Seems my problems are bigger than I thought...

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Ok, I thought my biggest problems were with the motor running a bit rough and stumbling at idle. But apparently I'm having transmission issues. These just popped up within the last 3 days as I drove the truck to Washington D.C. and back last weekend(600 miles roundtrip) without issue. The tranny is staying in first until 4k rpms in ECT mode and 3k rpms in regular mode. It is also VERY sluggish and tops out at 30mph in first, then shifts to second and repeats itself, revving very high for the speed and still feeling sluggish. Any ideas? I thought this sluggishness was being caused by pieces of the bad cat clogging the airflow, but I also would think that would cause the motor to bog down, not rev up.

So what do I do to diagnose my problems? We just had the tranny on our '97 Camry go out and since the car was very high in mileage and a base model, we donated it to Charity. Maybe my brother has a talent for killing trannies?

Ary

 

[lurker]

Ok, I thought my biggest problems were with the motor running a bit rough and stumbling at idle. But apparently I'm having transmission issues. These just popped up within the last 3 days as I drove the truck to Washington D.C. and back last weekend(600 miles roundtrip) without issue. The tranny is staying in first until 4k rpms in ECT mode and 3k rpms in regular mode. It is also VERY sluggish and tops out at 30mph in first, then shifts to second and repeats itself, revving very high for the speed and still feeling sluggish. Any ideas? I thought this sluggishness was being caused by pieces of the bad cat clogging the airflow, but I also would think that would cause the motor to bog down, not rev up.

So what do I do to diagnose my problems? We just had the tranny on our '97 Camry go out and since the car was very high in mileage and a base model, we donated it to Charity. Maybe my brother has a talent for killing trannies?

Ary

That doesn't sound very fun.

Did you check the fluid level and what's the colour?

You might want to try Seafoam transmission cleaner, or just replacing the transmission filter ~$13.00 plus fluid.

Have someone check the transmission computer?

Next level of support might be to bite the bullit and make a $2995 call to Slee. :whoops:

 

[semlin]

are you sure there are no check engine codes being thrown on this thing? These are ugly symptoms that would make me park the truck until I could figure it out. obviously you need to check your tranny fluid.

What exactly have you done to the truck in the last couple of days? I am worried about the fact in the other thread it sounded like you pulled the big air intake hose from the throttle body off while the motor was running. How exactly did you do that? Normally you want to disconnect the air filter container lid to give yourself enough play and then be gentle. If you just reamed it off you could have cracked the hose itself which would cause some nasty symptoms. i think your shift problems could also possibly be from the TCP on the throttle body. Did you touch the TCP when you were messing with the throttle body? did you do anything else?

 

[Scamper]

Arya,

Have you replaced that EGR hose yet? Is this tranny problem happening after you replaced the hose?

I ask simply becuase the EGR hose is...as stated...a vaccum hose. It's attached to the intake manifold. If that hose is missing, it's like having a permanent leak in your intake system. I would not jump to any conclusions about revving and trannys, etc. until I had replaced that hose and given the system enough time (or just pulled the ECT fuse) to reset the computer.

 

[Junk]

Out of curiosity, what RPMs are you at when doing 50mph at a constant speed?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Ok, I haven't done anything to it. I haven't adjusted anything or replaced anything.

I did pull the hose off of the TB and the motor shut down of its own accord(first vehicle I've ever pulled the intake hose off of the TB and it shut down, I guess it needs that mass airflow sensor to function ;p ) Anyway, I will check the tranny fluid when it gets home(brother took it against my judgement )

I didn't crack anything, that I'm sure of.

What's the TCP?

I did a search on how to pull engine codes with the paperclip, and got a bunch of references to it, but no instructions. Anyone got a link for me?

Thanks

Ary

 

[Beowulf]

Ary,
I don't see any specifics on your vehicle. Model year, mileage, prior maintenance, how long you've had it, etc.

-B-

 

[Rich]

Until you correct your massive vacuum leak by replacing the missing vacuum hose you are pretty much wasting your time doing anything else. You are also letting your engine suck in unfiltered air.

 

[landtank]

Until you correct your massive vacuum leak by replacing the missing vacuum hose you are pretty much wasting your time doing anything else. You are also letting your engine suck in unfiltered air.

