Transmission flush vs. transmission fluid drain and refill...

[CutthroatSlam]

I've owned my 2003 V8 4Runner for a year now, and I looked back at the service records the previous owner gave me. The last recorded transmission service was at 43000. The car currently has 215000. I've had issues with the rpms jumping to 3000 when I brake, and what seems to be shifting getting stuck when accelerating. The rpms get stuck at 2000 and don't seem to shift up. When braking, the rpms jump to 3000, and I have to tap the brake or gas to get it to downshift. Should I do a drain and fill? Or multiple drains and fills. I've heard that once it has symptoms (I'm assuming my symptoms are transmission-related, but I'm taking it to the shop this week), you shouldn't change the fluid. Any advice is appreciated

At this point, the damage is done and changing the fluid will do NOTHING to correct the problem.

 

[maxcs18]

Is there anything I can do? I'm 21 btw and this is my first car, so forgive my ignorance.

 

[CutthroatSlam]

Is there anything I can do? I'm 21 btw and this is my first car, so forgive my ignorance.

Your transmission is on its way out. Start pricing out transmission replacements. It does not sound like you’d be up for a DIY, so you’ll be staring at a $5k to $6k bill.

 

[RRosco]

I've owned my 2003 V8 4Runner for a year now, and I looked back at the service records the previous owner gave me. The last recorded transmission service was at 43000. The car currently has 215000. I've had issues with the rpms jumping to 3000 when I brake, and what seems to be shifting getting stuck when accelerating. The rpms get stuck at 2000 and don't seem to shift up. When braking, the rpms jump to 3000, and I have to tap the brake or gas to get it to downshift. Should I do a drain and fill? Or multiple drains and fills. I've heard that once it has symptoms (I'm assuming my symptoms are transmission-related, but I'm taking it to the shop this week), you shouldn't change the fluid. Any advice is appreciated

RPM's getting "stuck" at 2000? when you hit the brake to slow down or stop the RPM's jump to 3000? If true, this does not seem to be completely transmission related. Those issues just do not seem normal transmission fault symptoms, but as always I could be wrong.

If those symptoms are as described, you need to see if there are any stored fault codes in the computer. Any parts store can usually help you.

At home you can try the following;

Disconnect the negative battery cable for at least 30 minutes. This will clear any fault codes and reset the computer. Then see if anything changes.

Drain and Fill. If you "just want to see" at this point, measure the exact amount of fluid that comes out of the drain plug. Pull the fill plug and add the same amount of fluid. No need for new gaskets or doing the trans temperature level fluid adjustment at this point. just run it with new fluid and see if anything changes.

If any of the above two "at home" remedies help, then you can decide what to do.

I am afraid as CutThroatSlam said, the trans is toast. The above things that you can "try" are not expensive and easy to do.

 

[progress4m]

Is there anything I can do? I'm 21 btw and this is my first car, so forgive my ignorance.

There is also a chance that what you are describing is normal behavior of automatic transmission. When you say that "..rpms jump to 3K when braking..", if you are braking going downhill then automatic transmissions will downshift (causing rpms to go up) to provide engine braking and that is totally normal behavior of most modern automatic transmission.
I am not sure I understand what you meant by “shifting getting stuck when accelerating” … what happens if you push accelerator harder (to the floor), will it downshift?

On the side note: you have 4th Gen 4Runner and this section of forum is for 5th generation, so not to many people here may know specifics of 4th gen.