P0778

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Second opinion is in! Yogi - THE transmission guy - says the transmission is fine. Said he checked all solenoids and connectors and that my problem is the computer. If the computer is really the issue... I have a hunch my leaky safelite windshield may be the cause of this costly and time consuming problem.

How can I tell if water damage caused this? If it IS the windshields fault, how likely is it that safelite would pick up this tab?


...via IH8MUD app
 
I just had Safelite replace my windshield. I made sure that I asked that if any issues arose, electrical or other, that they would take care if it. Answer was yes. If it is a leaky windshield, have it confirmed and have Safelite take care of it.
 
Computer fixed it! I'm rolling in style again. He said the computer is sealed and there's no evidence of water damage. No corrosion or anything. Guess my computer just crapped the bed for some reason. She's shifting smooth as ever. Toyota sucks for trying to sell me a new transmission.


...via IH8MUD app
 
TwiceWithHair said:
Computer fixed it! I'm rolling in style again. He said the computer is sealed and there's no evidence of water damage. No corrosion or anything. Guess my computer just crapped the bed for some reason. She's shifting smooth as ever. Toyota sucks for trying to sell me a new transmission.


...via IH8MUD app
Click to expand...
Toyota dealers such when it has anything to do with transmissions, it payes to have some type of repore with a good trans man
 
Ok. Round 2. My truck drove smooth as hell for 8,000 miles in the new computer. And now... Same code. Same symptom. But here's the kicker: I'm an ocean away from where I had the work done. A few questions...

1) does anyone know a good transmission mechanic in Lexington area of Kentucky?

2) new computer with the SAME issues seems like more than coincidence. Seems more like a symptom than the problem. The transmission shop that did the work last time said he cleaned out the connectors and checked the solenoids when he was diagnosing last time. What else could be causing my computer to fail? The first time this happened, I suspected that a leaky windshield was the problem. I got a new windshield the same time I got a new computer. I'm dry inside now. But.... It also JUST rained a bunch. So I'm suspecting water again. But this time, NOT the windshield.



...via IH8MUD app
 
@TwiceWithHair I am in Lexington KY. There is a local shop that specialize in Toyota Lowell's | Toyota, Lexus, and Scion Auto Repair in Lexington, KY. I just got my LC, so I have never take my LC there, but they have worked on our Avalon and Sequoia, and they seems to know what they are doing.

Good luck and keep us updated.
Chris
 
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I was quick on the draw with my phone. Apparently I need a reputable mechanic to confirm the new computer is bad before Maui Toyota will honor the warranty. So... She's at greens Toyota. I hope they treat her better than the other Toyota dealerships have treated her. The mechanic I talked to made sense to me. And I made sense to him. I got good vibes from him. Glad I didn't leave her with a perceived dummy. At least he talked the talk... I find out more tomorrow.


...via IH8MUD app
 
Lexington Toyota said they found water in my wiring harness. Maui Toyota said I had a bad wiring harness initially later saying "Nevermind, your harness is fine." Wiring harness might be my problem. Transmission shop said the computer is sealed and no water damage evident. So if water in my wiring harness is causing the short that's frying my computer, it's allllll lining up. If I can find the reason water is finding it's way into my wiring harness and fix it... Plus new wiring harness and ANOTHER new computer... I might be problem free!!

Toyota doesn't agree with me yet. They want to have their transmission specialist look deeper. This will be the third time my transmission is taken apart to confirm that solenoids are all functioning as they should. They said their electrical diagnostic showed no problems. They said they have good connections after they drained the water and the code is still popping up. If the computer is already damaged again, the connections can be brand new and the problem would persist by my logic. Especially since the code is thrown before I even touch the transmission to move the car after clearing the code. Hopefully they agree with me come Monday and we can get this all sorted.

Is my logic flawed? Am I missing something?


...via IH8MUD app
 
"They said they have good connections after they drained the water and the code is still popping up."

Where is this wiring harness located? Under the truck? Under the dash? I would want to see the harness myself just to confirm that it was wet at some point, and then figure out how water can get in there.

Chris
 
bctlex said:
"They said they have good connections after they drained the water and the code is still popping up."

Where is this wiring harness located? Under the truck? Under the dash? I would want to see the harness myself just to confirm that it was wet at some point, and then figure out how water can get in there.

Chris
Click to expand...

I agree. When they call me back on Monday and tell me I need a new transmission, I plan to drive down and check it out. I'm about an hour out of town.


