Blown front pump seal.

[anthonynavarro]

There was an ice storm here in Atlanta early in the year. I used 4WD in my 2000 4Runner Limited and it got stuck in 4WD. I took it to the shop and they said the transfer case shift motor was bad. I bought a new shift motor, and they said it was missing the lever that turned the gear. They then tried to manually time the shift motor by hand and failed. The shop said they can just shift the car back to 2WD manually or I can find another shift motor to install. I had them shift it 2WD because I needed to drive for work. The next morning on the way to work the front pump seal blows and all the transmission fluid leaks out. I had to tow it back to shop less than 12 hours after I got it. :rant:

The shop is saying they need to replace the entire transmission but they are not sure if the transmission is bad. And the only way to diagnose the transmission is to pull it out and check to see what caused the seal to blow. They said if it's something the tech messed up he would pay to fix it. If it's not, I'm responsible to pay over $2,000 for a transmission.

What's a fair price to pay for a used transmission install on a 2000 4Runner Limited?

Would manually shifting the car into 2WD after being stuck in 4WD blow the seal?

Or would me driving it in 4WD for a month cause the transmission to blow?

Would I still need to fix the transfer case shift motor problem, or is what the tech did (manually shift to 2WD from 4WD) safe?

 

[Singtoe]

You need to stay away from that repair shop. They should have been able to fix the transfer case instead of blaming a missing lever. I think they ordered the wrong part.

On a side note. The transfer case is a separate system from the tranny so the should not be any relevance. Unless the transfer case was stuck in low and you tried to drive it at highway speeds.

Now- the tech could have over filled the transmission - if he filled it up at all causing the front seal to blow out.

What's a fair price to pay for a used transmission install on a 2000 4Runner Limited?

Would manually shifting the car into 2WD after being stuck in 4WD blow the seal?

Or would me driving it in 4WD for a month cause the transmission to blow?

Would I still need to fix the transfer case shift motor problem, or is what the tech did (manually shift to 2WD from 4WD) safe?

Fair price is market based. But I do think $2000 is too much.
Shifting manually in 2wd after being stuck in 4wd will not blow the seal.
Driving in 4wd for a month will not blow the seal.

And yes, you still need to fix the transfer case shift motor. Who knows what the tech did.

Please keep this in mind that this is my opinion and that there is not any hard facts to back this up.

 

[anthonynavarro]

Thanks Singtoe!!

If they find it was their fault, then they'll fix it. If not, I'm definitely going somewhere else. How many hours does it take to install a tranny? The shop quoted me 8 hours.

I get the feeling they might of did something on purpose just to get me to spend more money.