Symptom- went to leave driveway and when I move shifter from park to any gear setting, it stays in neutral. Truck will roll freely. Parking pin does drop when into park. Last few drives have had strong , hard shifts from first to second only for the first 1-3 times when starting and stopping, then it would transition smoothly in all gears for the rest of the drive.

checked- Tran fluid level is normal. Not sure about color. Also was able to shift in out of 4wd settings, no affect on going into gear.

I'm the second owner of this rig. Bought in 2011 w 235k mi, now @ 325k. I know first ownr had work done on the trans
​but not sure @ what mileage, so IDK the last fluid service.

trouble shooting- where do I start?

 

That Toy's had a good life! You answered your own question. If you don't know when's the last time, that's where you start. Fluid and filter change. Prob do another fluid change after a month or 2, or next 500-1k mi, my hunch. Any codes?

 

Yep, that was my intuition too. Thanks.

 

I've read some posts else where that flushing may be better then drain and fill if the auto trans has not been serviced or is well overdue. Claims that draining will only loosen and move material and dirt into new and perhaps unwanted "sensitive" places in the tranny and may cause new harm. is this BS or good advice? is there a color chart for determining best service?

 

Flushing prob is better, but I can't chime in from personal experience. I went with annual fluid changes on my Accord which has a used trans unit and a trans code hasnt returned in over a yr. Cheap insurance.
I think Toyotas have removable trans filters unlike some models of Honda (correct me if I'm wrong), so I'd get a couple filters to replace each other after the overdue service and hopefully that should delay the actual failure. I dont know about color charts, sorry, but if it smells burnt, that's one way to tell. Fresh ATF should be pink-red. Brown is used. I'm guessing whatever these units use are the same as those I had used on a couple Camrys. Just use the correct type for yours.

 

ChrisFix on YouTube did a video about automatic transmission fluid including flushing vs drain and refilling.


I do not have any personal experience with transmission flushes but I hope the video helps.

 

Nice FAQ vid.

Yeah, to be safe, I'd just stick with drain/refills. But either prepare for some trans work, or swapping another rebuilt unit, if yours gets worse instead of getting better.

Maybe get a strainer under there to catch any metal pieces, worst case scenario.

Good luck