94 4runner transmission issues and advise needed
 

Hello! I recently bought a non Running 94 4runner with the 3vze and an auto transmission. After getting it running again, i took it out to do some light off-roading when the transmission started acting up. It would drive fine in 4lo, but wouldn't immediately go back into 4hi or 2hi and acted like it was in neutral. After a couple of minutes of cooling down it finally went into 2hi. While driving home, I noticed some slipping in 1st gear. After parking it over night, now when I drive it it gets stuck in 2nd gear until it warms up. Obviously its having issue and is on its way out. My question is, is it worth it to rebuild this transmission, or there is another 94 in the local junkyard with a manual that I could swap in. What is your guys experience with these things?

As a side note, if I were to manual swap it, what parts do I need to pull from the donor car? I managed to find a good write up on a swap, but he bought his transmission and didn't pull it himself, so their is little to no info on it.

I would check for codes before I decided on rebuild/replace. http://web.archive.org/web/201408161...31diagnosi.pdf

I probably shoulda mentioned this already, but there aren't any codes being thrown.

I’d think the next step would be to drain the trans pan into a clean container and see if there’s debris/contamination. Does the fluid smell burnt on the dipstick? ATF in a slipping trans has a noticeably acrid smell.