Hello all. I hope to make this brief and precise

92 sc400

I posted most of this on a very old thread. So I am starting a new one here because I haven't seen anyone with the exact problem.

Transmission intermittent problem.

Every morning I start my car and it shifts fine for the first few stop lights. It hits every gear with perfect rpm range in each gear. It up shifts and down shifts fine for the first few stop lights / intersections. But after that shifting problems start. My car will shift from 1st to OD very quickly.
It goes 1st gear then it hits 2nd for a second then straight to 3rd or 4th gear and bogs down. So in order to get my gears have to manually shift through the gears. The OD light does blink when having thins problem, but 4th gear still works. But if I turn overdrive off light starts to flash again. When I put it into second gear it almost always just goes into 3rd.

If I travel on the freeway for 10 minutes or so and come to a stop, the transmission problem is fixed. Go figure??? It happens every time. When I travel on the freeway the problem goes away. I don't know if this is due to transmission heating up enough to have more line pressure or not. But If i turn car off and go into store and come back out to start car, the PROBLEM starts all over again. Goes from 1st to 4th gear almost right away.


Did transmission flush
Adjusted Transmission Cable
Adjust throttle cable
Adjusted sensor on intake.

None of these worked. Has anyone had this problem.

 

stupid question but did u make sure your fluid was at the correct level? sounds like a pressure issue to me

 

I dont see where u posted you added dmore tranny fluid lol...just bustin ur ***** bro. Honestly i wuld replace the selinoids inside the transmission. You will see them when u take off pan. I believe there is too.
Its either that or ur car is saying "give me five speed" lol.... Gl

 

Ps mine does this too but not as bad. If u go on lextreme i believe there is a write up on this

 

I have read many threads on transmission issues on CL but no one has this exact problem it seems. I will re check transmission fluid level. But I did have this problem before the professional transmission flush. So I am assuming the level is good. I will check though.

 

That was also my first thoughts was to check the fluid level..

 

Most likely a sensor like the speed sensor or one of the shift solenoids.
Sounds like its entering Fail-safe, read pages 7-8 and 15.
http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h16.pdf

 

Ya like i said there is two silenoids isndid the trNny when u take the pan off. If u go on lextreme im sure there is a write up its were i saw it. And as i stated mine does the same thing just not as bad....lol. but i also have alot of miles on mine too

 

Nova "stupid question but did u make sure your fluid was at the correct level?"

Str8sikk "I dont see where u posted you added dmore tranny fluid"

OK, so now I feel a little stupid and a little upset with the shop that did my Transmission fluid FLUSH.

When I originally had this shifting issue, I decided to have the transmission flushed since I had never had that done. It did not fix the problem. So today after driving for about 1/2 an hour I decided to check my transmission fluid level and guess what? WTF ha ha it was about 3/4 of a quart low. So I topped it off and took it for a drive and the problem seems to be gone.

If anything changes over the next few days or weeks I will report back. Keeping my fingers crossed. Anyway,

The reason it was low is not because of a leak. When you get your transmission flushed, the machine they used only puts back in the same amount of fluid that it sucked out. The shop should have checked to see if it was at the proper level. I know they didn't because I watched them do the tranny flush.
Lesson learned.
1. Make sure you check your levels on everything.
2. Don't leave it up to anyone else to do that for you.

 

could be the wrong fluid used when they flushed it and if it is not causing problems now it will down the road so sc400 and supra tt use ONLY Toyota type t-iv fluid.

 

Um wow...i wasnt talking bout adding more fluid not sure where u got that. What i said was "my trans does the same thing as his, same issue, quick shifting"......i also talked ti my buddy who works at the dealership and he stated it is more than likely the selinoids n the trans......but like xspsi said culd b fluid type.....

 

Tranny problem came back after adding some fluid. So now I don't feel so stupid. Ha ha.

Anyway, I have the same problem as before, shifting from 1st to 3rd. Overdrive light blinking sometimes. After driving for about 20 min on freeway, transmission seems to shift fine through all gears etc. Then once I turn car off and let sit for awhile, start driving again and problem is back. Shifting from 1st to 3rd or 4th.

 

I would replace the shift solenoids. Its extremely easy, just get some used ones from someone with a scrap transmission that was in good working order. I JUST replaced mine (with no knowledge of working on auto transmission prior) and it was extremely easy. I actually got the solenoids free, so don't pay too much for them. I replaced all of mine. Like I said, very simple

 

transmission flush can bring up more problems sometimes. i prefer the old drain and refill technique.

 

I forgot to mention that about 2 weeks ago I started hearing a noise coming from the back of the engine. Not a power steering noise It was a wining sound that would increase with engine RPM's and sound was not coming from anything in the front of engine. Sound would go away after car warmed up and I drove a little.

Mind you, I still had the same shifting problems.

So I drove today about 60miles and it was a pretty hot day. When getting off the freeway near my home, my car would not downshift and tranmission was slipping. Came to a stop at the light and transmission was slipping and shuddering pretty bad on take off. Would not shift into second so I limped to a side street.

Tried manually shifting and would not go anywhere. So I sat for about 1/2 hour and made some phone calls trying to find a used auto transmission. I did find one in a junk yard already removed and car was long gone. So no mileage info or condition information either.

Started car again and was able to drive home. At first it shifted through the gears just fine. But as I got closer to home, it started slipping and shuddering again.

Anyone have a good used tranny / tranmmission for and SC400 in Southern California, at a good price, hit me up.

Oh, and by the way this car has never left me stranded and I thought today it would, but I still made it home, ha ha what a great car this has been to me. (Knock on wood).