Tranny issues 95 Camry - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

oilcan93 · 05-25-2009, 01:34 PM

I just purchased a 95 Camry to replace my 96. The problems with the transmission in the new car are twofold:
1.) Above 45-50 mph the RPM's are too high for the engine speed based on my last Camry (1996) that this car replaces. At 60 mph I am around 3200 RPM. At 70 I'm over 4000 RPM. I am used to 2600-2800 for around 70 mph. It seems that the car will go through all gears normally but the overdrive gear never kicks in.
2.) Also, let's say I'm at 60 mph (or ANY other speed just for example), around 3200 RPM and I remove my foot from the accelerator. The engine tachs down immediately to around 1000-1100 (idle speed) and when I want to accelerate or just engage the engine to speed up, the engine revs ups freely until the RPM's meet the point where the transmission and engine seem to engage. It works the same if I allow cruise control to take over.

This car was an engine rebuild by a mechanic tacked up to this car's original tranny. So it could be as easy as he just didn't put in the correct ATF so the friction agents aren't working or the whole tranny could just be junk and I can replace it with the one from my old car (235k miles). I'm certainly no mechanic. I'm just going by the posts I have read on here.

Any thoughts or questions to help me hone in on this issue? Should I drain the tranny through the drainplug and just refill with what I KNOW is the correct ATF? I don't want to mess it up more without some guidance. So thank you for any offered.

hill8570 · 05-25-2009, 04:41 PM

Don't be insulted, but let's check the obvious first...

Is O/D off (should be a light on the dash, if off)?
If the O/D light isn't on, does the light work (the O/D disable button on the side of the shifter should toggle it).
If the O/D light works, and the light is off, is it or has it ever been blinking?

oilcan93 · 05-25-2009, 06:11 PM

Not insulted. No worries. I did give the O/D button and light a check. The light works as it should with the button in the out position. When depressed the light goes off. There has been no blinking.

whip_cracker · 05-25-2009, 09:21 PM

So just to confirm... did you have overdrive turned on (pushed in on the shifter) or did you have it turned off (let out on the shifter). It sounds like you're only using 3 out of the 4 gears and that O/D's not kicking in.

Either you haven't engaged O/D to use 4th gear, or there's a problem with the O/D button.

I honestly can't think of anything else? Hahaha, good luck.

oilcan93 · 05-25-2009, 09:45 PM

Guys, I had a '96 Camry up until 3 weeks ago so I'm pretty familiar with how the button is supposed to affect the transmission. Thanks for being thorough on this issue. I also believe that the problem is the transmission won't go into overdrive. But I don't believe the button is the issue just based on basic troubleshooting skills. When the button is released the transmission acts the same way....accelerates normally (although from N to D shifts really hard sometimes) but never drops down that final time to overdrive. Thus the high RPM's of 4000 around 72 mph.
Also that doesn't begin to address the 2nd problem....the engine and tranny not staying engaged when in gear. The engine is free to rev up and down within the limits of how fast the car is going before the transmission and engine synch up once it has achieved "X" speed. As I said before, I can be going 60, take my foot off the gas and the RPM's fall to idle speed and can be revved freely up and down without affecting engine speed until I get it up to around 3200 rpm if I'm going 60, for example.
Thanks for the help guys

hill8570 · 05-26-2009, 12:15 AM

Interesting problem...really doesn't "feel" like a problem with the tranny itself. Since the O/D light is never blinking, it's almost like the ECU doesn't realize it's supposed to be engaging O/D (and so doesn't trigger a fault indication). I'll have to think about the freewheeling a bit, 'tho.

BTW, is this a 4-banger or a six-banger (the tranny logic is somewhat different)?

oilcan93 · 05-26-2009, 08:08 AM

Sorry, this is the 4 cylinder.

hill8570 · 05-26-2009, 11:13 AM

Man, I really hate to ask someone to dig down to the ECU, but I'd sure like to know if the O/D signal is making it to the computer. As a first step, 'tho, if you could stick a voltmeter on the ECT ping of DLC2 (DLC2 is the test connector inside the car down and to the left of the steering wheel, just under the dash...outputs are usually labelled. Toggle the O/D switch and see if the ECT output follows it.

What I really would like to see is if pin 7 of connector A on the ECU follows the O/D switch (see http://www.camrystuff.com/manuals/Ge...ry94wiring.pdf page 205), but pulling the glove box just to check a stupid signal is just annoying...