Did my transmission self destruct?

I have had them rev fine in park and neutral ,but the cat had actually broken into pieces and stopped up the muffler going down the road. Give the tailpipe a shake and see if it sounds like gravel in the muffler. Everyone is giving great advice, weird that there's no codes. The piston that applies the converter clutch could be cross leaking. Be careful where you take it for repairs. I am in the transmission repair business , there are a lot of big name shops that will love to sell you an overhaul, regardless of what's causing the issue.

 

You are correct, also low voltage will cause some strange symptoms . Delayed engagement for sure, battery started the truck fine, was a expensive lesson for me .

 

Any "checkengine" lights?

If you dont feel qualified to dig in a trans, tow it to a mechanic.


If you want to do the work yourself, start with draining the fluid and dropping the pan.
-If the fluid is not a cherry red its probably overdue for a change and can be why something failed (it loses its protection and lubrication properties if its too old or overheats, etc...). If it’s milky, you are a victim of the "strawberry milkshake." Rebuild or get a new trans (and a new radiator).

-Also check your trans oil strainer (and magnets in the pan for metal shavings). If it’s clogged, it can cause those symptoms but generally its clogged do to catastrophic failure somewhere else. Probably a rebuild or buy a new trans.

-Another part that could cause this is your Valve body. Check the three shift accumulators (located in a row next to each other, easy to see) for damage/failure (there is a forth accumulator located on the other end of the Valve Body but that’s not important to check given your symptoms).

-If an accumulator is damaged, you might just luck out and can get away with buying a new valve body (~$300-400).

-Also check the bolts on your transfer case, torque converter, etc... to makes sure they are tight/undamaged.

 

This is what mine looked like after failure



What you DON'T want to see in the pan of your transmission.....

About half a pound of metal..... FFUUUUUUUUCK !!!!!!







__________________
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/194386-tacoma-spring-refurbishing.html


Lead...Follow..... or get the fuck out the way...

 

& some audio....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=R4UPwOtLpTQ#t=13

 

ouch. Shrapnel in the pan is never a good sign...

 

Doug that looks like planetary gears crapped out on yours, converter may have sped up sped up the carnage.That is about a $2500 overhaul here in small town Louisiana. r/r included 2year 24000 mile warranty . What's that job cost in California?

 

So it ended up being front cat. It disintegrated inside and its guts plugged #2 cat. Going to remove 1st cat completely and just run second one for now. On the other note while trying to remove tail pipe from manifold, 3 studs snapped flush with the manifold - fuck!

 

That's great news that it isn't the tranny. Drilling those studs is a crappy job. if I lived up north I would hate to work on cars with all the rust caused by the salt. I bet those fellas have to do a lot of drilling when removing parts. Wish I could tell you a quick easy way, what I can say is make sure you don't break an easy out bit off when trying to remove them. maybe a reversible or left handed drill bit would work..

 

My manual's never had this problem

 

That's exactly the same noise I had with my 03 double cab with 160k miles. I just had my transmission rebuilt for about $2800 in Oakland, CA - including a new torque converter. If you have noise like this, don't wait or it may cost you more as more things will break and will need to be replaced.