Tranny pauses from Reverse to Drive

[sljorge]

So I recently did the A/T tranny flush found in the DIY (dropped the pan, replaced gasket, pulled cooler line and dumped ~6 qts thru the dipstick) on my 92 Camry with 190k miles. Fluid was black! After 6 qts. is barely started to show thru some red color.

Now when I back out of my garage (cold) and go from REV to DRIVE the tranny hesitates for about 1-2 sec. before engaging into drive.

Is this a sign of bad things to come? Is there anything I can do at this point?


-Regretful Flusher in AZ

[hill8570]

What fluid did you use? You can get some funky shifting behavior if you use the wrong fluid.

[sljorge]

I used the cheap Dex III stuff from Wal-Mart.

[hill8570]

Originally Posted by sljorge

I used the cheap Dex III stuff from Wal-Mart.

OK, the Supertech oils are usually pretty trustworthy, and DexIII is the correct oil.

What's your N->D and N->R bump lag? That is, with the rig idling, parking brake on, shift from N->D and N->R and measure the time from shift until you feel the shock / bump of the drive kicking is. By the book, it's a bit over one second, but should be less than one-and-a-half seconds. Allow it to idle in N for at least a minute between tests.

I'm trying to remember if a shift linkage problem can cause this sort of symptom. I'm thinking maybe the cable or linkage is dirty, and it's taking a while for the cable / linkage to move after the R->D handle shift. If you've got time, might be worth it to get under the rig (doesn't have to be running) and have a buddy shift the lever while you watch the movement of the linkage. If you're not sure where the linkage is, the factory manual at http://www.camrystuff.com/manuals/Gen3/ax1.pdf has some decent diagrams.

[davemac2]

If this just showed up after the fluid change, then I doubt it has anything to do with the shift linkage. It sounds like the trans pressure is too low now for some reason or one of the valves in the valve body is sticky which is causing this delay from R to D. This sometimes happens with a flush. Are any of teh other shifts abnormally soft feeling?

I would try something like Seafoam Trans-tune to try to clean up the valve body a bit more. This might involve adding it the the trans after a warm-up driving period, and then sitting there in your driveway for 1/2 hr manually shifting thru the gears to get the additive circulating thru the valve body. Your other choice is to probably drop the valve body and rebuild it, polishing all of the valves and replacing check balls; not for the faint hearted, but doable.

dave mc

[hill8570]

Originally Posted by davemac2

If this just showed up after the fluid change, then I doubt it has anything to do with the shift linkage. It sounds like the trans pressure is too low now for some reason or one of the valves in the valve body is sticky which is causing this delay from R to D. This sometimes happens with a flush. Are any of teh other shifts abnormally soft feeling?

I would try something like Seafoam Trans-tune to try to clean up the valve body a bit more. This might involve adding it the the trans after a warm-up driving period, and then sitting there in your driveway for 1/2 hr manually shifting thru the gears to get the additive circulating thru the valve body. Your other choice is to probably drop the valve body and rebuild it, polishing all of the valves and replacing check balls; not for the faint hearted, but doable.

dave mc

<shrug> He dropped the pan -- it's not all that hard to disturb the linkages when you do that. It's also an easy thing to check and rule out.

I'd personally recommend against the Seafoam in a tranny where the old fluid was "black" -- that's liable to break loose stuff too quickly. Just as with a sludged engine, unless you're willing to do a complete teardown, you gotta take the cleanup slowly.

[JohnGD]

What's the fluid level? Low fluid could do that. When cold, it should be between the two "cold" lines.

Also, you made sure that the magnets didn't block the pickup port of the strainer, right?

I always like to replace the strainer when the pan is dropped. A Fram ATF kit is about $15-20. It's a screen, but you can't effectively clean a screen in its casing (air takes the path of least resistance).

Walmart Dexron III is great stuff for years.

So check the easy stuff first.

Originally Posted by sljorge

So I recently did the A/T tranny flush found in the DIY (dropped the pan, replaced gasket, pulled cooler line and dumped ~6 qts thru the dipstick) on my 92 Camry with 190k miles. Fluid was black! After 6 qts. is barely started to show thru some red color.

Now when I back out of my garage (cold) and go from REV to DRIVE the tranny hesitates for about 1-2 sec. before engaging into drive.

Is this a sign of bad things to come? Is there anything I can do at this point?


-Regretful Flusher in AZ

[JohnGD]

What you did was more like a "fluid exchange.", not flush in the sense of sending debris into the valve bodies and stuff. So from that standpoint you should be OK.

[hill8570]

If you haven't already fixed this, I'd second JohnGD's suggestion of checking the fluid level -- I was test driving a similar rig last night after a tranny fluid exchange, and noticed a definite slow R-to-D lag when it was cold (not 2 seconds, but you could definitely feel it). Fluid was not quite a pint low -- topping it off fixed the lag.

[axhammer]

I always hear about bad news on transmission after a flush. When they are overdue for a change then you run into problems. Its happened to me only twice that I did a flush and fill and next 500 Km the transmission was finished. If the level is good, here is a long shot, how about reseting the computer (I am guessing here!). I don't know about Toyota but Ford has its shifts timings and engagements all "learnt". If it was a old school transmission, I would say Reverse/High band is out of adjustment, lol, I love those days!