So after slowing my idle down to normal idle speed, my tranny is still shifting hard into drive. The weird thing is is that it's not all the time. If i put it into drive and it shift hard, brake and do it again, it smoothly shifts. It seems to only happen after not driving it for a few hrs and it's only the inital shift. It's not shifting hard into any other gear just into 1st Now wat does this mean? tranny going bad/ first gear a little worn?

The other thing i'm wondering is that when i get on the freeway in the morning, it seems like the tranny fluid needs to get warmed up before it can shift into 4th. When i'm speeding up to 60mph, it hangs onto 3rd gear a little longer than normal. Does Tranny fluid need to be warmed up a little for the tranny to shift right?

Thanks guys

 

Yes the transmission needs to get to operating temperature before shifting into overdrive. Also the same case for when your transmission shifts hard, the warmer your tranny is, in my experiance, the smoother it shifts. But yea in our 4Runner auto trannies the fluid has to get to operating temperature before shifting successfully into overdrive.

 

alright makes sense. well when it shifts hard into first, do you think that it's wearing out the gear or damaging something? it can't be good cause the whole truck lurches.

 

i have (had) that problem also...a new filter and fresh fluid cured it for me

 

Mine has a bad solenoid so what it really do is sometime it will not run on D position so I suggest you might have a bad solenoid inside the tranny. Solenoid #2 you should be looking for if only it occur on the very first run only.

 

have you checked your fluid level in your tranny at all?? Sounds like there isn't enough almost. I would try some Lucas Oil Transmission stop slip i had to do that in my 66' Thunderbird cuz it lurched forward just like you were talking about and it fixed it.

 

When was the last time the fluid was changed? It sounds like it could use some fresh atf

 

adjust the kickdown cable perhaps (or whatever you call that cable with the rubber boot housing, check online repair manual). I'd post the link but I'm on dial up and accessing the manual might lock me up. IIRC that is one possible solution for "harsh engagement into any gear".

Mine shifts a little hard too sometimes, into reverese more so than drive.

 

also you can re-adjust your linkage, put it in park, loosen the linkage and make sure its on park in the cab then tighten it back up

 

yeah good idea i think i'll flush it. I got it a yr ago so don't know when it was changed last. the 3.slow was rebuilt about 20k ago but not sure bout the tranny. Well last time i checked the tranny fluid it seemed fine (man that dipstick is a little weird to read). I'll check it again tomorrow morning. I'm thinking that since i don't know when the last time the tranny was flushed, i'll just go ahead and do it.

 

This is from the 93 FSM for the A340H: http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...30generalt.pdf

Here's the rest of the 93 FSM: http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...fsm/index.html

 

ok when i checked the fluid for the tranny this morning, the level was at the "hot" zone. So does this definitely mean there's too much fluid?
just wondering, if there is too much fluid, what does that do to the tranny?

 

To check the ATF it should be at normal op conditions (hot), with the engine running, and after just cycling through all the the gear choices. The cold check is just an approximation.

 

mt goat is correct. it should be hot, as in just driven. what is the mileage on it?

 

oh alright i just assumed it would be like any other fluid where you check it cold. i'll check it when i get home in a couple hours.
spec wise for my tranny...not sure at all. i got my runner about a yr and change ago. when i bought it march of 05 it had 194k on it w/ the block rebuilt @ 183k. As for the tranny...not sure at all. I know this truck was used for a lot of highway so it might be totally original. what do you guys think for the chances of it being an orginial tranny that seems to be working perfectly except for this? (shifts awesome, nothin else quarky)

this weekend i'm def gonna get around to an atf change. one thing that sucks about buying a used car is that you have no idea when fluids, parts, etc were changed so you're kind of in the dark as to when things need to be changed. anyways...as to changin the atf:
Is it just as simple as 1) take out the drain plug and let drain
2) take the pan off and replace gasket
3) put pan back on w/ drain plug
4) refill through dipstick?

 

if its the origional atf thats quite a long time, usually its done at 100k intervals (on most cars). If it was done at 100k, then its time for it to happen again anyway. Usually theres a filter to change, but im not sure on the exact procedure for your trans (never worked on toyota automatics before).

 

My 94 shifts hard also, and i havent changed the fluid yet but it smells burnt. I have the fluid and filter. It will be interesting to see if it helps.

 

i just checked mine this morning and color/smell wise it looks pretty good. not that red but pretty red. doesn't smell burnt either. this weekend i'll def plan on changing the fluid and filter. i'd like to see how my tranny's lookin on inside too, so this will give me a chance. man i hope i don't see any chunks...

 

nope can't be the grade cause always parked on flat ground in my driveway. wish it was that simple...

 

any update?