Transmission issues

Sorry for post. I’ve never posted on a forum before. But I’m at a complete loss on this truck. 2001 3.4 Tacoma with auto trans and 216k miles. I’ve had nothing but issues since buying the truck. Latest problem is randomly truck won’t shift out of first gear. Truck could drive great for 2 weeks, or it could mess up first thing. I’ve done a neutral safety switch, throttle position sensor, and flushed trans. I’m thinking it’s the solenoids maybe. Wondering if there might be a way to test that theory out. Pretty knowledgeable with cars. But this is my first Toyota.

 

First thing to do if you are mechanical in nature is to check the trans fluid level/condition. Next is to drain the trans pan and look for glitter in the fluid. If there is glitter, put her back together because she is done. See if she will start out in second gear, put the gear selsctor in "2" and see if is in 2nd, you can tell because the truck wont have that much pull away power. When she does run normal are the shifts regular or are they late and hard or early and soft.

 

Check ALL of the wiring for shorts. I've had mice chew insulation off wires causing them to short. The car would drive great at times, but if the wire made contact with something then the transmission would do all sorts of funky stuff. Was getting codes indicating the transmission was in need of a rebuild.

I dropped it off at a transmission shop for a $2000 rebuild. They called me 30 minutes later and told me to pick it up, they fixed it. Before pulling the transmission, they found the exposed wire and repaired it. They charged me 1/2 hour labor ($50) and it was still working great 5 years and another 100,000 miles later until a distracted driver rear ended it at a traffic light and totaled the car.

 

• https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...sions-write-up-your-4-speed-automatic.325531/
  
• https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trouble-upshifting.829988/page-2

 

Thats a good shop worth naming! They didn't snake you for the unnecessary $2000 rebuild.

 

Had this same issue last month. Turns out the fluid in the trans was burnt, low, and the pan had tiny shards of metal in them. Did a proper flush and cleaned the screens. Runs tits now.
96 3.4 auto 4x4