1989 4runner build

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Well took it for its maiden voyage last night and it has a tranny shifting problem. With not accelerating fast it shifts at about 3500 rpms and goes from first gear into 3rd or 4th and it bogs down.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Well from looking at the FSM it seems like the NO.2 solenoid is bad. The a340 transmission uses solenoid 1 and 2 for shifting and follow this sequence:
1 on 2 off = 1st
1 on 2 on = 2nd
1 off 2 on = 3rd
1 off 2 off = 4th
With No.2 solenoid faulty transmission can only operate in 1st and 4th which is what mine was doing. Ordered all three solenoids from amazon and will put them in tomorrow evening and should be up and running. Will also be installing OME torsion bars tonight.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Pulled the 4runner out to wash it while I let the engine/transmission warm up to run some tests to diagnose the shifting problem.

From the tests I found the No.2 solenoid to be malfunction causing the transmission to shift from 1st into O/D. On Friday I was able to order through amazon and get all new solenoids overnight-ed to me. Saturday afternoon I was able to drop the transmission pan and pull the lockup solenoid and the No.1 and 2 solenoids to replace.

One I removed the three solenoids I bench tested them by hooking them up to 12v to verify they engaged. The No.2 solenoid and also the lockup solenoid did not engage when given 12v power.
Here is a picture of the new solenoids installed.

Hopefully this should fix my shifting issues. I just need to finish installing the OME torsion bars so I can start driving it.
 

ca18_sean

Adventurer
That's awesome! I had shifting issues just like that when I bought my truck. I converted to manual and gave away the auto tranny on Craigslist for free. Makes me wish I'd spent some time diagnosing it... Oh well. In the long run I'm happier with the manual.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
That's awesome! I had shifting issues just like that when I bought my truck. I converted to manual and gave away the auto tranny on Craigslist for free. Makes me wish I'd spent some time diagnosing it... Oh well. In the long run I'm happier with the manual.

Looks like that didn't fix the shifting issue so I am going to look into it some more, but it is looking like I may end up also doing a 5spd swap.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Well I decided to just order an electric shift controller so that I can manually shift the transmission. For some reason the No.2 solenoid is not getting power to it and this controller will completely bypass the electrical system. Figure this will be handy to have for wheeling. I will continue to look into the cause of it not receiving power, but for now I will just manually shift it. Once I find the issue I will be able to switch from auto to manual shifting with the push of a button.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Think I may have figured out my transmission shifting issue finally! Apparently during the 3.4 swap the ECT ECU is no longer needed and discarded, well I spliced in the appropriate wires, but I then plugged it back in. I believe it being plugged in is confusing the ecu and causing it to go into safe mode. I should be able to unplug it and it should shift normal (in theory). Will find out tonight after work though.

Also sold my other 4runner last week and ordered my blazeland long travel kit on friday. Apparently they are low on stock so I have not heard anything as of yet about when they will have a kit shipped to me.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Bummer. I was hoping for an easy fix...

I was too, but I finally traced it down to being the transmission and not a wiring issue. I was going to run a switch to make the auto work manually, but if I am doing that I would rather just have a 5spd and get the better mpg and power.
 

ghostmoney

Adventurer
Picking up a 93 4runner this weekend to pull everything for the 5spd swap. Also found out today blazeland is completely out of stock of his kits and wont have any ready until maybe middle of next month. Debating on stepping up to the total chaos kit with FOA coilovers instead. Hopefully will have time this weekend to drop the auto and pull the 5spd out of the donor rig.

If anyone is considering doing a 3.4 swap I can not recommend ORS enough. He has helped answer any questions and worked with me a lot on figuring out my transmission issues. He took the time to go back through my wiring to make sure it was nothing he might have missed. When I told him I was doing a manual swap he let me know what all was needed in terms of M/T ECU's to make sure I get no check engine light and offered to send me diagrams for changing his auto harness over to work with the manual.
 
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