What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

So I fucked up big time guys. Big. Time.

If you've been reading this thread you'll probably know I converted my truck to 4WD. I had the wrong rear driveshaft and I've had to drive in 4HI "4WD" which is really 2WD FWD. I ran out of time during my Winter break and I had to go back to school so I was forced the drive the truck in "4HI" FWD. I noticed immediately there was a loud clicking noise coming from the transmission and I asked about and people told me it was just the dust cover rubbing on the flex plate. So I kept driving it despite the noise...

I paid dearly for this assumption.

I drove home today intending to take a look at the dust cover when I reached my house but I never made it. I was a couple blocks from my neighborhood when the clicking STOPPED and then the RPM's just jumped up the wazoo, then it stabilized, then jumped again. Each RPM jump was me losing a gear and losing speed. I was in 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd, then I barely limped into a parking lot with what was left with 1st. I tried starting the truck again to drive onto the tow truck and the starter just made grinding noises. Nothing. It was dead.

Read through this thread to see where I asked about the noise initially.

I brought it to a transmission shop and they were nice enough to wait half an hour after they closed to lock it in their yard. I was quoted $1,300 to have the flexplate replaced. I don't trust myself anymore, I'd rather have people who know what they are doing fix it.

Lesson learned. If you hear a funny sound DO NOT DRIVE YOU CAR ANYMORE AND PARK IT ASAP. Don't be impatient like me and drive in 4HI without a rear driveshaft to get done. Torque everything, follow the factory service manual to the letter, and double check everything. Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad said it perfectly: "No Half Measures"

 

ouch, sorry to hear that man

 

Manual or auto?

 

Auto. Read my post above, the flex plate imploded on itself.

 

That was my first thought when you said clicking sound. I literally just read that post. That’s how far behind I am on this site lol. Shit man I wish I could of seen this sooner. These trucks, auto trans at around 180-200k the flex plate gets cracked. And that’s what causes the clicking. Damn I’m bummed I couldn’t of let you know sooner.

 

I only had 92k on the flexplate, it was my truck's original one. I must've installed it wrong when I did the rear main seal.

 

Well fuck...did it mess anything else up inside??

 

Shit man that sucks.

 

Just buy boots and do it yourself

 

I could've fucked up everything inside that transmission. I have no clue.

 

problem with that is i dont know how long the boots been torn on my cv axles.

 

Hope not. That wouldn't be fun.

 

The worst sound I've ever heard in my life was being right in front of a Chevy Tahoe as it crashed into a Mercedes S class (at like 5 miles per hour) and the horrible metallic grinding noise the benz made as the Tahoe drove over the hood.

The S class was totaled. (Bent the frame) All that happened to the Tahoe was it had a bent license plate.

Then I heard the grinding this truck made losing each gear and slowing down until it couldn't move anymore.

That sound was worse.

 

Moral of the story...

If one swaps in 4wd..swap in a manual

 

Most definitely. Haha.

 

I doubt it, I think it's flexplate and probably got a little tweaked.

 

Depends on if the torque converter popped out. Could of sripped the splines on the input shaft. I doubt that happened though (or if it even could). Hope it’s only the flex plate

Never actually heard of one breaking.. wonder if it was torqued in the proper sequence.

 

I torqued the flex plate in a star pattern. Torque converter bolts I didn't, just torqued as they spun.

 

Torque converter bolts don’t matter. All that does is that you start with the black bolt (it centres the torque converter) at least on the newer toyotas I don’t remember if these had the coloured bolt

 

I don't recall there being a black bolt