02Runner

I'm posting this up here and on Mud, fyi. I'm hoping the resources (you) are still here in the numbers we once were.

I am trying to troubleshoot my daughter's 4Runner that has 126,000 miles on it (the trans). There is a shudder that occurs infrequently right around 40-45 mph.

This is what I've learned from various sites:

-It has the A340E not the F trans because it's 2WD
-It uses Toyota WS fluid, Lifetime fluid - actually 100K recommended or heavy use/more frequently
-It is a sealed unit
-Potential troubles could result from one of the numerous solenoids going bad
-The ECM might need to be flashed to correctly interpret the data it receives. wtf?
-Torque converter going bad, again wtf?
-Plugs or Coil packs misfiring
-Bad Throttle Position Sensor
-Transmission going bad, another wtf?

Most the the potential problems or solutions can be found online.

Ok, so on to my questions.

*Have any of you used another brand of tranny fluid that is compatible with WS even though they may NOT have chosen to pay Toyota the licensing fees to have it listed on their container?

*Have you flushed your tranny fluid? If so, did you do a gravity drain, power flush or another method?

*Those who have, if you did it at a non dealer site, what brand fluid did you use and what are the specs?

*Have any of you replaced a solenoid or sensor on a 4th Gen because of shifting issues? If so, please elaborate.


As a life long Toyota loyalist, I am beyond disappointed with the potentials. Really makes me want my fuel efficient 40 back, where the most frequent mystery is the lean.

I ask here because I know a few of you frequent other sites and might have come across this before. Additionally, my 100 series also has this trans but the 4WD variant with 80K miles on it so I'm going to need to address this very soon with that one as well.

Thanks in advance. Hopefully I can collaborate all this info into one place instead of having to piece together 10,000 bits of info from a zillion sites.

02Runner

:crickets: