please tell me its not the tranny

[swaeRUNNER]

Ok . I just bought my grandmas 90 2wd 22re runner. I know its nothing special. But the body is straight, paint is ok, interior is clean with no rips, and the engine was just tuned up before I got it. It had been parked for about a year and she was gonna get rid of it. Well when I was going over it with my Gpa, he said there was one issue. The ovrdrive didn't work and I would have to take it to be looked at. I bought it anyway figuring I could do something with it. Oh I bought it for 500.

Well, on the drive home, I immediatly noticed it wasn't shifting past third gear. My questions: 1. Is there a four speed auto tranny? 2. What can I check or how can I determine if it is the tranny and not the overdrive solenoid or something else. 3. Would it be worth it to put a new trans in it. They run quite a bit don't they. About four times what I paid for the actual vehicle is the cheapest I caan find one.

Anoher note, when I drained the tranny fluid, which was extremly dark, I found some metal shavings, very little, but they were there.

 

[Bad_Vision]

metal shavings are bad normal all transmissions have them when your fluid comes out metallic silver then you know you have a issue. I would look for a tranny shop and have it rebuilt, you can get trannys for 4runners all day long for 200-300$ with 150k on them.
being a 2wd you can expand your search for a 2wd pickup, try posting a craigslist wanted at for the tranny a lot of guys who 4 wheel these trucks do engine swaps and they sell the trannys for 50$ all day long.
If you can wait youll find a deal local im sure.
Meanwile put a new filter in the tranny run all new fluid for say 100 miles without beating on it. check the new fluid and see if it has metal in it. If no metal is present then the tranny is probally not broken but has a valve issue or tourqe converter issue.
Option 3 is to just take it to a tranny shop for diagnosis only if they can tell you whats wrong we can tell you what you really should pay to fix it.

 

[the_dingman]

I'm a manual trans guy, but I've seen a ton of posts on the autos...

A lot of them indicate that shifting problems can be caused by wiring (solenoids), and sensors (including the throttle position sensor). Do some searching and you might be able to find some places to start.

 

[fourwd1]

Ok . I just bought my grandmas 90 2wd 22re runner. I know its nothing special. But the body is straight, paint is ok, interior is clean with no rips, and the engine was just tuned up before I got it. It had been parked for about a year and she was gonna get rid of it. Well when I was going over it with my Gpa, he said there was one issue. The ovrdrive didn't work and I would have to take it to be looked at. I bought it anyway figuring I could do something with it. Oh I bought it for 500.

Well, on the drive home, I immediatly noticed it wasn't shifting past third gear. My questions: 1. Is there a four speed auto tranny? 2. What can I check or how can I determine if it is the tranny and not the overdrive solenoid or something else. 3. Would it be worth it to put a new trans in it. They run quite a bit don't they. About four times what I paid for the actual vehicle is the cheapest I caan find one.

Anoher note, when I drained the tranny fluid, which was extremly dark, I found some metal shavings, very little, but they were there.

Start by checking the O/D solenoid. It's simple and the logical place to start if it's not shifting into O/D.