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92 4runner shifts really hard between gears

Ok, I'm reeeeally hoping I can get some good feedback on a problem I'm having w/ my 92 4runner. The problem is that it shifts extremely hard between gears, as if there was nothing to smooth the transition between gears. It's an automatic, V6, 4WD. It's not that it shifts at a high RPM, causing the shift to be hard. It shifts hard no matter what RPM it shifts at. It used to only do this about 10% of the time. Now it's doing this about 90% of the time. If it's not shifting hard, I cannot figure out how to make it shift hard. It has nothing to do with the EFT Power button, the OD button, or temperature of the engine or the air. It seemed pretty random when it did this only 10% of the time.

I've changed the transmission fluid and filter screen - no improvement. I'm thinking it could be the torque converter, but I don't know much about those.

I also notice that when it's cold, it tends to wait until a high RPM before shifting into second gear. This has gotten progressively worse as the shifting hard has gotten worse...maybe related?

Any advice would be appreciated. I just hate to dump money into it until I have a good idea of where the problem likely is.

Thanks, V

Reply to
habersetzer
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any advice? you sure?

ok, here goes.........

It's not broke, but it's braking.

Fix it now, or fix it later.

Fix it now, and you can drive it to the shop. Wait till later and you may have to tow it.

Fix it now, and it won't be a surprise. Wait till later, and you may get a surprise while away from home, on a long road, at night, in a hail storm, or even worse, while the ole ladies with you and then you'll have to hear all them "I told you so's".

any whoooo......

that's my advice.

~:~ marshmonster ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

I'm not sure my reply will be of any help, but I have had a simliar problem. I have 94 p/u with an auto and a 4-banger and shifted exactly as your described it. I would start with looking at the vacuum hoses, vacuum switch valve (vsv), and checking the throttle cables. When I put back together my engine, some of the hoses were off or were cracked. I replaced all my vacuum hoses, and cleaned out this filter thing. I can't remember the name of it, but I'll post when I remember it. For my truck, adjusting the throttle cable seem to do the trick, it's still a little rough, but I think I can adjust it some more to get what I want. Also check the throttle position sensor as described in the haynes/chilton manuals. Hope that helps you to get started.

Reply to
yippie

Thanks yippie! I appreciate the information. Someone else mentioned vacuum hoses, but there are so many and I wasn't sure how to check to see if one is leaking. I've got a question about the throttling cable

- is that related to the shifting hard, or the late shifting from first to second?

Thanks again, H

Reply to
habersetzer

Truthfully, if any of the hoses are cracked, or just hasn't been replaced at all since it rolled out of the factory, I would go ahead and replace all of them. I bought 15 bucks worth of hoses at autozone and replaced all of them in about 30 minutes, replacing 1 at a time. About the throttle cable, I'm not sure about how it's related to the shifting, but all I know is that when I adjusted it, the shifting changed for the better. It could be a sticking throttle cable too. Here are some links similar.

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Reply to
yippie

good idea on changing all the hoses - I'll do that. certainly not an expensive project.

thanks again, H

Reply to
habersetzer

Also one more thing too, while changing out those vacuum hoses, I would blow some compressed air or something like that to see if it clogged anywhere. I blew some through my throttle body and some dust stuff came out. It's not necessary to do this, but if you have the time and a compressed air source, certainly easy to do when all that stuff is off. Hope it'll get your toy back to normal.

Reply to
yippie

Oh and that one part that you might want to check and clean is called the EGR vacuum modulator, or EGR modulator. Have to open it up some and check the filter element in it. It could be clogged. I think the manual just recommends to blow some air in it, but this is for a 22re, not sure about the 3.0 v6.

Reply to
yippie

great advice. I remember reading about the EGR modulator on autozone.com. they have a pretty good troubleshooting section online. I'm going to try to tackle this over the weekend.

thanks, H

Reply to
habersetzer

I noticed today that the hard shifting seems to go away when the engine is warmed up. Not sure if that's a consistent behavior, so I'll pay attention over the next few days to see if that's the pattern. If it's related to engine temp, would that give any clues as to the problem?

Thanks, H.

Reply to
habersetzer

I'm not sure, but I think most cars tend to shift a little rough before everything is warmed up. Mine certainly does that being a 94. My guess would be either vacuum leak, or a sensor going down. As far as the sensors, I'm looking into what may affect the transmission. Could be a solenoid problem. I'll let you know what I find.

Reply to
yippie

Hey, thanks for the help! Do you know if sensors are located outside the transmission where I could potentially get to them to replace them? I hate to think that I'll have to have the transmission removed / rebuilt, so anything outside the transmission that could cause the shifting problem is definitely worth looking into. I'm not sure how to tell if a sensor is bad. I can read up on that.

Thanks again, H

Reply to
habersetzer

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