Transmission trouble 97 Tacoma V6

So about a week ago driving down the highway my 97 V6 4wd 5speed tacoma started to make this terrible whining sound, and after much debate I had it towed back home. Long story short internal transmission issues... with 192K on the clock I figured it was clutch related as I am fairly positive it is all original inside. Toyota mechanic says otherwise, but the teardown begins tomorrow and I am hoping its a bad throwout/pilot bearing that is seized up? Noise goes away almost completely with the clutch depressed. More reading leads me to believe it is input shaft related and I am not willing to shell out the extra money at the moment for a full rebuild. A wrecker in town has a 2002 5speed tranny out of a v6 with 102k, that should work with my truck no problem correct? I am assuming yes since they are both V6, 5-Speed tacomas. Thanks in advance!

 

Dear Johnnie,

Sorry to hear about your transmission trouble. The manual 5-speed that went into all of the first generation four wheel drive Tacomas is the R150F. This transmission was used on all models of four wheel drive Tacomas regardless of which engine was used. The 2002 transmission should work just fine. How many miles were on your Tacoma before your transmission started to fail?

Good Luck,
Paul

 

I thought so, but figured it would be worthwhile to ask! It started a little after 192,000 miles. It was always a bit whiny but I have read that most of these are...

 

Yeah it could be the throwout, the pilot or input shaft bearing. Only way to know is def to take it apart. If the clutch was never replaced before its gonna be hard to tell and you'll end up having to do the whole shebang (pilot, throwout and input shaft) just to be sure. Mechanic might charge you extra for removing the transmission twice.

 

The r150's were only used on v6's - the w59's were used on 2/3rz's. Any r150f will work in your truck - definitely go the replacement route rather than tear down the trans where you'll spend more and it will take longer. Of course you could always keep it and teach yourself a thing or two about transmissions if you get yourself a cheap HF press

 

So that's the difference. I've been wondering. I see a lot more W59's than R150F's.

Next mystery is the A43D tranny. I think it only came on 5-lug automatics, while the 5-lug manual used the W59 too.

 

So hypothetically this would work in my 1997. http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...ategory=33727&pm=1&ds=0&t=1515812281000&ver=0

Because even the software my Toyota mechanic here uses says that after the year 2000 it is different

 

Dear Johnnie,

Yes, that would work in your Tacoma. Remember there is not any internal intelligence with a manual transmission of this generation of Tacomas. Automatic transmissions do use some software, but not manuals.

Good Luck,
Paul

 

Okay thanks for the information Paul. I'm just nervous to order and find out it doesn't mate up correctly because LKQ will not allow it to be returned... my only thought would be that with the different body style that perhaps the newer transmission won't align properly. Don't want to gamble on $800.

 

Any members out there used a 2001-2004 manual tranny in a Tacoma that was made from 96-2000? I Don't believe there are any differences but have been told that "electrical sensors" aren't the same. But I can't imagine what those would be. Cruise control, speed sensor, something with the transfer case?

 

There should be 1, maybe 2, connectors. VSS sensor and reverse sensor. Other than that I'm sure you can pull the sensors off of a 01-04 manual 5 spd.

 

Just call up Marlin Crawler and they'll know. They rebuild tons of these. The throttle and a manual transmission in these trucks function separately from one another at least until 03-04 afaik.

 

@Dalandser I did call marlin earlier, from the brief conversation we had he said that it's not impossible to work but that some "electrical sensors/components" are different. That was the extent the gentleman told me..

 

From your description of the noise the transmission is making , I beleive you have bearing issues within the transmission .
What gears did it make noise in ?
Did the noise go away in 4th ?
Did the noise come back in 5th or was it just noisy from 1, 2 ,3 ?

 

What years did they say were different? The engines, front diff, and frames didn't change throughout the years so it would be a small difference like that if anything. I'm surprised they didn't know more than that since if there were more / less sensors coming off of the trans then the housing would be year dependent. There's 4 connectors on my r150f: two plugs - one in the transmission and one in the transfer case on the passenger side and two pig tails that come out of the top. If you could get wiring diagrams on each (pre-03 and 03-04) you could see if there's any real difference in the data sent to the ecu from the transmission.

Are you paying $800 for the parts and installation?

 

Dear Everybody,

For what it is worth, here is my analysis of this problem. I am going to tell everybody up front I am by no means an expert on this subject. Old Gearcruncher is the expert on transmissions and transfer cases. I also know the earlier series of Tacomas much better than the later ones. When I say earlier series, I mean 1995.5 to 2000, and when I say later series, I mean the 2001 to 2004. The reason for this is because my family owns a 1999 Tacoma. There is one more thing I want to say before I begin. When I use the term intelligence, I am referring to embedded software that is able to think.

Before we get into manual transmissions, lets take a moment to discuss transfer cases. During the first generation Tacoma production run, there were two types of four wheel drive systems used. There was the ADD, which stands for Automatic Differential Disconnect, and there was the old manual style four wheel drive system with manual hubs and the old style transfer case. The old manual style was completely discontinued after 2001. The later Tacomas are all ADD four wheel drive systems. Another thing to note is the ADD system is much more abundant throughout the entire first generation run than the old style system including the earlier ones.

The old manual style four wheel drive system does not use any intelligence except for the fact that there is a dash indicator to tell the user that they are in four wheel drive when they select one of the other settings than two wheel drive on their transfer case shifter. This is the only thing electronic that goes on with the old manual style four wheel drive system. I do not know if this accomplished through intelligence or a dumb relay switch.

The other four wheel drive system found in the first generation Tacomas is the ADD system. This system does use intelligence especially if the rig came equipped with the part-time locking rear differential. The ADD system can be shifted on the fly, and the rear locker can only be utilized if the rig is in four wheel drive low. This is all accomplished through intelligence, which means there will be wires coming off of the transfer case.

Okay, now lets analyze the R150F manual transmission. As everybody can see from reading above, Dalandser has found wires coming off of the R150F transmission, which is strange as to what these wires do since as far as I can tell, the R150F does not utilize any kind of intelligence. There is nothing going on in the dash that tells the user when it is time advance to the next gear. There is nothing on in the dash that tells the user what level the gear oil is in their transmission. There is also nothing going on in the dash that even tells the user what gear they are currently in. There is absolutely nothing going on which uses intelligence at all in the R150F transmission.

There is a clutch cancellation switch in first generation Tacomas. This switch just cancels the clutch safety switch, which allows the rig to start without depressing the clutch. It does not do anything intelligent with the transmission.

Good Luck,
Paul

 

Speedo runs off one, 4wd light I'm assuming runs off another. I can look through my wiring later to see what they are running to. They're feeding info to the ecu afaik.

 

clutch cancellation would just be a relay to bypass the clutch pedal though. I'd think that would be found under the dash.

 

It is.

 

@Dalandser $800 if for the transmission and shipping to where i live. I already have a clutch kit ready to go, labor from my local toyota shop is looking to be around $700-800. Hence why I am trying to avoid at all costs a rebuild which I know will easily on it's own be $1500-2000. I seem to be able to find more transmissions readily available out of the 2001-2004 years, there's just none out there in the late 90's that don't already have 200k+ and they still want $500-600.