gray420

Back story can be found here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/c...o-away-206500/

2000 4Runner, 3.4 auto, 149k
After the above post, I took off the timing cover and checked the belt out. It looked ok, so I planned on doing a major service in the next month or so to include drive belts, t-belt, sensors, plugs, and wires. A few weeks ago, I noticed the engine was very hot, so I pulled over and lifted the hood. Coolant was coming from the top hose by the timing cover through a very small cut I suppose I put there when I removed the timing cover. I cranked the heat up, watched the temp fall and babied it 2 miles back to my house. I have no idea how long it ran hot. The next day, I went to the store and bought a new hose and coolant. I put the hose on ( had to trim the end off a bit) and started it while pouring the new coolant in. I kept an eye on the temp guage for the next week. Nothing.

Two nights ago, I was running around downtown after work for about 15 minutes, then headed home. I noticed on the drive around that the transmissions shifts were getting kind of jerky. I have to travel a 3 mile section of hihway to get over to where I live. When I was on the ramp to get o, I heard a pinging sound, which I thought was a loose heat shield I haven't had a chance to fix. When the sound got louder, the engine started to loose power and I pulled over to the right lane. A few seconds later, the engine died out. I got into the breakdown lane and tried to restart, the starter engaged, but no luck.

Opening the hood, I saw thin black smoke, but couldn't pinpoint where it came from, and it smelled a bit like burning rubber. I felt the radiator, not too hot, but the top hose where it went into the engine was very warm. I got back into the car and turned the key on, saw the temp guage was pegged int he red. I cut the heat on, but no hot air came out. There were no fluids under the car. I had a friend come get me and left the car there overnight.

Next day, I arranged for a tow company to meet me out there. I got there first and for s + g decided to try and start the car. It started right up, idled fine, went into gear and drove fine. I was just 3 miles from my house, so I cut the heat on and drove home slow, not really pushing it on the highway. It got warm but not hot, and as I backed into my driveway, the pinging sound started again and it seemed like it wanted to stall out. I cut the truck off, popped the hood. Once again the radiator was not hot, but the top hose was. Checked the oil and it looked fine, no cloudiness and the level was good. Opened the radiator, and the water was cloudy. Under the truck there is some kind of fluid, mostly clear and slightly oil kind of sprayed under, from the oil pan back (or so). To me it kind of smells like gear oil.

So any ideas where I'm at? I was hoping that the timing belt had broke, but it started and drove home. Now, I'm thinking something worse. Does someone want to break the bad news to me, or should I do my major service (t-belt, etc) and see what happens?

BigBallsMcFalls

how does the tranny dipstick look ?

transmission jerky, could be coolant in transmission.

when oil and water mix and heat up in the engine jacket it makes all sorts of odd noise and that stuff gurgles around and temps go nuts and ....well verify it isn't water in tranny right away


any previous water or temp issue can cause an 'almost ready to fail' tranny cooler to fail. so this could
have been precipitated by bad thermostat or other cooling issue. but you don't know till you grab the atf dipstick
and look at it

gray420

Good call, fluid on tranny dipstick looks like strawberry milkshake. What next? It is possible that I damaged the engine or do you think the condition when it warms is a result of the coolant/tranny fluid mix?

BigBallsMcFalls

what is next ? search 'milkshake' on these forums


No you didn't damage the engine I bet. those are unkillable

but the tranny may be on it's way out. or dead.

1) do NOT drive it

2) replace radiator with OEM, or go with new rad + external tranny cooler

3) replace thermostat

4) have a professional cooling system flush where an added chemical
will remove hidden oils. do this twice, then fill 3rd time with Toyota red
and a bit of the oil removing chemical

5) have your transmission professionally computer flushed: a LOT

drop pan, pour in new ATF until the stuff that dribbles out is red only

replace filter, pan, and computer power flushed with at least 3 times, until
it is pure red.

this is gonna be about 45 quarts total

6) Your tranny may not survive ! so plan on $1700 tranny rebuild if it ends up slipping,
or find a fresh one in a junkyard somewhere

-----------
do it yourself, maybe 300 bucks parts and oils and juices. hard to really scour that
transmission by yourself though....

pay a shop, 600-800 bucks. and that is if your tranny didn't get damaged too bad.

-------
water is extremely toxic to the automatic transmission, that is your biggest worry. will the
bands and clutch packs and solenoids survive ? they MIGHT....it is guesswork. it sounds
like you drove it a bit, but easy... while the problem existed. it may survive.
----

search the forums, this has happened a lot, and I had a shop fix me up. so far, so good.

mt_goat

Sorry to see another one go down. Yeah its an expensive mess to clean up. Many have had this problem, you're now a member of the strawberry milkshake club.

Some threads you'll want to read:

http://home.centurytel.net/stevenjac...sh/tranny.html

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/r...-fluid-116812/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/9...-trans-117503/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/t...-burst-126886/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/b...cooler-126953/

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/m...y-yard-207553/

One tip is do most of your tranny flushing with cheap ATF, then switch to the good stuff near the end of it all.

hross14

Damn--that sucks--gotta love manual tranny....

I thought for sure the HG was going to be blown--

Good luck

gray420

Ok, so I got a new radiator, ordered a trans filter, and have coolant and atf ready to go. I don't get the filter till friday, should I flush the trans and coolant and then drop the pan on friday. I'm going out of town and don't want it to sit with that stuff in there. In the Tranny Flush write-up, he changes the filter and drops the pan, THEN flushes the fluid. Does it make sense to get all of the bad stuff out today, then go in on Friday and change out the filter, etc...

BigBallsMcFalls

no the filter may have a great big blob of foam stuck inside it, wasting effort

it makes sense to drop the pan and filter now and let the thing drip dry if you are gonna have it sit

and then pour in ATF via fill tube (dipstick) until what drips out is rock solid clean



now you can wait....but time is crucial. that water/foam is eating your clutch packs


Then replace pan and filter, gasket and bolt it up, and then put it on jackstands, start engine,
and start the the process of flowing 30 quarts of new ATF through it via the cooling lines, big old catch bucket, and fill tube,
until it is 100% no foam coming out. run through the gears a bit, all
positions, keep replacing new ATF. you should use up 30 or 40 quarts
just as waste.

makes even more sense to have a transmission machine do it for you, it can operate
the solenoids and pump fluid through it all day long.

brian2sun

I'm a little worried about your engine because it got hot for an unknown amount of time, and that happened more than once. I hate to say it, but usually that will cause some form of damage whether it be to your valves, heads, gaskets, etc... I hope I'm wrong but I would save up some $$ now for a possible rebuild in the not-so-distant future.

BigBallsMcFalls

yeah, the additional pinging and power loss symptoms could be -bad-

it might have been the transmission locking up on you, transmission sounds

or it could have been the pistons seizing or trying to seize

definitely keep taxi money on you anytime from now on, out
driving the rig, once you get it all fixed. transmission or other could
just let go on you

gray420

Engine might have gotten hot for a number of minutes at most. The strange thing was I couldn't get any heat to come out.

As of right now I have the new radiator installed, but not hooked up, and the pan drained and bolts removed but the pan still attached. I have to go to work in a few and tomorrow am I'm leaving to go out of town. Would it make sense to add some fluid and run it for a few, then drain it out again? Or should I just leave it as is? It's gonna have to wait until next week to get worked on, I'm outta time.

brian2sun

Unfortunately a few minutes is enough to warp a head and/or blow a head gasket. The fact that you have no heat would lead me to believe something like this may be your issue.

mt_goat

Its pretty common for the heat to not work when the coolant level is low. The air in the system forms a block near the heater hoses.