95 Avalon hard shifting

[gwheelr]

Hello and good day. What an awesome forum !

I just purchased a used 95 avaolon with 190,000 km on it (118k miles). The car is awesome but when I drive it on the highway it shifts pretty hard. Especially if you are at a speed and accelerate and then back off. It is on the highway i notice it the most.

If i drive slow it shifts smooth, it only happens when im driving a little harder.

And if you give it gas and back off on the highway it will clunk from passing gear down to the regular gear.

It is a real CLUNK as it shifts from gear to gear.

I have replaced the tranny fluid twice to clean it out. An old guy had it before and they said they kept up with the fluid changes but it was pretty dark when i changed it. I can not remember what it smelled like.

Is it a bad tranny ?

I may take it in to check but i thought you guys may know what it is.

[gwheelr]

I drained and filled the tranny fluid with quaker state dex 3 high mileage. After the 3rd fill and some good highway driving shifting is back to smooth again.

The car was sitting a while and needed a tranny fluid flush and fill pretty bad.

I found out that the tranny is pretty bulletproof if you keep up with the fluid changes.

This coming weekend i will drain and fill the differential.

Always change your fluids at recomended intervals
Oil
Tranny Fluid
Power Steering fluid
Coolant
Brake Fluid

Makes the repairs less costly in the end and your car runs better.

[truthnexile]

I'm assuming yours is an A/T (heck, I'm not sure if they even put M/T's in these?). Mine has a harsh initial engagement when I first shift out of park. I used a bit of the Lucas Transmission goop to soften the seals and the fluid is clean, was obviously changed in the past 20-30K miles or so. I hadn't spent too much time investigating it, mine has 160K and I am not sure what kind of life to expect out of an automatic, but I will probably look further into it if it does get any worse. Mine primarily shifts fine when warm.

[The Digital MagE]

pull the pan, clean it and install a new filter. that did it for me.

[AvalonMan96]

Mine had a hard 2-3 shift about a year ago which threw a code that set off my Check Engine light (CEL).

Can't remember what the code was, but what I had to replace was called the "Direct Clutch Speed Sensor." It cost about $80 for the part (replaced it myself because of the Toyota dealer's high labor rate), and ever since the transmission has shifted smooth as glass.

If your hard shifts coincide with a CEL, this may be your issue.

[truthnexile]

No CEL on mine, but thanks for the tip. It doesn't have an overly harsh initial engagement, but it is a bit rough initially. The ATF looks and smells clean, so the system must have been flushed without a filter change, not my favorite maintenance task but on my "to-do" list nonetheless.

[TedL]

The "filter" is a screen that would only catch relatively large pieces. I would suggest using Dexron VI on your next flush. Works beautifully in our 3 Toys.

[ImDisaster]

The oil in ours was really nasty at 114K miles, but we weren't experiencing shifting issues yet.