I believe that the V6 4Runner has a 4 speed automatic transmission. Are you sure that it was 3rd gear and not overdrive or the lockup torque converter disengaging? When you say that the engine rev'ed, how high did engine RPM go before the transmission re-engage?
If you now have just first and second gear, a tripped breaker or fuse is not the cause.
There is a fairly lengthy diagnostic process, involving manual shifting, checking shift solenoid operation, stall tests, taking line pressures, etc.
If your vehicle is still covered by the 5 year, 60,000 mile powertrain warranty, the easiest fix would be to take it to a dealer for diagnosis and repair.
Thanks ray, This is my wife's can and I thought it had 3 forward gears but it is the top gear that went. It does not have OD, or at least not like my 98 does. I am taking it real slow to the dealer tomorrow (20 miles at 3000 rpm or less, around 35mph). As far as the rpm's, it just goes out of gear at around 20-25 mph more or less and I'm guessing by the sound, didn't look at the tach, kicked back down around 3500rpm, maybe a little less.
The car is a 2003 with 30,000 miles on it so it should be covered, however, what if it was a broken wire outside of the drivetrain causing the problem? Do they say, "that is not part of the warranty", we will see.
If the wire moved and broke from fatigue, or wasn't properly assembled, of course it's a warranty repair. If there are clear signs on the bottom of the vehicle of off-roading, some sort of road debris damaged the wire, or an aftermarket parts installation caused damage, it's another story.
Remember, debris damage is often covered by insurance, so if there is some sort of major damage underneath, you have the option of claiming it. My company had a two-way radio installation company drive screws through a wiring harness, preventing a vehicle from shifting. This repair was not covered by a warranty, but the radio installer paid for the repair.
The reason why I ask, is that I've been treated well for warranty service (especially by my local Toyota dealer!), and it's often not a good idea to do anything other than bring it back as a first step when the vehicle is still warrantied. Messing around with it or attempting a home repair often isn't good for the ol' argument.
Yesterday, I gave my wife instructions on how to drive the car up to the dealer. We took off with me following and after about five miles, I called her and asked how it was going and what the rpm's were. She replied with, "it runs perfect and is in drive gear". We got to the dealer and told them it ran ok and also asked them to do an oil change.
The only thing I did from the day before, was to go under the car and wiggle the connector to the transmission. So I asked them to pull it apart and check it to see if any contacts were lose. I know form owning a marine business for more than 20 years, that it is hard to fix things when they are not broke and Toyota agreed.
Well, at least my wife is savy on the problem and if it happens again, she will drop it to 2nd and nurse it home. I left it with the dealer, that if it happens again, we will leave the car with them and they can drive it for a week or so. Has anyone else experienced this problem. Keep in mind also that this is my wifes car and is treated like a baby, never driven off road.
THIS IS WEIRD! OK, no luck with finding the cause of the loss of drive gear but today the engine light came on, geez, what now.
I called Toyota and talked to the shop guy. (note, they removed and replaced the transmission connector, changed oil/filter and also the air filter) He asked me to look at the air intake box to see if someone had left a hose off, nope, ok. He said bring it in so he would scan it and went on to say, "it could be an oxygen sensor or something". That got me thinking, there is another connector right next to the transmission connector and the wires are in the same harness. Could there be a problem in the wire harness, or could they have disturbed the wires somehow? It is a bit tight there.
Then I also thought about the air filter and did some looking around and found that there can be problems after an air filter change with the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor. I begin to think, maybe they got a little dirt on those small thermistor wires in the sensor, well maybe? I think at this point, I will look into it first as I do have good instructions for cleaning the sensor. Open to comments.
Without scanning for trouble codes, any checking and cleaning will be a shot in the dark. The trouble codes will point the technician to the circuit to check.
Ray, I do understand that but suspected they may have gotten some dirt into the air intake when changing the air filter. However, we had a family funeral to go to today and had to take the car. Started it up and drove more that 100 miles and no lights ever came on, go figure!
While the air filter should not be changed in the midst of a dust storm, it does not need to be in a clean room environment either. Consider that the average automotive shop is a pretty dirty environment, and that is where most air filters are changed. The air filter and MAF sensor would not really affect how the transmission shifts.
What! Two air filters. Wow, why in the world does it have two. That goes against just about every basic principal I can imagine. Unless maybe some kind of extreme use that required a pre filter for hardcore debris or something?
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