- Thread starter
- #21
Good point. I guess I just assumed they were lying to me at that point. I will do that. I do appreciate everyone's advice!
Transmission Woes
- Thread starter DenverCruiser
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #22
Put in a new Denso coil and spark plug at #4. No change unfortunately. Moving the trans to 4 certainly works. Next step is to use the anti-shudder mentioned above.
- Thread starter
- #23
Figured I should give an update in case anyone cares. The shudder is NOTABLY better now. I started driving it to work once a week so getting more miles on it. Not sure if the Lexus flush was it, me replacing the coil, or what but it is much better. Shudder is very rare now and only about 10% as annoying. So much better that I have pretty much stopped eyeing 200 series listings.
About time! I haven’t slept for months wondering.
I may not be able to help completely but can share my transmission story. I have an 06 and new models don't have the level check dipstick.... I had slips and hard shifts after did a tranny fluid change and fixed it, the root cause was I didn't have enough fluid. I was afraid when I cleaned the fluid out about the story of "old fluid" on old cars having small material to allow the clutch to grip better during gear changes, as the new fluid has no particles. I was replacing the tranny fluid at 170K miles and never knew if the PO changed the fluid ever so there was that potential. Turns out this old fluid new fluid thinking was not my issue.
I did a drain and fill (not a FLUSH as didn't want to disturb that much / and I left the pan on) on my 06 tranny using Toyota WS transmission fluid as after I replaced my radiator, some tranny fluid was lost.
I made the mistake checking the fluid level by pulling the over-fill plug while the car engine was OFF (after it was warmed up), and then stopping adding more fluid once the over-fill plug was dripping with the car engine OFF. I drove around, and the transmission was hard to get into 1st gear or from Stop to Go it will feel sluggish or shudder or take a few tries before gripping the right gear. After driving for a while it got better, as the tranny and gears got hotter.
After driving around as mention above and heating up the car, I made a mistake to check the fluid level afterwards by pulling the over-fill plug with the car engine OFF, after the tranny was heated up far above 115F, i.e. tranny case hot cannot touch with finger. A lot more fluid came out the over-fill plug, when the tranny was Hot. When sealing it up after it stopped dripping, and when driving a short distance, the slipping got a lot worse, tested 4 stop signs Stop-Go and decided time to go back to garage as it got even worse.
I put the car back, let it cool down, and refilled the oil back up until it was overflowing out of the over-fill plug while car was OFF, and then overfilled it even more with the over-fill plug sealed. My garage was 93F (Dallas heat!) and I turned the engine ON and estimated when the tranny was over 97F as I didn't have a temp gun or computer reader (93F ambient not too far off from 97F temperature zone to start measuring). I couldn't get the diagnostics mode jumper wire A/T oil temp light to work properly when cycling through the D-N and I heard Toyota reduce the temperature to check below 115F so not sure this diagnostics mode will be right to use as it may be too hot and triggering the indicator on over 115F, hence the guestimating and the Dallas temperature ambient was close enough to 97F... I then notice the fluid was low as when the engine is ON it was sucking in a lot of oil through the system and not pooling in the pan, and I had to add a lot of new fluid just so the over-flow hole can start dripping. After I topped it off with the engine ON idling, I screwed the over-fill plug after it started dripping (I didn't wait for the drip to slow down super small trickle, I started closing it up after there was a small-medium stream as I wanted it to have a bit more fluid in case).
Cycled through P-> R -> D -> N -> L a few times, notice car wasn't lurching when shifting gears so looked good, and drove it for a 100 miles, including start and stop and flooring it. Went on high ways 85-90mph and small stop sign roads. Runs great now! No slips~
TL;DR : check tranny fluid level with engine on and at right temp (not too hot, not cold).
I did a drain and fill (not a FLUSH as didn't want to disturb that much / and I left the pan on) on my 06 tranny using Toyota WS transmission fluid as after I replaced my radiator, some tranny fluid was lost.
I made the mistake checking the fluid level by pulling the over-fill plug while the car engine was OFF (after it was warmed up), and then stopping adding more fluid once the over-fill plug was dripping with the car engine OFF. I drove around, and the transmission was hard to get into 1st gear or from Stop to Go it will feel sluggish or shudder or take a few tries before gripping the right gear. After driving for a while it got better, as the tranny and gears got hotter.
After driving around as mention above and heating up the car, I made a mistake to check the fluid level afterwards by pulling the over-fill plug with the car engine OFF, after the tranny was heated up far above 115F, i.e. tranny case hot cannot touch with finger. A lot more fluid came out the over-fill plug, when the tranny was Hot. When sealing it up after it stopped dripping, and when driving a short distance, the slipping got a lot worse, tested 4 stop signs Stop-Go and decided time to go back to garage as it got even worse.
I put the car back, let it cool down, and refilled the oil back up until it was overflowing out of the over-fill plug while car was OFF, and then overfilled it even more with the over-fill plug sealed. My garage was 93F (Dallas heat!) and I turned the engine ON and estimated when the tranny was over 97F as I didn't have a temp gun or computer reader (93F ambient not too far off from 97F temperature zone to start measuring). I couldn't get the diagnostics mode jumper wire A/T oil temp light to work properly when cycling through the D-N and I heard Toyota reduce the temperature to check below 115F so not sure this diagnostics mode will be right to use as it may be too hot and triggering the indicator on over 115F, hence the guestimating and the Dallas temperature ambient was close enough to 97F... I then notice the fluid was low as when the engine is ON it was sucking in a lot of oil through the system and not pooling in the pan, and I had to add a lot of new fluid just so the over-flow hole can start dripping. After I topped it off with the engine ON idling, I screwed the over-fill plug after it started dripping (I didn't wait for the drip to slow down super small trickle, I started closing it up after there was a small-medium stream as I wanted it to have a bit more fluid in case).
Cycled through P-> R -> D -> N -> L a few times, notice car wasn't lurching when shifting gears so looked good, and drove it for a 100 miles, including start and stop and flooring it. Went on high ways 85-90mph and small stop sign roads. Runs great now! No slips~
TL;DR : check tranny fluid level with engine on and at right temp (not too hot, not cold).
Last edited:
Wow, what an adventure (in a frustrating way).
I might have missed it and am ingnorant of the auto tranny details, but I don't get the check level while engine is on (does that mean inginition on/engine NOT running....or....?). If it means engine running (which you said), i would imagine tranny fluid flying all over the place as under pressure.
Please excuse the ignorance.
I might have missed it and am ingnorant of the auto tranny details, but I don't get the check level while engine is on (does that mean inginition on/engine NOT running....or....?). If it means engine running (which you said), i would imagine tranny fluid flying all over the place as under pressure.
Please excuse the ignorance.
When I said when engine is ON, I meant to say turn on the engine (fire it up by turning key all the way to the right), let it idle, and having the car in PARK.
When the engine is on, the pumps are running and the transmission fluid is spinning through the radiator and system, so there is fluid flowing around. Also when the engine is running and idling, the engine will get hot and the fluids will warm up. This will give a more accurate reading, compared to if the engine is OFF and the fluid is not spinning around.
So I drove the car another 400 miles today. Tranny no issues, shifted beautifully.
When the engine is on, the pumps are running and the transmission fluid is spinning through the radiator and system, so there is fluid flowing around. Also when the engine is running and idling, the engine will get hot and the fluids will warm up. This will give a more accurate reading, compared to if the engine is OFF and the fluid is not spinning around.
So I drove the car another 400 miles today. Tranny no issues, shifted beautifully.
Last edited:
