For the past few weeks my tranny has been acting up. First off let me say this, the transmission is from a 1995 4Runner that was rebuilt and had 12K miles on it when i bought it. I have not had any problems with it since we swapped it into my 4Runner until now.

We were able to splice and reconnect every wire except for one towards the back that my older 4Runner did not have. Also, my OD on/off light does not work anymore, maybe it is related to that singe wire, IDK. The truck will come out of OD if you hit the button though, so it knows what is going on.

Now for my problems. When cold and starting out, the tranny does not shift out of 1st gear until i actually get off the accelerator and then it shifts hard into 2nd. Then, i have lost 4th gear. It does not go into it if i start it cold and go somewhere. I dont care if it is 5 miles away or 50 miles away. It will not hit OD. However, if i park it, turn it off, then let it sit for about 15-20 mins (or as long as the drivetrain is still warm) then get going it will hit OD. I will only get OD for about 5 minutes until it ejects me out of the gear. I do not get the gear back.

I am thinking possibly solenoid, but I do not know since my OD on/off light does not work. If anyone knows these symptoms, i would really appreciate any and all help. I am not really in a situation to have it checked out my a mechanic or Toyota. Nor do i need to, my family is very mechanically inclined and can do pretty much anything we want to our vehicles out of our garage.

I also have a spare A340H out back, so if i need to get solenoids, i have them for free.

Thanks for reading (if you still are) and thanks for your input.
-Brandon

 

As far as the O/D, it either sounds like your ECT sensor (coolant temp sensor), or your cooling system in the truck is overcooling your coolant. The A340H will not shift into O/D and the torque converter will not lockup until the engine coolant reaches a temperature of 70 degrees C (158 degrees F), and if it's in O/D and the coolant temperature drops below that value, it will kick you out of O/D. You could also have a partially blocked hose that goes to the water bypass at the back of the engine (the ECT sensor is in the water bypass... if the flow through there is very low, the temperature could actually be lower than the rest of the cooling system.

For the hard shift, it could be a sticky solenoid, or it could be dirty fluid or a partially clogged tranny pump suction strainer. Have you flushed the tranny fluid lately? How long have you had the tranny installed with the same fluid?

 

I ahve had the tranny in my 4runner since late May. The tranny was dry when we installed it and hs fresh fluid in it. I have probably put 6-7k miles on it so far.

I do know about the whole hs to be a certain temp thing. Its just weird that all of a sudden i lose overdrive and it starts shifting hard out of 1st.

Thanks for the reply

 

bump ttt

 

shoulda bought a 5spd!

 

Right... well it's only been 13 hours since you posted, and considering that most people would have been sleeping for 6 to 8 of those 13 hours, maybe you should give it a bit more time... a little patience goes a long way.

While you're waiting, why don't you pick up a copy of the FSM, test your ECT sensor, ensure that the hose to the water bypass is clear, then drop your tranny pan and start testing your solenoid valves. Post back your results and see where that goes.

 

Also check your kickdown cable adjustment. Follow the FSM instructions for that.

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...autotrans.html

 

Good call, sorry bout that. Ill see what i can do. where is the water bypass located? better yet ill look it up in the FSM.

 

im going to try and change the sensor tmo since i have a spare tranny. bump

 

when you pulled it out the first time you should have done a 5spd swap, it would have been easier than putting the auto back in. I had a few of the same problems as you, like not going into 4th when cold. I puyt in a 5spd and never looked back. Sorry I'm not more help but the A340H is crap.

 

well i got a killer deal on a rebuilt tranny from a member here and couldnt pass it up. This tranny has performed flawlessly for about 3 months until now, which leads me to believe that a sensor is done for.

ya i would like to do a 5spd swap, but right now its not practicle for me and i cant afford to get everything i need.

 

Since it will go into OD after sitting hot for a while, then you lose it again after driving, I would look at temperature as the culprit for the lost OD.

If the ECM thinks the engine temp is too low, it prevents OD.

There's a sensor array on a bypass loop on the very back of the engine, just under the heater hoses.

This array has two temp sensors and a u-shaped ~~3/8" coolant hose.

One temp sensor goes to the temp gauge on the dash. The other goes to the ecm. If there are any corroded or broken contacts, or if the sensor face is plugged with goo, or if the sensor has failed, you'll get bad temp data and whacked OD. If you have a bubble in the coolant system, or the u-shaped hose is blocked, you'll have whacked OD.

I had this problem for a while: one day I pulled the u-shaped hose and sucked on both outlets with a rose gun. I burped the coolant system by filling it while the highest coolant hose on the engine was off, allowing air out the high point. And i repaired a dirty nearly-broken wire on the temp sensor. Not sure which of those solved the problem, but it was solved.

I have also read that you should "check for a short or dirty connection at the E17 ground", and "you should remove the thermostat and blow compressed air into both tubes connected by the u-shaped bypass hose, because mine was blocked and required 70 psi of air to blow a silicone plug out the thermostat housing".

The hard shift from 1st gear when cold sounds scary. Have you checked atf level using the proper sequence in the fsm? (warm, level, running, shift-through, then check).

If your solenoids are going bad, you could replace all four. Cheapest source:
http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me...e=A340solenoid

good luck

 

dude DCS your awesome, im going to try and check all the scenarios that you listed for me. thanks man!

 

Sorry that you're having problems, man. Best of luck in finding the culprit.

 

Thanks, i dont think it is anything you may have done since it has been working flawlessly all this summer. With this all of a sudden FUBAR im hoping its just a sensor of some sorts.

*Another update guys*
Im not getting a 4WD indicator in my dash anymore and it is not going into 4L. The front Driveshaft is spinning though.