4th gear issues (1 Viewer)

[spooner]

Hi everyone,

my father-in-law has an '84 BJ60 (that I am considering buying off him). A couple months back he noticed that it was popping out of 4th gear once in a while so he took it in to get it looked at and the shop took it all apart and ended up putting in a used transmission they found on the other side of the continent. In the mean time he bought a new Highlander and I started thinking about buying the cruiser. After a few days of driving it, I noticed that it was still popping out of 4th gear. It really isn't a big issue for me. It only happens when you are slowing down in 4th, so 90% of the time I would be shifting into 3rd anyway. Anyway...here are my three questions:

1. What do you think it could be? (Seems pretty obvious to me that it probably isn't a transmission problem since they replaced the tranny and it didn't make any difference).

2. Do you think it's even worth worrying about or could it indicate a bigger underlying problem?

3. Should the repair shop reimburse my father-in-law for some of the money he gave them to replace a transmission that had nothing wrong with it (and may have been in even better shape than the one they replaced it with).

Thank in advance for any advice.

 

[rstl99]

Hi there. I am not knowledgeable about this myself, though I recently acquired an early BJ60 with the 4speed, and dont' have the popping out of gear syndrome. I know that the 5 speed transmissions in the later BJ60's (and HJ60's) tend to pop out of 5th after xxx,000 kms. From what I recall reading, it's not necessarily indicative of anything serious, and the fix is sometimes reasonably cheap and relatively easy. You should search the diesel forum on this site for messages dealing with the popping out of 5th syndrome. As far as the tranny shop your father went to, kudos to them for taking the thing apart and finding a used one across the continent (4 speeds are quite common as many people upgrade to the 5 speed and sell the 4 speed for little money). I can imagine they must have run him up quite a bill :-( Can't speak to your question about recovering some money from the tranny shop. THe outcome of their work wasn't very satisfactory, that's for sure. I wonder how much they knew these transmissions. As I said, the popping out of 5th on the 5 speed doesn't necessarily require taking the tranny completely apart... How much mileage is on this truck anyway??
If the truck runs well (other than the tranny), is not a rust-bucket, strong engine, good interior, and the price is right, it might be a good truck for you. As I said above, you should be able to locate a good used 4 speed fairly readily, if you can't get the one on it fixed.
Good luck.

 

[spooner]

thanks rstl99.

I should have mentioned that it is a 5 speed. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th gears all perform fine - 4th is the only one that pops out. I'll check out the diesel forum like you suggested.

There is 320,000 kms on the truck and it is in pretty good shape. Some rust (mostly on the rear driver side) but the interior is very good other than the driver seat. We haven't worked out a price yet.

 

[rstl99]

Oops, read that too quickly! So 4th gear popping out on a H55F then. Worth asking the question on the diesel forum, where you are more likely to find people with the 5 speed. 320,000 kms is getting up there, not surprising in a way that the original tranny starting giving problems (depending on what maintenance the tranny saw during its life - oil changes, etc.). And who knows how much mileage was on the replacement H55F the tranny shop located for you. Those 5 speeds aren't easy to get because everyone wants one for their 4 to 5 speed conversions. Might be worthwhile trying to locate a KNOWLEDGEABLE tranny shop in your neck of the woods, familiar with TLC trannies, and get one of the 5 speeds you have (the original, or the "new" one) properly rebuilt (not sure why the tranny shop your father in law took his to didn't do that in the first place, they had the whole thing apart apparently, so could have bought and installed a rebuild kit I would think). Then you won't have that to worry about for a lonnnggg time. Good luck.
p.s. before considering buying that BJ60 from your father in law, I would suggest he and you take it to a reputable LC repair mechanic (should be one around Edmonton if you ask) to go over it front to back, and give you an honest assessment of health. Get a compression test done, check all the brakes, brake lines, everything. That way, there won't be any nasty surprises (other than the tranny) if you and your inlaw work out a deal. Would be sad to see a bunch of issues come up after you buy it cause it might create some ill feelings... Knowing the condition of the various components, and costs involved to get it back to snuff, should allow you both to work out a mutually satisfactory price.

 

[spooner]

not surprising in a way that the original tranny starting giving problems (depending on what maintenance the tranny saw during its life - oil changes, etc.).

My father-in-law is very diligent about regular maintenance of his vehicles so I'm quite certain that it was well taken care of.

And who knows how much mileage was on the replacement H55F the tranny shop located for you.

I completely agree - makes me a little nervous. I'd rather have the old one in there since I know it was driven easy and well-maintained.

get one of the 5 speeds you have (the original, or the "new" one) properly rebuilt (not sure why the tranny shop your father in law took his to didn't do that in the first place, they had the whole thing apart apparently, so could have bought and installed a rebuild kit I would think). .
.

They told him that they couldn't guarantee that a rebuild would fix the problem. I can only assume that this was because they couldn't find anything wrong with it when they opened it up. That's why they suggested getting a used transmission. My father-in-law was a bit suspicious at that point but he just wanted it fixed so he trusted them and bit the bullet.

Good advice about asking for a reputable TLC repair shop around Edmonton. I will start a new thread for that. If I do buy it, I definitely won't being using the current shop.

Thanks again.

 

[JLH911]

Hi everyone,

my father-in-law has an '84 BJ60 (that I am considering buying off him). A couple months back he noticed that it was popping out of 4th gear once in a while so he took it in to get it looked at and the shop took it all apart and ended up putting in a used transmission they found on the other side of the continent. In the mean time he bought a new Highlander and I started thinking about buying the cruiser. After a few days of driving it, I noticed that it was still popping out of 4th gear. It really isn't a big issue for me. It only happens when you are slowing down in 4th, so 90% of the time I would be shifting into 3rd anyway. Anyway...here are my three questions:

1. What do you think it could be? (Seems pretty obvious to me that it probably isn't a transmission problem since they replaced the tranny and it didn't make any difference).

2. Do you think it's even worth worrying about or could it indicate a bigger underlying problem?

3. Should the repair shop reimburse my father-in-law for some of the money he gave them to replace a transmission that had nothing wrong with it (and may have been in even better shape than the one they replaced it with).

Thank in advance for any advice.

I own an 87 FJ60 that does not suffer from this, but my 89 Toyota Tercel does!

It pops out of fourth gear upon accelerating or when under strain.

I've been told it's the "synchros" for the 4th gear. It sucks when it pops out, but to get around this for now, I hold the stick while in 4th so it won't pop out.

I can't justify spending $500-800 to rebuild the tranny on a car that's probably worth just as much....now if it were my FJ60 I'd do it.

Hope that helps

 

[spooner]

Thanks. The problem with this one is actually when decelerating or when there is no strain so not sure that it would be the same thing.

I searched through the diesel forum like rstl99 suggested and I did find a thread that listed some similar issues. For one guy that had pretty much the exact same thing happening, it turned out to be the shifter assembly - not the actual transmission. That makes a lot of sense in this case too since the replacement transmission didn't seem to have any effect on the problem.