I have read all of the threads about the poor 2000 tranny and after 140k miles I thought I was in the clear, apparently not. This is a bit long but I wanted to share my experience.
A couple of weeks ago we took off out of Austin and headed for Ouray, Colorado. As one of the directors of the FJ Summit I was supposed to be there a few days early to finish up the pre-event work. We decided to break the trip up a bit and go see some friends in Midland, Tx. for one night then head on up to Santa Fe for a relaxing weekend. We made it to Santa Fe without issue and parked the LC for the weekend. I had my fridge in the back and decided to go out an start the truck to recharge the battery, to my surprise the check engine light came on...Do What? I scanned the code with my scan gauge and up popped code P0715, its a speed sensor code with the sensor being located on the side of the tranny. After a bit of reading I thought I had figured out which sensor it was. I contacted Beaver Toyota on Monday morning and low and behold they had the sensor in stock for $259, Ouch, I skipped breakfast and went to pick up the part. On the way over I heard what sounded like gravel clunking around from under the truck but just for a second...hmmm, not good but I thought it possible that the computer was not allowing things to sync up properly. When I got to the dealership I decided to have them run a diagnostic on the vehicle. They came back and said it was a sensor but not the sensor I thought it was and that they would have to overnight the part in....another night in Santa Fe and a day late to Ouray.
The next day they guys got my truck in and pulled the sensor and there was a chunck of metal magnetized to it
. I asked that the tech drain the fluid from the pan and to our surprise there was nothing, poured the fluid over white paper and still nothing. I told him to fill it back up, put the new sensor in and get me out of there. The guys at Beaver were great to work with and I would not hesitate to recommend them.
We headed out and within a few feet the SES light came back on so I reset it and kept going...it then came right back on... The tech did tell me that his system was telling him that the problem was in the overdrive and as we headed up the highway the overdrive sounded like a wounded moose. Solution, turn the overdrive off and what do ya know,
it worked!
We made it from Santa Fe to Ouray, up 550 over a few high mountain passes, where I know there would be plenty of knowledgeable people to ask about WT>>>? After talking with Christo & Ben, the regional Toyota service guys out of Denver, a lead engineer from TRD and a few others the conclusion was....the overdrive was bad. Apparently there is a bearing that goes bad and everyone agreed that trying to fix it was not a good idea, the best approach would be to find a reman somewhere.
Luckily my good friend Jacque from TRDParts4u was there and he, with the help of his counterpart Barbara who was stuck in the office, started the search. They located the one available tranny and hooked a brother up! This means that if yours goes you might just get my old one that is set to become a reman.
Unfortunately I didnt get to wheel my truck while in Ouray but did get out on the trails in a borrowed FJ. I did make it all the way back to Austin and then up to Dallas where Toyota of Dallas is doing the install as I type this. 12 hours labor and a new tranny is not cheap but I have no plans to swap vehicles any time soon.
As an FYI I did regularly drop the fluid out of the pan and replace with M1. When we drained the pan the fluid didnt smell burnt and was clean as a whistle.
I will pick the Cruiser up later this week and report back.
A couple of weeks ago we took off out of Austin and headed for Ouray, Colorado. As one of the directors of the FJ Summit I was supposed to be there a few days early to finish up the pre-event work. We decided to break the trip up a bit and go see some friends in Midland, Tx. for one night then head on up to Santa Fe for a relaxing weekend. We made it to Santa Fe without issue and parked the LC for the weekend. I had my fridge in the back and decided to go out an start the truck to recharge the battery, to my surprise the check engine light came on...Do What? I scanned the code with my scan gauge and up popped code P0715, its a speed sensor code with the sensor being located on the side of the tranny. After a bit of reading I thought I had figured out which sensor it was. I contacted Beaver Toyota on Monday morning and low and behold they had the sensor in stock for $259, Ouch, I skipped breakfast and went to pick up the part. On the way over I heard what sounded like gravel clunking around from under the truck but just for a second...hmmm, not good but I thought it possible that the computer was not allowing things to sync up properly. When I got to the dealership I decided to have them run a diagnostic on the vehicle. They came back and said it was a sensor but not the sensor I thought it was and that they would have to overnight the part in....another night in Santa Fe and a day late to Ouray.
The next day they guys got my truck in and pulled the sensor and there was a chunck of metal magnetized to it
. I asked that the tech drain the fluid from the pan and to our surprise there was nothing, poured the fluid over white paper and still nothing. I told him to fill it back up, put the new sensor in and get me out of there. The guys at Beaver were great to work with and I would not hesitate to recommend them. We headed out and within a few feet the SES light came back on so I reset it and kept going...it then came right back on... The tech did tell me that his system was telling him that the problem was in the overdrive and as we headed up the highway the overdrive sounded like a wounded moose. Solution, turn the overdrive off and what do ya know,
it worked! We made it from Santa Fe to Ouray, up 550 over a few high mountain passes, where I know there would be plenty of knowledgeable people to ask about WT>>>? After talking with Christo & Ben, the regional Toyota service guys out of Denver, a lead engineer from TRD and a few others the conclusion was....the overdrive was bad. Apparently there is a bearing that goes bad and everyone agreed that trying to fix it was not a good idea, the best approach would be to find a reman somewhere.
Luckily my good friend Jacque from TRDParts4u was there and he, with the help of his counterpart Barbara who was stuck in the office, started the search. They located the one available tranny and hooked a brother up! This means that if yours goes you might just get my old one that is set to become a reman.
Unfortunately I didnt get to wheel my truck while in Ouray but did get out on the trails in a borrowed FJ. I did make it all the way back to Austin and then up to Dallas where Toyota of Dallas is doing the install as I type this. 12 hours labor and a new tranny is not cheap but I have no plans to swap vehicles any time soon.
As an FYI I did regularly drop the fluid out of the pan and replace with M1. When we drained the pan the fluid didnt smell burnt and was clean as a whistle.
I will pick the Cruiser up later this week and report back.
Sounds like it happened amongst the best company it could have happened around though!