...via IH8MUD app
 
ok. update. greens toyota cleaned everything up and gave me my car back "fixed." It seemed to be true. I continued my road trip. In NYC, i got a check engine light. same. symptoms. same. code. i press the '2nd' button and lock in my cruise control at lower than normal and drive back to kentucky. greens toyota couldn't see me soon enough and the check engine light turned itself off. clunk went away. car fixed itself. which was good AND bad. i took the healthy acting land cruiser and drove down to texas for thanksgiving. where kinsel toyota in beaumont took a look at my car. they said it had stored p0778 and they wanted to take apart my transmission to investigate. which they did. and it cost MORE money. they said my computer was good, said the wire harness was good and that my solenoid was bad. they replaced the solenoid. gave me the truck back "fixed." and i took off for colorado. colorado to california. back on a boat to maui from oakland. truck and i are back out in the pacific.


sunday. driving home from home depot, clunk CLUNK. check engine light.... get home. get my computer. p0778

what the hell is going on??? why does my land cruiser hate me?

i called a friend who knows things. talked it all out with him. he thinks, and i agree, that i must have a short somewhere. he suggested to check all my grounds. i don't know what that means really. or where to look. i was thinking about the work that has been done on the car. she got a new transmission from toyota at 54,000 miles. did they knick a wire when that major job was being done? I got a new steering rack @112,000 miles. the guy said it was a BIG job. did he forget to hook something up properly afterwards? @120,000 miles, i saw p0778 the first time. then i saw it again @ 128,000 then again in NYC 2 weeks after (not sure of milage) and once more sunday @ 136,000.


toyota on maui can't see me for a month, so i get to obsess for a bit before my appointment. what the hell do i do next? what the hell do i tell the mechanic to check? my love for this truck is fading :(
 
I feel like I'm writing a journal at this point. Oh well. Brought my truck BACK to yogi with the same code. Same symptoms. And HE says it's the SAME PROBLEM. He said my computer is bad. The same computer HE replaced last year. His advice? "Get rid of the car." Selling or keeping I think it needs to be fixed. And I'm about out of ideas on how to do that
 
Brought my truck back home. Waiting for my sept 8th appointment with Toyota. Today, my check engine light went off. All symptoms gone. She's driving as she should again. Magic. Holy crap this is annoying.
 
I can't imagine. Intermittent problems like this would drive me crazy. After the second or third time I would have sold it and picked up another 100 or a 200. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
SmoothLC said:
I can't imagine. Intermittent problems like this would drive me crazy. After the second or third time I would have sold it and picked up another 100 or a 200. Good luck and keep us posted.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'll call this the third time. First time was in Maui. Second spanned from Kentucky to Texas. Third time is back here in Maui. I would sell her, but I dumped so much money into THIS truck... Id really like to just figure this out and keep her. She's a great truck otherwise. I keep thinking "another $1000 should fix it. $1000 beats the hassle of selling and buying." But I'm about $3000 into this particular problem already. Gotta draw the line somewhere... Toyota gets a crack at it again on the 8th. Same code. Same problem. Dealer "fixed" less than a year ago (in Texas). If I'm not convinced she's reliable after her next trip to Toyota, I think I need to start seeing what she's worth as a trade in.... Unfortunately.
 
Maui Toyota is sticking to their guns and trying to sell me a new transmission. They said their technician looked it over and found metal in my pan and said I need a new transmission. I asked "did you drop the pan?" She said "no, that would cost more money." Then how the HELL did he find metal in there?? I think they pulled the same code as before. And just recommended same as before. Greens Toyota thinks my transmission is fine. Kinsel Toyota thinks my transmission is fine. Yogis transmission thinks my transmission is fine. Maui Toyota... Who replaced this transmission once before already (previous owner), wants to replace it again. I'm going to get a price on a wiring harness and see if it's worth doing. Maybe I'll just take my land cruiser (since it's running fine for now) to see how much HONDA will give me on trade for her. I want this problem behind me...
 
Sorry!

:bang:
 
I had this same issue with my transmission after I did the fully transmission flush. During the job I must have bumped the wiring harness connection too the transmission and was throwing the same code and hard thunk out of 1st gear. I was able to lock the wiring harness back down with the locking lever and must have made that connection nice and tight. After that I have had zero issues. The wiring harness connects into the transmission on the drivers side about halfway down the transmission just below the fill plug. Their is a white lever that locks the plug into place. Make sure that lever is in the locked passion so that it holds that connection nice and tight.
 
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