Second Transmission at 48,000 miles FAIL

A quarter quart low isn't anything really. I would be hard pressed to even call that "low". Very odd behavior. I agree something else is happening here for not one but two trannies to go belly up in that amount of time. Just checking to make sure, but the torque converter was also replaced during the transmission swap, right?

Also, was the transmission itself (gears and such) actually damaged either the first or second time? What was the verdict on what was actually broken on either of them?

 

Id love to know what you do for a living.

 

Blown up?

We all have different ways of describing the same things. For all we know it needed the bands tightened which while irregular is possible even twice depending on abuse. If your only information to offer is blown up I can’t see how anyone can offer anything useful. I am a millwright and I show up to breakdowns at work and it is really hard to fix something when the information describing a problem is spelled out with crayons.

 

Wow, 10.5 years and I've yet to see a Tacoma trans fail of any vintage. I would suspect from your description the first one was possibly under filled at factory, which is weird but can happen, and the second it would seems like it wasn't filled properly after it was installed. These dipstickless units are a real pain to check.

Of course internet diagnostics are rather useless, hopefully you find out what caused the failure.

 

What does what i do for a living have anything to do about what i said? Sounds like you are a toyota tech....

When I have to show the head mechanic, yes the very tip top mechanic of a LARGE local toyota dealership how to use an angle finder to measure driveline angles for a TSB (after i provided said tool because he ordered the wrong one) in the bay of the toyota dealership under my own truck, then proceed to highlight and circle all the parts on the TSB document he needs to order, yet he orders the wrong ones. When they finally get the right parts and proceed to leave multiple major bolts severely under torqued..... Yeah, i can without a shadow of a doubt say i wouldn't trust a Toyota dealerships tech further than i could throw the semi truck my taco was delivered to said dealership.

Oh and thats not even to mention the oil change boy almost forgetting to put oil in my truck before he went to move it (as i stood next to it discussing the above with the head mechanic).... only reason he didnt start it is me yelling at him and making him check his work further adding insult to injury about their incompetence .... This was all in one trip to the dealership.

 

Not even a mechanic. Just curious what you do that you’d be able to make a statement like that.

 

Did they flush or replace the radiator/ aux cooler when they installed the second one?

 

I think a lot of us as members of Tacoma World forget that the dealership techs dont fix transmissions .
The techs may be fully qualified to repair transmissions but their hands are tied and unfortunately what may have been a simple fix inside the valve body gets billed out as a complete transmission replacement , However , considering the same problem has been identified with both transmission failures , It would be interesting to see the full diagnostic path the technician used to come to a replacement transmission as a conclusion to get the truck mobile again .I am not saying the tech made a bad call by replacing the trans but the second transmission has the same issue ????????
4TH GEAR TO 5TH GEAR UPSHIFT . Reports at TRNI indicate the SLT solenoid has issues .


In all the years I have fixed transmissions , I have never seen a transmission " BLOW UP "
Clutch packs and gear teeth can fail . There are no bands in the A750 series trans
With this said , usually a transmission has to be removed for a certain failure such as a loss of reverse as an example . The forward gearing may be fine and the transmission is completely repairable
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-pics-for-second-gen-4-liter-trucks.289913/

 

Toyota has finished the investigation and come up with that excessive front wheel spin has caused the failure. (there was over 6 inches of snow on the ground during the failure). but not once was there the intention to cause front wheel spin!
they will not be covering the transmission because they said normal wear would not cause this.
So they leave me with a broken truck and told me to get towed from Toyota.
this is ridiculous to me.

 

Wow, that's just wrong. These trucks drive through snow for miles with no problem. Trust me, I drove through 2 states of snow just last year.

 

Isn't Overdrive just any gearing where the output shaft of the transmission is spinning faster than the engine RPM?
@gearcruncher

This seems a like you need to put a call into Toyota corporate service? Also, if you were operating the truck under normal or on-road conditions (4wd in the snow) I think it would be very hard for this to happen unless you were traveling at speeds above 70mph. Additionally, I would be very curious on how they determined that excessive front wheel spin was the cause. Were you getting traction control lights flashing when driving?

 

Excessive front wheel spin would tend to break a CV, front diff or transfer case before the transmission failed.

 

Lol excessive front wheel spin??? How fast were you traveling in the snow when you put it in 4wd?

 

You need to make a phone call to corporate

 

Corporate was the people who did the investigation. I am dealing different Toyota guys from corporate now.
the only help they offered was the price for another instal on a new transmission. the thing that scares me is that what if I get another Toyota transmission put in and the same issue occurs again (both times showed the same gears slipping)

Like I said before it was all normal driving. If anything I was being cautious due to the snow.
My dad just bought a brand new tacoma from the same dealership too. they aren't treating us right at all.

 

Umm.... you cant have only excessive front wheel spin and not have the same "excessive" spin in the rear.... this aint an awd transfer case. And if you put it into 4hi at 70mph (which it wont allow you to over 60) it would go in just fine and not harm the trans.

Toyota is blowing smoke out of their ass, none of what they said makes sense.

 

I agree. Ask them to explain exactly how front wheel spin can damage a transmission. That sounds completely made up. Have a lawyer give them a call. That smartened then up pretty quick and only costs you a couple hundred bucks.

 

Between the spinning wheel and the transmission there are Two CV joints, a differential and a transfer case that are all MUCH weaker than the transmission. You would also think that the slippage would be in the first couple gears and not 5th. Unless you were floored with front and rear axles spinning and the speedo showed 100mph ......

 

Maybe they accidentally put the old one back in instead of the new one!