Which hose are you reffering to Rich? The one that goes to the base of the modulator is not vacuum.

 

[Rich]

On mine with the hose disconnected air is pumped in and out of the EGR valve. Where's it going?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

The long horizontal tube(pointed at the passenger side of the truck) has exhaust coming out of it. So I don't think it's vacuum.

Ary

 

[Rich]

As far as I can tell it connects to the same flow path as the exhuast that gets pulled into the engine when EGR is commanded to flow.

 

[landtank]

It is Rich but without the modulator is connected to it, I don't beleive the EGR valve will open to pass those gasses.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Arya,

You're pretty confident you didn't crack anything, but I'll challenge you on that fairly generous assumption on your part. The thick large diameter rubber intake tube you removed is quite commonly cracked from being forced up to change the air filter. It is NOT designed for that and the correct procedure is to separate it from the intake and engine ends. They age and routinely crack on the pleated section on the bottom where you cannot see it unless you remove it to look. So remove it and gently flex it while examing the bottom of those pleats. I'm not saying you did crack it but if you pulled it off there's a very good chance of it.

I'll also echo the lack of vehicle history (year? miles?, etc) here. I know you posted something else, but it should be in the thread here too. I cannot recall and I'm sure others cannot either.

PS - I know he's your brother, but if the guy doesn't care about the vehicle to worry about driving it while it exhibits terminal drive train damage symptoms then perhaps you're wasting your time trying to diagnose and treat. Won't be long before it will be reduced to scrap. Just let us know which salvage yard it ends up in for parts availability, eh?

DougM

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I examined the hose when I removed it on Saturday to clean the throttle body and it was not cracked. I thoroughly cleaned the throttle body and did notice a difference, but not a drastic one. Additionally on the advice of a couple people here I got a bottle of seafoam and added it to a fresh tank of 89 octane(was running 87 previously). I'm not sure which made the difference, the seafoam or the gas, but it seems to be running a lot smoother now, although it does still hesitate on acceleration at times.

The LC in question is a '94 model with 145k miles

The weird shifting patterns seem to have been a one time only occurence, as we have not experienced them since I created this post. I'm going to the dealer today after work to purchase the missing hose and will install it this evening. I will report back with any findings.

And have no fear, if my brother turns it into scrap I will salvage it I'd have bought it already if I could afford the gas mileage in it.

Thanks!

Ary

 

[Beowulf]

>> although it does still hesitate on acceleration at times. <<

Ary,
Two common causes of this symptom are a crack somewhere in the intake hose as Doug and others have suggested and a problem in the wiring harness by the EGR valve. Either of these problems exhibit those symptoms when the engine torque moves the engine a little on acceleration.

I should add that the wiring harness issue is not exclusively at the EGR valve location and others have had wiring problems at the firewall where it goes into the cabin on the right side of the engine bay.

-B-

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Ok, the dealer didn't have that hose in stock, and since a lot of the hoses under the hood look like they've seen better days, I was wondering if there is a "complete hose package" available from any of the vendors such as Cruiserdan?

Also, the check engine light came on last night and I just got back from pulling the code. It came up with a code 28 which my scantool says is the O2 sensor #2. Would this cause the problems I'm experiencing? or could it just be a negative side-effect of the seafoam?

Thanks

Ary

P.S. I triple checked the intake hose today and it is not cracked.

 

[semlin]

I think you will find that hose is special order. It is larger than the rest. Dan does sell lengths of the conventional OEM vacuum hose used on the upper egr system. You can also use windshield wiper hose.

 

[Beowulf]

>> could it just be a negative side-effect of the seafoam <<

Possible. Reset the code and wait.

If the big intake hose is OK, you should start looking at the wiring harness. You've definitely got a problem that needs to be fixed. A worst case scenario is that an injector quits firing and you melt a piston and have to rebuild the engine. It can happen.

-B-

 

[MoJ]

Ok, the dealer didn't have that hose in stock, and since a lot of the hoses under the hood look like they've seen better days, I was wondering if there is a "complete hose package" available from any of the vendors such as Cruiserdan?

Sounds like it's time to PM C-Dan.