New guy here.. a few quick Q's

[4clubber]

*EDITED/UPDATED BELOW*

Hey guys, just joined.

I've owned a 98 SR5 for about 3 years now (@185k now). I had an issue last summer with my radiator and subsequently my transmission too. I guess a line somewhere through my radiator broke and coolant got mixed into my tranny. I had no idea and must have driven on it for a short bit of time until finally it started slipping - at which time I took it into a shop for repair.

Well long story short - they basically patched it up instead of fixing the real problem (the tranny) by replacing the broken radiator and lines as well as flushing the tranny a few times just to get it running. $700, and a year later I think I now have to deal with the real problem of fixing the actual tranny. I'm taking it to a shop tomorrow morning to get the damage, but I'm terrified! Don't feel like dropping $2000 on it but I feel it's inevitable.

The truck started shaking/shuddering a few months ago right before I came home from school. It would only do it at low RPMS at around 20 mph, then it stopped for about a week and started doing it at around 55+ mph.. then it started doing it all the time at any speed during acceleration - foot off the gas = no shaking. I thought it might be the drive shaft or a joint somewhere under the car. I talked to a few people they said I'd know if it was that and that it could be related to a torque converter or a bad mount or something.. I'm thinking the tranny is shot.

a few things:

1 - (for the mechanics out there) - anyone dealt with similar problems with this generation? If so, what sort of issues am I looking at within the tranny? The symptoms include - shuddering/shaking at random speeds/acceleration rates & engine light (the little picture of it) lighting up yellow.

2 - If it does come down to me having to replace the tranny, I figure the trucks a 98, I'm probably not going to find too good of a tranny out there to straight up swap, so do I go for the rebuild, buy an aftermarket one new, or save up and do some sort of upgrade/full engine & tranny swap (to a V8 if possible) as sort of a pet project?

3a - I'm also in the market for a new exhaust system - found a flomaster 40 series I've hear good things about, is it worth it or should I just go stock?

3b - It's not actually my full exhaust that needs to be replaced, the muffler basically rotted off from the middle of the muffler through the tailpipe, everything else is in tact - do I go for? Is there a better way to go?


Thanks guys, I anticipate and appreciate the help in advance. Even if you can't answer all of my questions, any insight would help as I'm new to dealing with these sort of things but am always willing to learn from people with experience.

 

[bigtimeweb]

cant believe 'Im first to respond to this but forum search pink milkshake - which is what your orig problem was.

Edit

I might as well throw out there what I know.

There is a common mod people do to add a tranny cooler - because the tranny sort of uses the radiator as it is, and what you experienced was a failure of a gasket which mixed your coolant and trans fluid in the radiator - pink milkshake.

Common upgrades recently have been replacing radiator with aftermarket and the seperate trans cooler - disconnecting it from using the radiator - that way the fluids always stay seperate.

What you are experiencing most likely is torque converter shudder, which is probably from coolant getting into your tranny. Ive heard it rumored that there is some additive you can get to help remedy that but you are probably too late driving it that much.

search also for exhaust on here youll find a thread with some videos of different sounds. Flowmaster is grumbly

 

[Gerdo]

Also search strawberry milkshake. Basicly what happened is your trans cooler, that is inside the radiator, split and mixed with the coolant. Coolant inside the trans does bad things. The clutch pack is a kind of pressed paper that is fine in grand fluid but the coolant/anti-freeze/water can cause them to swell and fall apart.

As far as your exhaust. If it looks like the whole thing is falling apart you can either take it to a shop and have them replace it or buy a pre-bent replacement and do it yourself. Do you want a loud exhaust? From what I have heard the 40 is fairly loud. Remember that a 4runner will drone inside from a loud exhaust. I went thru some performance mufflers and went back to a stock type muffler. I couldn't take the drone and noticed no difference.

 

[kball]

It's wishful thinking but find out what code is being thrown and turning your CEL on. Could be solenoids in the tranny. The shuddering does not sound good though. Usually the pink/strawberry milkshake starts showing up as hard shifts. Seems like you are way past that.

