I have a 95 Toyota Tacoma pickup. Have been pulling an 18' aluminum boat. I use to pull a heavier fiberglass one last year with no problems. But now it seems that the transmission oil temp light is coming on when I tow the boat. When not towing, and I start out to drive first thing in the morning, it seems to have trouble shifting into the highest gear, but it does eventually. Then, all of a sudden, it starts shifting fine. The oil level seems okay. Was wondering if a transmission flush job would be worth it, or should I have it tore downa and re-bulilt. I hate to think of the re-buid price. I also noticed that it doesn't have an external transmission cooler. I probably should put one of those on too, right? After all they say that heat is what kills a tranny. Any thoughts on this issue?

 

Get yourself a can of LUCAS TRANS. FLUID. It helped me out, and no problem since.

 

your trany should not shift in to o/d till the engine is up to operating temp. it is part of the warm up process.

DO not tow in o/d ..... bad

unless it is down hill (or flat/down hill)

Do not stress o/d

and yes get a tranny cooler, with an electric fan if affordable

good luck

pm if needed glad to help

 

Okay, help me out here. Overdrive? On or Off. I have a little button on my floor shifter to turn the over drive off. You are saying to go ahead an do that while towing? WOW! When you get up to around 50 MPH the engibe RPM's are pretty high when not in over drive. Also, I do plan on getting a tranny cooler, but why get an additional fan if I already have a big one attached to the front of the engine? Won't one impeed the other?