Hot Shifting Handle 1992 - Toyota 4 Runner

[LaurelRidgeR]

Hey all. New to this whole Toyota 4 Runner thing. I bought my cousins 1992 4 Runner with 137,000 miles for 3K. While it is a turd for power, it isn't all that bad for an everyday driver.

One thing though, I did drive it to walmart and back about 3 miles, up a hill, and the shifter knob (its an auto) was wicked hot almost too hot to touch near the bottom, also seemed to be giving out a lot of heat of the engine when I put some windshield fluid in there. Is this normal or do you think there can be some kind of a coolant / transmission issue?

 

[fourwd1]

Well, to start with, is the engine temp above normal ?

 

[LaurelRidgeR]

Well, to start with, is the engine temp above normal ?

Hey there, sorry I didn't see you replied

Yes the engine temperature is normal, but the bottom part of the automatic shifter as well as the whole console area is pretty darn hot. Is this a normal characteristic of this vehicle or is there supposed to be some sort of a heat shield or other apparatus that keeps the temperature down? It doesn't seem normal to be throwing that much heat out.

 

[KidVermicious]

The auto in my old truck blew off a lot of heat too, I could feel it through the tunnel. I don't think my shifter ever got too hot to touch though. If you're worried about it, wire up an aftermarket temp sensor into the trans fluid hoses and see what the actual temp is in there.

Maybe you've got a clogged trans cooler.

 

[LaurelRidgeR]

The auto in my old truck blew off a lot of heat too, I could feel it through the tunnel. I don't think my shifter ever got too hot to touch though. If you're worried about it, wire up an aftermarket temp sensor into the trans fluid hoses and see what the actual temp is in there.

Maybe you've got a clogged trans cooler.

I didn't realize that the V6 SR 5 has a transmission cooler? Just thought there was one for oil, but I will try your recommendation. It isn't scalding hot, but it's hot enough that you don't want to grab it and keep your hand on it for too long. I will check into the issue a little further. Thanks for the info.