Andrew LB

I'm in the process of diagnosing an issue with my fathers 1999 4Runner SR5 V6 2WD with the 2nd Generation TRD Supercharger. The truck has 146,000 miles and has always been driven very easy except for a couple times when I borrowed it

A couple days ago there was what felt like the transmission slipping right after lifting off the accelerator pedal somewhere around the 45-50mph cruising speed. It doesn't do it in any other gear and is hard to replicate. It took a half hour of driving for me to replicate the symptom because I wanted to rule out things like the u-joints etc.

In the morning, I'm going to start off by looking at the usual suspects one at a time unless someone here can point me in the right direction. Automatic transmissions are the one thing I try to avoid when working on cars. I've spent the last decade tuning german and italian luxury cars and exotics as well as done complete rebuilds on a number of Audi engines... so an Toyota a/t can't be all that tough.

my plan:
- use my diagnostic cable/computer to look for engine codes and data log a road test.
- check trans fluid levels.
- check transmission control module to make sure both grounds to the left fender and intake manifold are sound.
- test vehicle speed sensor.
- check throttle position sensor.


If there is any other simple checks you guys can recommend, i'd appreciate it. Worst case scenario probably involves spending $250 on a master rebuild kit and tearing the transmission completely down. I recently rebuilt a friends turbo-400 a/t, so as you guys can imagine, I don't really want to do another rebuild. Times like this are why I always drive a manual transmission.

thanks in advance,
-Andrew