Gx470 Driven in low gear by accident

[edes300]

Need some advice if any damage has been done to my transmission.

I have a 2005 gx470 with KDSS. I let my fathers home health aid take him to get the vaccine in my GX probably a 60 mile round trip drive. I immediately noticed it was in low gear. Put it back into high gear transmission seems to shift fine but I’m concerned if he could have damaged anything.

it has 145000 miles on it and I changed the transmission fluid at 100000 miles. Thinking to just change it again just to be safe. Any thoughts?

 

[rommelrommel]

Well, outside of probably burning a lot of gas, I think it should be okay. Locking the center diff for a long on road trip can cause lots of issues but I can’t see what driving in low gear would do.

 

[edes300]

Well, outside of probably burning a lot of gas, I think it should be okay. Locking the center diff for a long on road trip can cause lots of issues but I can’t see what driving in low gear would do.

Thanks for the reply. Luckily he didn’t turn the center diff lock on as well. 19 year old kid totally clueless.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

It takes effort to shift into lo. How did he figure out to do that? Some people can’t figure out how to change from hi to lo and vice versa.

anyways, it’s perfectly safe to drive in lo. Just make sure you perform the regular maintenance on your diff and transfer case fluids.

 

[SteveH]

I'd go test drive it in a dirt area and check all the functions of the 4WD system and listen for funny sounds. Do some u-turns, engage the center diff lock, etc.

 

[jdevtac]

Is it possible it was shifted in low when they parked it? Seems like theyd know something was obviously amiss driving at speed in 4lo.

 

[Ih8washboards]

Its not very much different than driving a manual car but only in second or third gear.
You'd have to bouncing off the rev limiter to do any sort of highway driving.

Honestly, if its well maintained, the platform can kind of take this sort of abuse so long as its fairly rare.
Actually, go ahead and put it to 4lo go for a short drive and see just how noticeable it is. You'll feel like the worlds slowest TORQUE MACHINE.

I hope your father is doing well, and his specific health issues are none of my business - but if it would be helpful, you could ask him if he noticed anything sounding wrong. Anyone who knows how cars work, or at least is competent with a manual transmission, would definitely have noticed if the it had been driven at highway speeds in 4lo.

It also would have drank down fuel at like 5 mpg or worse like that too, so check your fuel gauge.

 

[Ih8washboards]

Its not very much different than driving a manual car but only in second or third gear.
You'd have to bouncing off the rev limiter to do any sort of highway driving.

Honestly, if its well maintained, the platform can kind of take this sort of abuse so long as its fairly rare.
Actually, go ahead and put it to 4lo go for a short drive and see just how noticeable it is. You'll feel like the worlds slowest TORQUE MACHINE.

I hope your father is doing well, and his specific health issues are none of my business - but if it would be helpful, you could ask him if he noticed anything sounding wrong. Anyone who knows how cars work, or at least is competent with a manual transmission, would definitely have noticed if the it had been driven at highway speeds in 4lo.

It also would have drank down fuel at like 5 mpg or worse like that too, so check your fuel gauge.

Found this from a 4runner forum:

We've got a different transmission, and 5th gear doesn't work in 4-LO. So in 4th you'd probably top out at 45ish mph, but it would "feel" and sound is if you were pushing the car over 90mph.

This one is also from a 4th gen 4runner, so pretty similar if not the same - looks like 4-LO & 4th is actually a lower gear than 4-HI and 2nd.

 

[se7enine]

Drain the fluid, good opportunity to see if there is any metallic shavings in there now.

 

[Mr Chuck Norris]

What was the route like that was driven? If it was 40mph back roads, no big deal. If it was 80mph freeway, the engine would have been buzzing at ~3300rpm which is really not terrible. Do an oil change, trans fluid change, and transfer case oil change if you want to cover your bases.

 

[thatcabledude]

I wouldn’t sweat it if he did, but I’m thinking the “clueless” driver shifted it up and into low along with the trans when he parked it.

 

[rommelrommel]

Replacing a bunch of fluids is way excessive. It is just a reducing gear set.