 

[bigtimeweb]

It's wishful thinking but find out what code is being thrown and turning your CEL on. Could be solenoids in the tranny. The shuddering does not sound good though. Usually the pink/strawberry milkshake starts showing up as hard shifts. Seems like you are way past that.

kball he was saying pink milkshake a year ago that was fixed and he thinks that's pre-empted this trans problem now :wink2:

 

[kball]

kball he was saying pink milkshake a year ago that was fixed and he thinks that's pre-empted this trans problem now :wink2:

Yes, I realize that which is why I started off by saying it's wishful thinking... :cry2:

 

[4clubber]

yea, i had the pink milkshake thing last summer, they flushed the system i think 3 times and drove it for a few days with no discoloring of the fluid. ive also talked to a few different tranny places who have described how the clutch packs dissolve after about a year of being wet and can cause all kinds of damage..

so back to one of my original questions - what sort of fix am i looking at if that is the scenario? i understand that the tranny is made up of thousands of individual parts, but how much of a rebuild should i anticipate having to pay for?

as for the exhaust - i don't typically like the way V6's sound with performance exhaust, but having driven my truck basically without a muffler for a while, i don't mind the loud "drone" or whatever, i just sort of want it to be an intentional loudness, not a "hey look at me, im the guy with the car that sounds like a winter beater" sound. i just want something throaty thats not going to wake up the whole neighborhood as soon as i turn the truck on lol.

thanks again though for the help.. can't wait to see what they guy tells me tomorrow.. fingers crossed.

 

[kball]

How much of a rebuild? A complete rebuild. That coolant gets everywhere. You are going to have to either buy a rebuilt or reman tranny or find a used one. Or you could get yours rebuilt. Most people end up buying a used one with low miles from a junk yard or..?

 

[4clubber]

is car-parts.com a good site for used parts? i had a buddy direct me there.. prices seem fair but the description of the parts seems sketchy..

 

[4clubber]

What state are you in and 4wd or 2wd?

rochester, new york

6 cyl SR5 4wd

just got a call from the shop, said some sensor was tripping the check engine light and the cost to fix it was 400 something.. as a starting point.. jesus.

im still sticking to my guns that this is a tranny issue and will ultimately need to replace it. the shop i brought it to has a good rep and is owned by a friends uncle, so i doubt theyre giving me the run around. i actually called them back and told them to drive the truck first and feel the symptoms before they do anything to it.

 

[Ron Helmuth]

the dreaded milkshake

Sorry to hear what is happening to you.

post up your location-see how many of us do so in our avatar at left? This helps folks closer to you step up and offer their stuff to help you out.

This is why we are here-to help you out. If you are fairly handy at mechanics and have some tools we can likely save you some cash.

The tranny: It does sound like you're going to need a rebuilt or replacement tranny. Most folks find it cheaper just to pick up a low mile guaranteed replacement than to have theirs rebuilt. You might be amazed what a local junkyard has to offer. Considering your old one is at 185K if you can get a replacement one at 100K or less for a decent price then you're probably ahead of the game.

Going to a full V8 conversion and so on? Your call of course but you would not be asking us for advice if you truly knew the answer to that one right? That is going to be a whole lot of work and whole lot of money and are you really up to it? Rarely attempted and I think we could count the folks on one hand that have pulled that off with any measure of success.

The sensor tripping a code: If you can have the code read and deciphered correctly then folks on this forum or Yota Tech can help guide you on how to proceed. Fairly common is Oxygen sensor related stuff. You may not need a mechanic to simply buy a sensor and install it in place of the old one. The complexity of this is determined by the code your check engine light is throwing out.

The exhaust-the easiest and cheapest of your issues. Gerdo explains it pretty well.

Personally I would not recommend a 40 series. It's going to be cool for a minute then it will get real old and real loud just tooling your truck around town. A 60 series is a lot less obtrusive sound- a 70 even more like "stock". Magnaflow makes some darn nice stuff also. I have the Stillen exhaust which is basically a rebadged Magnaflow. I can hear it but it's not obnoxious to me or the neighbors....

Back to the milkshake-you need to be sure what was done a year ago. If the radiator was not truly replaced it should have been. If a Toyota radiator was put in it was likely too expensive and the whole thing could happen again in just a few years. Read up on "strawberry milkshake" here and on Yota Tech-many folks have gone with the KOYO A1998 replacement radiator. Above and beyond that some folks choose to go with an external tranny cooler.

Good luck it sounds like you'll be spending some cash.

