2001 Tacoma Transmission will not shift gears

I have a 2001 Tacoma automatic 2.4 engine with 189xxx Miles on it
I noticed That It has not been shifting into Overdrive about 6 months back 2 weeks ago I was driving about 60mph and started pressing the OD button and thought well it is not shifting in OD because RPMs stayed the same and no change on engine I pressed the button 10 times or more
came to a stop at traffic light took off (Have to over speed) to get it to shift from Low To 2nd gear That it would not shift to Drive at all No matter what I did drove back home in 2nd gear
at about 25 mph Parked it in the garage. Set about 2 weeks Got in it to test down the street and not it will not shift out of Low gear
I Do Not Have a check engine Light on. Transmission fluid level is ok Never had to put any in.
So I been looking for Info on how to change the Shift Solenoid and as to the location as to where it is located at,Called a Toyota Dealership It said it was mounted on the outside of of The transmission
Has anyone else had this problem? that can give some insight.

Thanks John

 

Here’s a bunch of good starting points:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/transmission-aisn-warner-340-series-transmissions-write-up-your-4-speed-automatic.325531/

 

have you ever changed your fluid, is it dark and smell burnt, or does it have a nice reddish pink color to it. If you've never changed it, that could very well be your problem.

 

No I bought it in 2019 with 183XXX Miles and it has 189XXX Miles from a Toyota dealership
I do not drive it much as I retired from work never changed the fluid But I do notice it is at the full mark no leaks any place on the transmission and does not appear to ever been removed The fluid looks Red in color When it does or was in gear no slipping and will advance in speed quick
I going to take it to a good transmission shop but do not want to be uninformed when I take it knowing nothing & I want any parts replace with Toyota parts.
I do not know if this has anything to do with it But a while back I replaced the Dome light and shorted it out & blew the fuse, I replaced the fuse in the fuse in the fuse box inside the truck But the Dome light would only come on if I manually flipped the switch to on set it back to Door and it will not come on when the door opened, will come on if i reach up and flip it on This could be when it started not going into overdrive
This maybe shorted something to do with the transmission, I just if that possible under the hood fuse box all fuses check out good, I never had any problem with Toyota I had an 1987 Toyota pickup with 340800 when I bought this one Did not drive it due to buying this one and sold it wish I had it back now as a backup

 

I’ve seen situations where shorting the dome light will cause transmission issues. I witnessed an old buddy short out his Altima by taking the fuse out with his key lol. He couldn’t get the thing to come out of park after that.

Could be your transmission control relay or like you said the shift solenoid but good chance a fuse or relay got jacked. Can’t be your shift lock relay because you can get it out of park from what it sounds like.

 

You dont need a check engine light to have transmission codes stored in your trucks computer memory .
I highly suggest scanning for codes to start

 

This may not help you.....but I have a 98 2.4 ....A43D trans.

I had similar problems with mine after driving thru water....

OD would not kick in........and hard time shifting from 1st to 2nd...and would have to start off in low 2 and then over rev and shift it into D to get to 3rd......

Turns out ..... there is a speed cable that comes off the throttle body, feeds into tranny......
and if that cable is twisted or impeded in any way.....
My sin was to move it an inch too far to left....closer to the ac lines to put it further away from new open headers...

Insulated the cable...let it go back to original position......and like magic.....
still slow on cold upshifts.....thats expected at 165K........


The solution came from these guys here....................

 

Another one time up when passing....carb kicks into overdrive....
Somehow tranny went into emergency mode....
would not shift out of 1st....
Drove for couple miles in first.....pull into parking lot....turn truck off...sat a minute
restarted everything was perfect.........but was during when I was having problems with that cable..
About shit a brick on that one.....tried EVERYTHING prior to shut off....

 

Where Is The throttle Body located Is That where the gas peddle connects to the engine?

 

I checked the fluid level It looks to be a qt over The full level on a cold engine It over the cool mark and goes over the full mark by maybe a qt
so it had to be that way ever sine i bought it (overfull)

 

Don’t check the level while it’s cold. Check while the truck is running and warm on a level surface.

 

Yeah you have to check fluid with it warmed up pretty good....and has to be perfectly flat......I check mine in a station getting gas....

As far as the carb (throttle body) mine has two cables to it...
first is gas pedal.....
second shoots off toward right back of engine down to tranny....
its this second one that dances couple inches above exhaust....
and cannt be moved....even a little....

but again I have a 98 rwd , non 4x4, no pre-runner, and the older A43D transmission....which arent in some later ones....I have lot of knowledge of the pre 2000's....after that it gets sketchy.....


dang....pics look way better than what u see in presence

 

I would sugest you find a friend with a scanner and run the live data...
and see what the computer sees....
things like throttle position sensor info and anything bad or out of parameters sent to engine computer....
It may be a very simple fix.....
Sensors break....nothing lasts forever.......

And if all else checks out...there are different conditioners you can try adding to tranny fluid...
and there are solenoids on the tranny that have to be replaced maybe 200k...
all these are doable....just got to track down the root of the problem....
and you better get up to speed....old truck means you have to become a DETECtIVE....
just the way it is.......u can always sell out......


Lot of mechanics dont know what there're doing....and get you replacing parts dont need too.....guessing I guess....

 

These people here can get u fixed.....BUT
you'll have to provide data for em......

worn out tranny is very unlikely....unless it was severely misused....
these are the ones that go 300 or 400k with the owners only changing the fluid...
these are not the 4x$'s.......

 

common issue is in the top of the shifter handle. its easy and cheap to check. remove your shift hand and try rotating the slanted plastic piece at the top of the plunger 180 degrees.

 

I got it fixed at the transmission shop. Here is what happened the grounding cable to engine came loose and shorted out which cause the Throttle cable from the throttle to short some how causing it to weld together with the housing cable so the throttle could move on the transmission
He installed another cable and engine grounding cable replace the fluid filter Running and shifting as it suppose to
Thanks for all the help people
John