As the title states, about 1 week after completely flushing out the tranny fluid and replacing it with Royal Purple for the 1st time but flushing the fluid every 60,000 miles, my wife claimed the tranny got stuck in gear and did not move forward while in drive nor in reverse. She claimed it finally went forward and she got it up to 50 mph then it started shaking so she parked it and called me. I told her to just park the car and I had it towed to a shop. As you might guess, after the 4runner got to the shop it worked just fine. They checked for error codes and ran it on all gears and 4wd and everything else you could think of and could not find anything wrong with it. I should also add that I've flushed the tranny fluid approximately every 60,000 miles.

FYI, it is a 1996 4wd 3.4 v6. It has 183,000 miles on it and is original with no prior problems.

 

I'm not a fan of Royal Purple but if it's been working for you that's all that counts. It's really hard to say what caused the tranny problem. See what it does after sitting all night. Maybe it will act up again when it's cold or sits for a long period of time. Mike

 

Maybe the wifey slipped it into 4wd by accident (shaking) or neutral on the 4wd shifter (no forward or reverse). It wouldn't be a first.

 

She says "NOPE". Any other suggestions? I am lost.

 

its probably the royal purple. that stuff is kinda hyped up

 

When she picked it up from the shop she didn't have any problems. And we went to dinner after she that and still no problems. It shifted perfectly. No leaks or burnt smell or anything.

 

Anyone have any idea???

 

only thing i can think of is to drop the tranny pan and look at the filter, mine was clogged completely and would'nt let me shift past first

 

It may have been clogged after the fluid flush because we have not had any problem since. But if it was clogged how did it get unclogged?

 

replace the filter?

 

Before flushing the tranny, did they drop the pan to clean it and the filter?

 

No they just flushed it. Crap I guess it's too late for that. Let's say the filter was dirty...could that have cause a temporary problem. Could the royal purple oil have cleaned out all the sludge and caused that temporary issue? My wife has had a few issues since like it jumped gears once while she was driving and had random shakes but other than that no more issues. ???

 

Some tranny "experts" discourage flushing an older tranny 'cause it might loosen up crud and clog things up. Perhaps your tranny is experiencing that phenomenon. It sounds like the clogging is eventually freeing itself up so perhaps the worst is over with. Sure wouldn't hurt to pop in a new filter though. Not much you can do beyond that other than continue to drive it and hope for the best.

 

It is not the tranny fluid, whether Royal Purple or Brand X, you got other issues...perhaps your wife or something mechanical in the shifter linkage, the tranny from the flush etc.

Certainly while fluids are different, none do that.

 

Today I drove her 4runner and at a stop light it lunged forward and made almost a bang sound and felt like it shifted gears. So I gave it a little gas and nothing. It almost felt like it was in neutral. So I shifted the gear into park and then back into drive and it moved forward but started shaking. I continued to drive and it went away. When I got to my destination the tranny smelled like something was burned or melted.

 

did i miss it or did you never say if it was manual or auto? I guess everyone just assumes it was a auto since it messed up. You can probably find a used one at a junk yard for 700ish...

 

dang. sounds like a major deal.

probably tranny. not fluids.

 

Hmm... So, you've been around here for a year, you have 400+ posts, and I guess you've never read the rules that you explicitly agreed to when you joined? Interesting.

https://www.yotatech.com/ytrules.php

Technically, based on Rule #3, you should be banned.


YT is _PG_. If you can't imagine Shrek or Mickey saying it, don't say it. There are plenty of other forums around where you can swear and "be a guy". The YT charter is about creating something NOT like the other places.

 

Today I drove it again and the best way I can describe the issue is when driving a standard transmission and you take the tranny out of gear without using the clutch. It makes a loud bang sound and obviously and is no longer in the current gear. That's exactly what's happening and it seems to happen in 2/3 gear...but it's hard to tell since it's automatic.

I am thinking there is the problem is internal with the tranny and just replacing it but I want to make sure. Can it be anything else?

 

Seek professional help.