Hello,

I recently bough my first 4Runner... 2001 Sport sr5 auto 115k miles. I've had it for about 5 months and love it so far, except for a few oddities. My situation is this.... It seems like there is a problem when I come to a stop and the transmission shifts into 1st gear. Almost every time I come to a stop everything seems normal until I let my foot off the brake to start moving forward. There is an immediate thud feeling like the transmission is dropping into first gear. It doesn't make a loud noise or anything, more of a feeling. Anyway I have been experimenting and if I slow down VERY gradually when coming to a complete stop it does not happen. Otherwise it will happen every time. There is no difference between when the vehicle is warm or cold, just happens all the time. I checked the transmission fluid and it appears to be red and clear of any debri, might be a little low but barely. It shifts very well otherwise. The only other thing is sometimes it seems to jerk when in OD at about 55mph if I accelerate. A little more gas and it shifts down and works fine. This happens pretty rarely. Just curious if anyone has any advice? I am not very mechanically inclined. As a side note, I did have to have the differential replaced a couple months back but I'm pretty sure this problem was occurring prior to that. Any help is much appreciated!

 

I have the exact same problem with a '99 4runner V6. Not sure what it is, though. Maybe someone who experienced the same thing could chime in even though this is an old thread.

EDIT: looks like we both posted in the wrong thread. I found this through google search and automatically thought I was in the 96-02 4runner section.