I had a failure with my automatic transmission in my 94' 4runner v6. Sometime soon my plans are to modify my 4runner to be more capable off road than it already is. 2 days ago I was traveling to a trailhead outside of PHX, it required quite a few mountain climbs up the highway and then an accent up the mountain via a dirt road and my A/T Oil Temp light came on, i drove a mile or so further and pulled over and stopped and checked out the fluids, etc, everything was good. I let the truck rest, started it back up and the light was off, drove about 3 more miles up the mountain in 4hi and all of a sudden all my HI range gears did not work. The only way I could drive the truck was to put it in 4LO (4HI did not work), the transmission would shift through all the gears in 4LO. Infact, even in hi range it would shift into all the gears, but it would pop out. I drove back down the mountain in 4lo to the highway then my buddy towed me back to PHX. After reaching PHX, I tried high range again, this time all the gears worked, everything was fine, even when I accelerated quickly.

I currently have the truck at a reputable shop here in Scottsdale. I don't know if the tranny is shot or if I can still drive it like i did the other night. I would consider putting in a 5 speed if the modifications were not too extensive/costly. If I have to replace the auto, I figure it'll cost me 2k anyway so I figured this might be a starting budget for some tranny upgrades. Someday I was also planning on installing crawler gears or a dual crawler.

My question to you is what do you think is a wise decision in my situation. I think it is inevitable that I will need a new transmission sometime soon, although for non abusive highway driving it may run another 2 months? who knows. I do use my truck fairly often off road, but yet it is also a daily driver but I definitely want to make it more capable off road at the same time and see this as a possible opportunity. Based on my current budget to replace the auto trans, I wonder if a swap to a 5 speed would be possible. I realize it would probably cost more to swap a 5 speed, but if its in a feasible price range I may be interested. I figure a crawler setup is in order too (maybe down the road) and a 5 speed might work better with this setup.

The shop has not dianosed anything yet, tomorrow morning I will be talking with them however. I just want to do my homework before I spend the money to have it replaced or repaired. This is the first time I have EVER had a problem with it or the truck for that matter, been great all 145,000 miles.

Thanks alot for your help.

Brian Westfall

 

From the symptoms its not your transmission but your transfer case that needs to be looked at.

 

Have the tranny flushed and change the oil in transfer case. Do not let them sell you a new auto tranny untill the one you got doesn,t work at all any more. Just keep an eye on the AT temp light. Every thing should be alright, the tranny just got a little hot thats all. FOR a 5 SPEED $ $ $ YOU WILL NEED .and a transfer case also.

 

You'll need a 5-speed manual, transfer case, speedo cable, manual tranny gear cluster, clutch pedal assembly, clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, flywheel, ECU, wiring harness, and maybe a different bell housing. Not to mention a lot of patience trying to work out the little problems, especially wiring.

Stick with the auto.

 

Or sell your truck and buy one with a 5 speed; it would probably give you fewer problems.