If you’ve been following along in this blog you’ll know that we’ve been working on fixing some of the shifting problems and noises in a 1985 Toyota 4Runner. So far we’ve got the transmission shifting on its own instead of having to manually shift it. We’ve also eliminated a bang that would happen sometimes when shifting into drive or reverse. The transmission still feels like it jumps a little when shifted into drive or reverse so in this edition we’ll look at why that is still happening. It still doesn’t seem to downshift at the right time when trying to accelerate up a hill, but that could just be opinion.
What is the vehicle? 1985 Toyota 4Runner 4wd
How many miles? 260K+
Is the fluid level correct? Yes, but it may be a little dirty.
Is the check engine light on? No
Diagnosis by phone: Ok, so since it still doesn’t feel like it is shifting right and it jumps when shifting into drive or reverse it could be that the internals of the transmission are out of spec. To stick with my directive to rule out the inexpensive and easy stuff before tearing down and rebuilding the transmission I think we should check the kickdown cable adjustment. Toyota calls this a “throttle cable”. This is the cable between the throttle linkage at the intake and the transmission.
Inspection/diagnosis: I pulled out the book for this one and found that the throttle cable is indeed out of adjustment.
Repair: I adjusted the throttle cable and took it for a test drive.
Results: Now it shifts better on hills and it doesn’t jump when shifted into drive or reverse. Overall I spent about 3 hours working on this transmission and it’s back to working like it should. The next thing I did was to take it for a test drive in the snow. I shifted it into 4wd and got a loud noise and some unusual vibrations. I suppose there’s some more diagnosis to be done. Check back to see what I found out.