What does this do to the TRANSMISSION?

[Mrs_Lop]

Help!

My car: 1997 Toyota Camry LE 4cyl 5SFE 2.2L 2164cc DOHC

I was too tired to drive and asked my husband to drive us this weekend. He didn't realize that he had shifted into 2 instead of the Drive gear. We got on the highway where he got up to around 60mph for a few miles, perhaps as low as 1.5 miles or as many as 3 miles, I'm not sure. I thought I was hearing something strange and turned off the AC and Radio. I looked down and saw what the problem was and had him shift into Drive.

Question: What does this do to the transmission?

Thanks for any advice, experiences or suggestions.

Blessings,
Mrs_Lop

[hill8570]

60mph in 2nd? Impressive

Couple-three miles of that, no big deal. Don't make a habit of it, 'tho -- shoots your gas mileage to hell and back.

[Mrs_Lop]

hill8570,
Are you sure that it doesn't damage the transmission? I wasn't worried about the gas mileage, so much as the transmission.

I couldn't believe that he didn't notice what gear he was in. He said that he had shifted into 2 after leaving the driveway, and never noticed that he was in the wrong gear. We were on city streets and country roads for most of the drive -until he took the highway! With the AC on and the radio, it's hard for me to hear the difference right away, but it did sound like it was straining.

Thank you for your reply.
Mrs_Lop

[slavie]

From 99 Camry 2.2L Auto "Owner's Manual" (99 and 97 are basically same car):

Be careful not to overrev the engine.
Watch the tachometer to keep
engine rpm from going into the red
zone. The approximate maximum allowable
speed for each position is
given below for your reference:
”2” . . . . . . . . . 125 km/h (77 mph)
”L” . . . . . . . . . . 69 km/h (42 mph)

I'm pretty sure your transmission is fine. Your fuel consumption wasn't great, but I doubt there's any damage done from one drive. Like hill8570 mentioned though, don't make it a habit.

Hope this helps.

[Chris Crash]

Agreed. All it did was keep you from shifting into 3rd and 4th, but it wasn't over-revved. It was probably just sitting around 4-5k RPM for those few miles until you noticed. No biggy

[capnblinski]

I have basically the same tranny and engine a did the same thing a while back. No problems.