HELP! Tacoma won't move in drive or reverse!

I knew something was up when they started telling me that my truck needed new spark plugs and all this other stuff (im at 72k) but i had all that done at the dealer at 60k so i blinked a few times, chuckled and told them to just change my oil and nothing else. In the end, it took them an hour and a half to change my oil and combined with the upselling, i just wanted to get the hell out of there. UUUUGH Now that i think about it, i'm sorta worried that they might have done something to my spark plugs or something. if i find any additional issues with my truck i'm going to have to find out about the owner of that shop.... just for a few swift kick to his groin.

for sure.... i learned a valuable lesson regarding discount mechanic service.

it's so easy to do basic maintenance on a tacoma anyway. you can be sure that unless i'm up for a major service - i'm going to be the one changing the oil. stupid groupons.. i hate groupon stuff so much now. i'm not worried about whatever they did with the oil change. I already drained and replaced the oil and filter yesterday. I was freaking out about the transmission fluid because i've never had to touch it and there's no dipstick or anything for you to check the level.

So I live a few blocks from toyota palo alto so i rode my motorcycle there and bought a few quarts of tranny fluid. i used the writeups in TW and filled it until it started drizzling out of the overflow. i ran the engine for a few seconds and added a little bit more to make sure that the reservoir was full.

I drove my truck around my parking lot and it seemed to be fine. I'm still a little unsettled and I'll probably take my poor tacoma to a shop or dealership for an inspection. my poor truck!

 

Hopefully you caught it before any real damage occurred. Oil change only takes 10~15 mins.

Yeah your better off doing it yourself, and all other basic maintenance, like gear oil changes, lube your u-joints, air filter, spark plugs, etc. Save you some money and there is a write up on here to walk you thru most all of it. If not just open a thread and ask a question. There's a lot of solid good info on this site for the backyard mechanic. Wishing you the best Ebolamonkey.

 

This, plus its awful for the pump and bearings, especially if toyota uses a vein style pump. The pump walls and veins will smooth out after only a few thousand rotations (think seconds) and the pump will never build adequate pressure without the pump being rebuilt (essentially a whole tranny rebuild).

 

That's good enough to get you to the dealer for a proper tranny fluid level check. However, it's not the proper fill procedure. To properly verify the fluid level, your tranny has to be at normal operating temperature with the engine running - just like any other vehicle with a tranny dipstick. As previously recommend, you should absolutely swing by the dealer and just have them check your fluid level.

 

I wonder why so many auto makers stopped putting in transmission fluid dipsticks? Every vehicle i'd ever seen before the Tacoma that was an auto had a dipstick for the trans, but the Taco doesn't and I discovered today my wife's new car doesn't. Seems like a strange thing to omit, and makes basic maintenance a PITA on the owner.

This whole thread to figure out an issue could have been solved in 20 seconds when OP invariably checked all his fluids with the handy dipsticks if it was available.

 

yea why is filling it so annoying too?

 

Not having a tranny dipstick to check the fluid level is a JOKE. Its just hard to believe there isnt one. Glad they atleast have an oil stick to check engine oil. Also glad they included a fuel guage and not a stick to push down in the tank to measure fuel level. I changed my cabin filter the other day and it was clogged with pine straw and small oak leaves. Im still trying to figure how that happened.

 

Due to the fact that these days transmission fluid lasts so long before needing replacement, and that transmissions are not considered a "maintenance" item any longer, that is the likely reason for omitting the dipstick. Actually there are many other manufacturers, mostly European, that haven't had transmission dipsticks for years. GM hasn't had a dipstick in the 4T40E transmission since it was made back before 2000.

 

dropped my truck off at the dealer this morning for peace of mind.

im definetely going to start doing more of my own maintenance on my truck outside of oil changes. it's pretty fun working on your own vehicle and there are a lot of really good writeups here. although seriously... the fill cap for the transmission is not placed in an easy access place to just fill fluid. i just really wish i had a garage. haha i feel so ghetto crawling around my apartment parking lot.

unfortunately.. it's approaching 1 million for townhouses here in mountain view so... i'm not sure when that's happening.

yea i think just because it doesnt have to be done often... it's still a pretty important part of our vehicles. it's good to be able to check these things i think. but i'm no mechanic. what the hell do i know.