Auto Trans reliable in 3rd gen 4runners?

hkspwrsche

New member
Just curious. Ive been looking for manual trans trucks but, they are hard to come by..If I get an auto should I be worried about anything? Any horror stories or bad history on the auto slulsh box?

Thanks
 
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Mine doesn't fully engage every time I accelerate. It sometimes will rev up like it's in neutral and won't engage for a split second. Has been doing it off and on since I bought it. I imagine it needs attention, probably a flush and fluid/filter change. I intend to trade it in tomorrow, but I have put almost 25k on mine and it has done this every once in a while for the whole time I have had it.
 
i have a 96 with over 200K miles, still good!


this tranny has been pussed so hard! we go hunting in the truck, and have pulled a few people out of some holes.

my auto is a good auto
 
2DaMtns said:
Mine doesn't fully engage every time I accelerate. It sometimes will rev up like it's in neutral and won't engage for a split second. Has been doing it off and on since I bought it. I imagine it needs attention, probably a flush and fluid/filter change. I intend to trade it in tomorrow, but I have put almost 25k on mine and it has done this every once in a while for the whole time I have had it.


Miles/ condition/ history of your trans 2damtns?

25k on top of what? It couldnt have only 25k on the trans..?
 
I bought mine with 99k on the clock, and now it has almost 123k, so I have put almost 25k on it while I have owned it. The dealer supposedly serviced everything before I bought it, and I assumed they would have changed the tranny fluid/filter. I now suspect they did nothing for the tranny (my first time dealing with a dealer). It was my original erroneous thought which led me to not have it looked at when it started. It actually did OK for a month or two, and only started when the weather got really cold, so I thought maybe the fluid wasn't circulating well when it got too cold. Anyway, I had AAMCO transmissions look at it 2 or 3 times, and they always said it was fine, threw no codes, etc. When I had it in getting serviced the other day, they commented on it but didn't know what was causing it, but recommended a tranny flush and filter change. It needs quite a bit of other stuff done to it too, so I am just going to trade it in and be done with it.

As for the tranny itself, it seems to pull fine other than the intermittent episodes I've described. It pulls well on hills, does fine at low speeds, everything like that. I haven't towed much of anything with it, just pulled my brother's car a couple feet up the road to a wide spot once. The lights never have come on, really no other indicator of it being a problem.
 
used vehicle. Hard to tell what it was used for off road or towing before you got it. Issues with cold fluid could be fixed with the correct fluid or fresh fluid exchange usually. Its possible they used a standard replacement fluid that was not designed for the 4runner?

Anyone else that knows the history of thier transhad issues?
 
hkspwrsche said:
used vehicle. Hard to tell what it was used for off road or towing before you got it. Issues with cold fluid could be fixed with the correct fluid or fresh fluid exchange usually. Its possible they used a standard replacement fluid that was not designed for the 4runner?

Anyone else that knows the history of thier transhad issues?

I bought my 02 2WD 4Runner with 101k on it about a year and a half ago. It has 123k on it now. I am the second owner on it and it has over 4 pages of service records from Toyota dealerships. I had it flushed again at roughly 118k and have had no problems out of it. I have towed various things from a street bike to a tool box to even a 93 Civic Hatch on a heavy ass double axle Uhaul trailer.
 
Some people with 01-02 autos have reported transmission failures (planetary gear) after 100k miles. Not sure if it's a defect, because it has not happened to too many owners. No TSB's yet. However, there are a TON of 4Runners, Tacomas and Tundras with the same auto transmissions that have been ABUSED with no problems.

I would make sure that the previous owner did not abuse the truck. That is the most important thing.

I have 93k on my 4Runner and I have no problems.
 
p nut said:
Some people with 01-02 autos have reported transmission failures (planetary gear) after 100k miles. Not sure if it's a defect, because it has not happened to too many owners. No TSB's yet. However, there are a TON of 4Runners, Tacomas and Tundras with the same auto transmissions that have been ABUSED with no problems.

I would make sure that the previous owner did not abuse the truck. That is the most important thing.

I have 93k on my 4Runner and I have no problems.

Really? I didn't know anything about that. That worries me. Anything I should look for warning signs wise?
 
My mom has almost 100k on her '99 Limited and I have 137k on mine and no issues with either trannies or pretty much anything else outside of both our axle seals being replaced by 100k.
 
I have 180K on my automatic trasmission now. No problems, I have changed the filter and fluid at around 90k and I'm going to do it again as soon as the weather warms up.
 
BTLFED said:
Really? I didn't know anything about that. That worries me. Anything I should look for warning signs wise?

Just look for abnormal operation of the tranny or weird noises. Most say that the transmission would screech for a week or so before it gave. Also note that this is from a forum where people beat the snot out of their trucks, so it might be blown out of proportion.
 
My '98 has 76K miles. I flushed it at 70K. Transmission has never given me any issues, then again it better not at 76K lol.
 
p nut said:
Just look for abnormal operation of the tranny or weird noises. Most say that the transmission would screech for a week or so before it gave. Also note that this is from a forum where people beat the snot out of their trucks, so it might be blown out of proportion.

Well I haven't had any problems so I hope I have a good one LOL
 
Mine Died :(

I bought my '02 4Runner with 58k miles and the transmission went out at 61k miles. It jerked a couple of times and I took it to a reliable shop where they drained and changed the fluid. A week later I got off of a freeway and when I came to a stop my car died.

From then on whenever I tried to put it in gear the engine died. 3 different shops, last one a Toyota dealership, said the transmission was shot.

Luckily I was able to convince Toyota to honor the 60k drive train warranty even though I was about a thousand miles over. I got a new 'refurbished' transmission with a new 60k mile warranty.

I bought the car from a known Chevy dealer, it was a trade in. Inside the car I found a hitch adapter with the ball mounted, so the previous owner must have towed with it.

A very crappy Toyota experience and very intense couple of weeks as I was quoted at least $2k for a new transmission. But it all came to a good end. I'm approaching 90k miles, so 30k miles later, no problems at all.
 
Last edited:
Re: Mine Died :(

Wow, that sucks. Glad Toyota got you taken care of, though. I'm sure yours had to do with the previous owner towing the crap out of a big trailer. I hope that's the case, anyway.
 

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