Hard Shifting Sometimes

[82DMC12]

Group,

I am looking for some input on a problem i am having with the transmission in my 94 ES300. In the last few months it has begun shifting harder than it did when i first got it. there are 106K miles on the car. I bought the car with 87K and the transmission fluid was a little discolored but not bad. I work in the auto industry and i would say it was right at its time to be changed before anything got bad. I changed it then and then I changed it again this summer. The first time i dropped the pan (didn't see much debris if any in the pan), replaced the gasket, and flushed the system with Dexron III. The 2nd time I did a drain and fill thru the pan drain plug. I would say about 1/3 of the time when it shifts it shifts hard. Other times it shifts so smoothly you can barely feel it. in fact when accelerating onto the freeway the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts are so smooth it feels like butter. other times it shifts a lot worse. it doesn't seem to be related to temperature of the fluid or if i am driving it hard or easy, but if i drive it hard from a stop or rolling stop, it usually clunks when i floor the gas. I have noticed that i can nearly eliminate the hard shifting by lifting my foot up on the gas a little right before it shifts and by taking it easy from a stop.

I replaced the upper passenger side motor mount this spring (it was really deteriorated) and that made a difference but not a whole lot. could the other mounts be in bad shape and cause this? also when i had the pan down i didnt clean the screen because i didn't know you were supposed to. the dealer told me there wasn't a transmission filter in there so i didn't monkey with anything.

what can I do to eliminate possibilites before bringing it in to a tranny shop?

Andy

[SKperformance]

get a tranny flush not drain and replace all fluids, i recommend amsoil synthetics i like them in mine with a similar problem.

hasn't gotten worse.

Also added an external filter to catch the small clutch debris the stupid screen will never catch which will clog passages and solonoids.

[ArmyofOne]

you other mounts, specifically your roll restrictors (otherwise known as horizontal transaxle mounts) can and do cause hard shifts. the horizontal mounts help stablize the motor from "rocking" on its mounts when the transaxle shifts. if those are bad, you will get a clunk, you will feel it in the gas pedal, and you will tear up the transaxle if it goes long enough. it puts added stress on things like Input shafts, etc. ;)

at elast your tanny fluid wasnt charcoal colored...mine was, it looked like charcoal water, seriously. i can neveer flush my tansaxle now because the previous owner only had it done once in 140,000 miles. i had a drain and fill done and it only replaced 3 quarts of fluid, the rest is still that charcoal color. what happens if you let your tranny fluid turn this color??? the bands on the cylinders get sludges up and thenm begin to disentegrate. when thios happens, particles in the old burnt fluid adhere to the bands, holding them together. when you do a flush with new fluid, it will flush all those particles out, and then you have no more bands, because you flushed out all the gunk that was holding them together. as a result, your tranny slips...and its time for a rebuild. IF YOU VEER LET YOUR TRANNY FLUID GET ANY DARKER THAN A BURGUNDY COLOR (DARK WINE RED), THEN STRAT SHOPPING FOR A NEW TRANSAXLE...OR CAR. you will be changing it in the next 50-80,000 miles.

anywasy, i have done roll restricters on many cars, not that difficult. and if you get ones with polyurethane bushings, you wont have to do them again for at least a half a million miles.

:)

IMO, your hard shifts are due to the bad mounts, as are the clunks. i wouldnt hold the trans as dead just yet, these toyota trannies can take alot of beating. my fluid was black and it still runs fine...i have been lucky so far.