Transmission problems

had this problem with my 93. but only when it was snowy and icy

 

I'll give that a try but I'm gonna drop the pan anyway to see if I can check the selenoids.

Now that you mention it I was in the Snow last week but it isn't snowy here.

 

Went to the dealership and they said it sounds like a bad shift selenoid.

 

So now I find my drain plug is stripped, noticed before I backed it all the way out. It's weird though cause I'm the only one who has changed it and torqued it to proper spec. Gonna wait till next week so I can borrow a tig welder from work.

 

I hate to think it is the same thing that I experienced before mine went out. When it was hard to shift was there any performance issues? Mine would shift hard into 3rd gear and it would not do it all the time.

 

So the transmission is difficult to shift meaning it takes a lot of effort to move the shifter ?


STICKY SHIFTER / SHIFTER IS HARD TO MOVE
Most of us would disconnect the shifter cable from the transmission lever and then verify the cable is free by hopping in the truck and moving the shifter from park to low . We should feel nothing because the shifter cable is no longer connected to the transmission . If the shifter is still tight to move , we know that the issue resides in the cable or the plastic shifter cover . A quick lube job is going to fix that up .

Next , with the shifter cable removed from the transmission lever , try and manually move that transmission lever by hand . You should feel click , click , click and it should be fairly easy to move with your hands . If you cant move it by hand , remove the PRNDL switch , then take a small screwdriver and pry the lever seal away from the shifter selector shaft enough to blast some lubricant between the seal until you get the lever to move by hand .Might have to work it back and forth a little but its going to free up . You should have the wheels blocked when you do this .

Next , place the transmission gear shifter in park and " REMOVE THE KEY "
Throw the key on the drivers seat until your done .
Go to rear of truck and manually push it by hand to verify the truck is actually in park . Go back under the truck and check to see if the shifter cable lines up perfectly with the hole in the transmission lever . If it doesnt line up , adjust the shifter cable until it fits perfectly into the transmission lever . The adjustment is under the shift counsole .
Once the cable is aligned with the transmission shift lever , verify the truck will only start in park and nuetral .

This covers any normal shifter cable and alignment issues .

Now you know the shifter is free with the truck in the off position .
Now , start the truck and verify you can smoothly shift through all the gears . Has the shifter freed up or is it still really tight ?

If its still tight with the engine running , remove all ground straps and clean them spotless . Add additional ground straps if you please .
I have seen vehicles catch on fire for this very reason .
When the ground wires on circuits get old and corroded , they no longer function properly and loose contact with ground . Guess what your shifter cable just became ? The ground wire from your transmission to the vehicle body .
I have replaced many melted shifter cables . The shifter cable becomes the vehicles ground and the plastic outer shield will actually melt to the inner cable . This is more noticeable on todays vehichles with all the fancy control motors and electronics as they draw much more amperage in comparison to older cars and trucks . With the non metal box on our trucks all we have is the frame and truck cab to rely on for our grounding needs .
A little sand paper used to clean those ground straps usually fixes the problem but you can always add a couple more straps to be safe . Some guys are too late and the cable is fried . Some guys replace the cable without replacing or cleaning the grounds only to have the same issue again .

The above explanation is going to fix up the difficult shifter movement but will not fix the harsh shifting into drive .
To fix the harsh shift into drive , you have to make sure there are no codes presently stored in the computer . You want to make sure that solenoid code is gone .
What happens after you disconnect the battery for 10 seconds ? do you still get the harsh shift into drive ?

 

^^ iirc we don't have a shifter cable

 

Dont matter . cable or rods , they are both adjusted the same way by removing the ignition key

 

I hope not! lol

No performance issues other then it just being difficult to shift, while not moving. when I'm already in gear it shifts/sounds just fine. The only time it went into 3rd hard was yesterday when I had to force the shifter to move.

replied in red

I'll try the suggestions though I doubt they would help as it has no problem today, I'm thinking it was because the tranny was hot

 

Do you have your foot on the brake pedal when trying to move the shifter ?
Sometimes a faulty brake switch will give you greif moving the shifter out of park .
Is the shifter stiff through all the detents ? from park all the way down to low ?
Faulty solenoids will cause shifting issues , not a high effort shifter

 

It is stiff through all detents , but not equal, from what I remember is it was hardest to put it into 3rd from park and park from 3rd. when driving it seems to shift fine, nothing out of the ordinary, and today it is running fine even more

 

Waiting for you to remove the pan for more info .
Pay close attention to the manual valve when you have the pan off .
This guy has some pictures of the detent system

 

I'll be dropping the pan next week, was going to do it this weekend but the drain plug is stripped

Why the manual valve?

Something I have been getting conflicting answers on, can I check the solenoids without taking the valve body off?

 

Thanks everyone for the help!!!!

I'll be sending positive rep your way!

 

Yes , you can do a resistance test on the solenoids without removing the valve body . Do you have a digital volt ohm meter ?

 

Awesome!

Yes I have one, my old one was busted so I just picked up a new one.

 

Week my transmission is fucked

 

Any suggestions on what I should do.

 

Clean the filter ,Put the pan back on and look for a second hand transmission .
Price out a new trans from the dealer ...I beleive $2500.00
Go to an aftermarket trans shop and get it rebuilt .
Sell the truck off .
EDIT : take the trans out and repair yourself .
Sad to say it but those are the most popular options


http://www.ebay.com/itm/01-02-03-04-TOYOTA-TACOMA-AUTOMATIC-TRANSMISSION-4X4-6-CYL-V6-/121180153601?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A2001|Make%3AToyota|Model%3ATacoma&hash=item1c36e66701&vxp=mtr

 

That about sums it up.
I picked the option of buying a jasper reman. and a shop put it in. 3k later i got a 5 yr 100k mile warranty. guess i paid for peace of mind