quadfmxrider

I have an 02 4runner sport with 140k miles on it, engine oil changed regularly, i didnt buy it till it had say 110k miles on it but body and carpet etc is pristine, car fax showed no wrecks etc,
so my friend owns the express oil change in the town my parents live in, and if I supply the oil and filter etc he does it for free for me fixing his computers from time to time, i change the oil every 3-4k miles never let it hit 5k miles.
So why I am telling all of this is last time I take it in, he told me my air filter would prob need cleaning the next time, I already have a K&N system on order, told them id take care of it , next he says you got transmissions problems, he said the fluid was dark and they didnt recommend changing or whatever because rhat would do more good than bad and I had prob 30k miles left on the trans before it would need to be built or replaced, I know nothing about auto transmissions, so I wanst planning on keeping it much longer i am up for a job interview and if i get the promotion 4runner is gone possibly or I thought about keeping it b/c i thought it was in great shape
and get a vintage car something i would not drive daily, keep the 4 runner for messy rainy days or what ever,

ok so where if I have to do you rec i get a good used tras, motor is in good shape, and please put an est ball park price on trans cost
i always heard rebuilding an auto trans was just going to be problematic.

so lets say i go check the trans fluid what should i look for, color wise flr ex if its red or burgandy your find if its blk your not.
i know whereto get honda stuff left and right but not yota, need hellp here fellas

kball

Sounds like your "friend" is doing the quicky lube rip off tactic on you. If the fluid is dark red you're probably fine. Does it shift okay? Are you noticing any problems with the transmission?

quadfmxrider

i know the owner, and the guy who does brakes who actually knows his stuff but he was not there, this was just some random guy
shifts fine,
only time it shifts hard is when im kicking it in to pass or cruise drops to pass
thanks bro,
took a load off my mind
i was thinking of selling at one time but i think im going to buy a vintage car and keep this for a rainy day driver and home depot trips and some trail rides
if all works out i live less than 2 blocks from work

kball

Exactly, he was a random mechanic there that probably did not know you know the owners. So he was giving you the "you're screwed" speech. One time I took an old car into one of those places and was told the tranny still had the ... get this, "break in" fluid! They told me it was only supposed to be in there for the first 5000 miles and I've left it in for almost 100,000! Luckily they caught it in time and can change it for me... Yeah right, the manual says it never needed to be changed. It was a manual tranny. No such thing as "break in fluid". I can't stand those quick lube places.

So if your fluid still looks red I'd say your okay but if it hasn't been changed you would want to look into that.

sharrack

Using my common sense............If he told me I had tranny problems.....what could changing the fluid possibly do ?
So instead of it going in 6 months.....it will go in 3 months..........your still in trouble...........if he's right.

I'd just do a fluid exchange which is really easy .
Should be a write up on it somewhere and you'll exchange about 12 qts.

Kenny S>

quadfmxrider

I have a blown fuse and I have a few other things I need to do to my truck tomorrow and I will check it out then, thanks for the advice.