Hello everyone,

I have a 91 4runner (2wd) with a 3.0 and an automatic transmission.

To make a very long story short, the car has been sitting in the garage with it's transmission fluid drained since April. After doing maintenance work on the engine and refilling the tranmission fluid yesterday, I started the car. The engine ran fine, but when I put the transmission in reverse, the car would barely move. The same happens in drive.

I've read previous posts about automatic transmissions slipping, but I think this one may be the result of leaving the transmission drained for an extended period of time rather than normal wear. I had never experienced any transmission problems before this.

There are no abnormal noises coming from the transmission. There aren't any codes being thrown and the fluid level is good. This is the only auto I've had, so I'm beyond confused.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

How do you know the ATF is at the proper level since it has to be check with the transmission at normal operating temp and you said it would barely move. Also are you checking the level with the engine running?

 

I agree- check the level again. There is no reason why sitting with no fluid would hurt anything if the trans was working ok to begin with.

-John

 

how much atf did you put in on fill up? did you run the shifter through the gears to circulate the fluid or just put it in and drive it? why was it drained empty for so long?