95 camry auto tranny issues

[ziddey]

I posted this originally on another forum but this is probably the best to get answers from:

Hi. Here's what happened. Earlier today, my friend helped me push my car up a hill with a 95 toyota camry. I forgot to mention to keep the shifter in first so I'd imagine that D was used. Eitherway, after the push up the hill which was about 1/8 mile at the most, the car has had issues and to me seems like I need to goto a salvage yard and find a tranny to swap in. Basically, first is fine. Shifting into second, it'll slip like all hell. I haven't driven it personally since the problem started happening. Basically, to go up any type of hill, it will need to be put in 1st and then the gear nearly run to the end and then put in drive. Then, it should hopefully go into second really hard and really hard in and out a bunch of times and then hopefully go into third and the hill will be nearing an end that third will be able to keep without having to downshift again. Does this sound familiar to any camry owners out there? Car has only about 80k miles. I've pushed many cars up hills like this with my volvo tranny (850 tranny is the weakest part of the volvo too) and haven't ever had issues like this. I thought maybe the fluid overheated but it looks fine still and is still full. It still does this after cooling off for a while and after 20 more miles of driving, so it seems like it's permanent. What happened and what's there to do?

And if the solution is a tranny swap, how much would you guys ballpark for a salvage yard camry tranny? I'd imagine that camrys are immensely popular so it shouldn't be a problem. Also, how hard is a tranny swap for someone who's never done any major engine/tranny work before? I'd at least hope that toyota implemented some sort of smart designing that would only require a simple dropping of the tranny and bolting on of the new one? One could only hope?!

Thanks!


And then followup post:

Alright, today I drove the car a bit. Here's what I can tell after driving it.

If I put it in drive it and go say up a hill, it'll be in first, then it'll seem like it's slipping but it seems like it's either a constant attempt at trying to disengage in first and or second over and over again for a while. Also, shifts are really harsh, especially around 2nd gear. Also, when I coasted and let off the gas, it seemed to bounce also between either disengaging/reengaging of the same gear or two different gears and buck really badly. If I added a little gas, it would catch and hold a certain gear it seemed. Also, if I go harder on the pedal when I'm going slow or from a stop, it seems to bang into 2nd or 3rd gear (seems like 2nd but feels like 3rd) and it'd slip a lot due to the tq converter and not get much power.

I couldn't find a place open today that was able to do a transmission fluid exchange but it looks like I'm going in to get it done tomorrow. I don't have the tools to do it myself nor is it permitted at my apartment complex and it's not my car so it has to goto a shop.

But I tried a little bit this afternoon with some interesting results and was wondering what it meant. I went and got a quart of dex iii fluid and a funnel. I checked the fluid but couldn't understand the reading well. I didn't have any paper towels on me to wipe it well but it seemed like the fluid was brown and smelled a little burnt. It wasn't black or anything and I've had a lot of cars where my fluid was like that and the car was fine so I don't know how bad it is. Eitherway, I added a little bit of fluid and after driving a while ended up adding a quart and a half in. I still can't get a good reading but it seems like it's a bit higher than the hot line now which is not bad since it meant my fluid wasn't too low before.

But now, when I drive, it's a bit better. It doesn't buck real hard and try shifting gears or whatever it was doing while I'm coasting now. Shifts are a bit smoother now. And the problem where first->second has a lot of issues still but is even a bit better. When going up a steep hill, it'll go in first at first, then disengage and reengage over and over still but the intervals of when it's disengaged is less.

What does this tell me? Is it that a tranny fluid exchange should make it normal again??



Also, it's only the 2.2L I4