "milkshake" by the time i got there. just got the entire system flushed and a new radiator and a couple hoses, all good for the past year or so.

 

[Qyota]

Goes to show you that adding a tranny cooler at 135k won't necessarily add much life to your transmission...

unless you bypass the radiator.

Sorry to hear it, Kelly. I hope everything works out. $1600 is a steal for all that work being done. Around here, they wouldn't rebuild my old tranny for less than $2k.

 

[KellyJ]

unless you bypass the radiator.

Sorry to hear it, Kelly. I hope everything works out. $1600 is a steal for all that work being done. Around here, they wouldn't rebuild my old tranny for less than $2k.

That's crazy - 2k just for a rebuild? My buddy George at Alexandria Toyota has really done great work for mine and my family's cars over the past 8 years, and always throws in some type of discount (maybe since every bill I've had form the place was over $1,000? Haha). I got a rebuild, new radiator and new timing belt and new hoses for that quoted price. Should be picking her up later today. Also I'm getting the radiator bypassed this time around.

 

[96743runner]

That's crazy - 2k just for a rebuild? My buddy George at Alexandria Toyota has really done great work for mine and my family's cars over the past 8 years, and always throws in some type of discount (maybe since every bill I've had form the place was over $1,000? Haha). I got a rebuild, new radiator and new timing belt and new hoses for that quoted price. Should be picking her up later today. Also I'm getting the radiator bypassed this time around.

Sorry to hear about your transmission man. But that really is a good deal you got for only $1600!! A transmission rebuild from my local stealer would definitely be over $2k too, not including the timing belt change, hoses and radiator.

I have the big B&M 70274 external cooler and your story makes me glad that I have it. Knowing my luck I would already have the milkshake even though I only have 66k miles.

You were planning to sell your 4Runner?