 

[4clubber]

i bumped this thread just to give some people a heads up on my issue (maybe so others can avoid the headache)

after having gone through the motions of dealing with the pink milkshake last summer, i (as mentioned above) started feeling some vibrations coming from under the truck.. i was really worried my tranny was shot. i talked to a few people who have lifelong experience with dealing with cars/other machines and our consensus was.. we dont know what the hell it is.

so i brought to a friends uncles shop.. ran the computer and came up with some vapor seal code and tried to charge me 400+ for the part and labor completely ignoring the actual symptoms. so i told them to actually DRIVE the truck. they called me back and told me that, yes, it is a tranny issue and that they "can't do that sort of repair here"... so they charged me 84 bucks basically to take a hike. wow.

took it to the tranny shop i brought it to last summer with the milkshake and the mechanics there drove it once and called me back right away. its the effing rear universal joint on the drive shaft not the tranny at all.. really guys at the other shop? i even MENTIONED to check that to them , when i dropped it off.. unbelievable.

anyways, part and labor is 140, plus im having them service the tranny fluid just to be safe cuz the fluid was a little full and showing signs of leftover milkshake from a year ago. i dono how whatever happened to the u-joint happened, but it did. im thanking my lucky stars that i didnt need a tranny rebuild.. knock on wood.

 

[4clubber]

Sorry to hear what is happening to you.

post up your location-see how many of us do so in our avatar at left? This helps folks closer to you step up and offer their stuff to help you out.

This is why we are here-to help you out. If you are fairly handy at mechanics and have some tools we can likely save you some cash.

The tranny: It does sound like you're going to need a rebuilt or replacement tranny. Most folks find it cheaper just to pick up a low mile guaranteed replacement than to have theirs rebuilt. You might be amazed what a local junkyard has to offer. Considering your old one is at 185K if you can get a replacement one at 100K or less for a decent price then you're probably ahead of the game.

Going to a full V8 conversion and so on? Your call of course but you would not be asking us for advice if you truly knew the answer to that one right? That is going to be a whole lot of work and whole lot of money and are you really up to it? Rarely attempted and I think we could count the folks on one hand that have pulled that off with any measure of success.

The sensor tripping a code: If you can have the code read and deciphered correctly then folks on this forum or Yota Tech can help guide you on how to proceed. Fairly common is Oxygen sensor related stuff. You may not need a mechanic to simply buy a sensor and install it in place of the old one. The complexity of this is determined by the code your check engine light is throwing out.

The exhaust-the easiest and cheapest of your issues. Gerdo explains it pretty well.

Personally I would not recommend a 40 series. It's going to be cool for a minute then it will get real old and real loud just tooling your truck around town. A 60 series is a lot less obtrusive sound- a 70 even more like "stock". Magnaflow makes some darn nice stuff also. I have the Stillen exhaust which is basically a rebadged Magnaflow. I can hear it but it's not obnoxious to me or the neighbors....

Back to the milkshake-you need to be sure what was done a year ago. If the radiator was not truly replaced it should have been. If a Toyota radiator was put in it was likely too expensive and the whole thing could happen again in just a few years. Read up on "strawberry milkshake" here and on Yota Tech-many folks have gone with the KOYO A1998 replacement radiator. Above and beyond that some folks choose to go with an external tranny cooler.

Good luck it sounds like you'll be spending some cash.

i didnt even see your post until now. i mentioned the tranny cooler idea to the guy at the shop, he said hed look into it but they are pricey and hard to do on my truck? doesnt sound like what people around here are saying.. he is a transmission mechanic and from what i know of him a pretty honest guy (he went out of his way to save me money a few times).. maybe he just doesnt know about what i was talking about?

as for the exhaust.. i dont want to do a full system replace if i dont have to.. i think it was just the muffler that rotted out. im trying to find a place that will do a custom job for me. i dont mind the loud noise, but i hear what youre saying.. 60 series might be better.

now about the check engine code.. its p0440 or po440.. evap emissions system.. im assuming thats related to my exhaust not being functional, but i dono. any ideas of what i might need to do about that? the guy at the first shop quoted me at $450

 

[zcruiser]

i didnt even see your post until now. i mentioned the tranny cooler idea to the guy at the shop, he said hed look into it but they are pricey and hard to do on my truck? doesnt sound like what people around here are saying.. he is a transmission mechanic and from what i know of him a pretty honest guy (he went out of his way to save me money a few times).. maybe he just doesnt know about what i was talking about?0

External tranny cooler is actually quite easy and < $80.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...oler-transmission-cooler-install-3rd-gen.html

took it to the tranny shop i brought it to last summer with the milkshake and the mechanics there drove it once and called me back right away. its the effing rear universal joint on the drive shaft not the tranny at all.. really guys at the other shop? i even MENTIONED to check that to them , when i dropped it off.. unbelievable.

Well, that's relatively good news! I also thought my tranny was going and it turned out I still had my original plugs @ 130K.

If you haven't changed them yet, you might also want to check that because it also causes shuddering at hard torque (low speed) and high speed (55-60mph).