Transmission overheating?

So today randomly my truck went into limp mode and flashed me the check engine light and the A/T temp light. Let the truck cool down while I checked underneath for any leaking fluids (none). Then it let me drive. Got about 10km (7 miles) before it went in limp mode again (and the entire rest of the drive home) tried to keep the speed to 70kph to keep the temps low. Light never came on again but still limp mode every little while. Engine ran smooth. No issues.

Any clue what the problem might be?
I'm planning on butchering a fluid change here tomorrow.

 

You didn't change the oil did you

Hiyo

I'm sorry , thought we better get that one out of the way

 

Yikes , dont want that light coming on at 305 degrees .
what were you doing to create that much heat ?
Scan for codes next
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...hift-kit-shift-recalibration-kit-2nd-gen.html

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Subd

 

tranny cooler blew up inside radiator ? check

 

Check your coolant - is it overflowing and smells like WS?

 

It has been over flowing a little here and there. Couldn't pin point the cause. Thought it was just a loose connector. I just topped up my coolant with prestone and called it a day. Truck never overheated or anything. Never noticed any rough shifting or slipping gears.

 

Just driving home from work doing 55-60mph in D. No big hills. Just 33" front and rear plate armour, winch, Rack and RTT. Truck weighs about 5400lbs so not super heavy. Outside temp was -12*C; -25*C with wind chill.
For checking the tranny cooler in the radiator, pop the metal lid off the radiator (cold obviously) and how easy will it be to see?

 

really ? sounds like you have fatal tranny cooler problem

it will shift fine like this for a while, but eventually tranny will stop shifting and you are looking at a complete tranny rebuild, because once water gets in there the adhesives on the brakes and clutches will break down and also the seals will swell up (likely a seal for 1st gear will swell first and you lose 1st gear when coming to a stop...)
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stop driving

have transmission checked for coolant intrusion

 

Definitely stop driving and check it out before you do more damage. You are driving in fail safe mode for a reason. Not a good sign.

 

Careful he's sensitive about that subject.

 

I'm not exactly sure how the tacoma tranny cooler works, but some vehicles just run the tranny fluid through its own radiator. They don't use coolant like a motor. The radiator cools the actual tranny fluid. So there wouldn't be anything to check, except for the tranny fluid itself. Making sure it's the correct color and at the correct amount.

Again, I'm not sure if this is how the the tacoma is, but i don't think there is a cap just for the tranny rad.

A friend of mine busted his tranny cooler with a stone in his TL. Because of this, the tranny fluid leaked out the hole in the radiator.

 

the bottom of almost all radiators on automatic transmission vehicles have a in and out pipe to
connect tranny fluid. there is no cap, it is a closed system...a heat exchanger is inside the bottom of the standard engine radiator

it is a closed system however it is press-fit together and those press fits can, and do, leak sometimes

a generic standard rule is: if your radiator is ten years old and has tranny cooler built-in, replace that radiator before
trouble hits, 'cuz ten years is about all they can be trusted for....ymmv. my 4runner blorked at 11 years on the radiator.
fried my tranny. had a 100% rebuild. no choice.

tacoma tranny cooler is integrated into radiator. if that seal blows big trouble. tacomas with the additional cooler for towing have that, and an external cooler on top. basically all stock tacomas with auto have the integrated radiator/tranny heat exchanger.

tranny overheat ?
coolant overflowing ?

bad mojo

 

I was just messing with you b/c of the "other" thread - but yeah there should not be any coolant mixed with transmission fluid lol

 

If the transmission is overheating, it clearly needs some coolant added to it.

 

subbed for outcome... Hope it's not serious...

 

I added a trans cooler and by passed the radiator after reading a lot of horror stories from both Toyotas and Hondas leaking fluid inside the radiator....
Running 4 low or towing will over heat the trans fluid, bypassing the radiator will cool it down but still need a bigger cooler for hard use....

 

Thanks Door ding. I hope it won't be expensive either. I guess tomorrow when I do the change if the rad fluid drops there's the problem. My coworker has a code reader so we're going to see what it's thrown.

 

Got a bunch of info here that you could probably use
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...hift-kit-shift-recalibration-kit-2nd-gen.html