kadenhart
11-10-2019, 12:46 AM
Just to start I am a 17 year old kid with little to no knowledge of anything mechanical. I recently decided to fulfill my dream of fixing up and working with cars by buying a 1989 Toyota TownAce SuperDuty 4x4 Automatic Transmission (right side drive) van. I have absolutely loved this thing, I just need some help getting started, and this is the perfect place!
So, this post got erased so I'm going to cut out the story. But basically today was the first day I've used my van on a steep grade. On the highway the van is awesome, never breaking halfway on the engines thermometer (which i have read on this forum already that I should replace, thank you) and really never passing 4k rpm's. Today while bringing it up the canyon it immediately began to slow, to a whopping 40-50kph, basically 30mph and slower. I initially thought that this must be normal, just an old van, slow speeds, I'll have to get used to cars passing me going double my speed, haha. It wasn't until the A/T Oil Temp Light came on that I understood something wasn't quite right. Knowing I needed to stop and let it cool down, but not yet experiencing any mechanical problems of my knowledge, I began to look for a place to safely stop which I decided was just probably 5ishmiles up/down the canyon at a nearby town. After climbing slowly I began to head downhill which is when I realized the transmission clearly wasn't shifting correctly. The rpm's were fluttering all over the place, and for lack of a better term, the engine sounded bad. I popped it into neutral and coasted down the canyon until it flattened out and the I drove on fluttery rpm's until I stopped to let it cool. Once starting it back up the A/T Light was gone, but It still sounded, weird (Sorry for my terminology) and the rpm's were still fluttering. I decided to rev it to 5000rpm which is when it finally switched and it fixed it. This same problem happened going back home up the same canyon, but resolved itself once getting back to flat ground/the highway, and acted normal after that and was fine for a 1 1/2 hour freeway drive home, with no ntoicable issues or changes from day to day driving.
So, here are my questions.
Was the transmissions oil temp the cause of the fluttering rpms and trouble switching gears? Does my A/T Oil need immediate replacement? Is it possible I have any major mechanical issues with my tranny? Will the van always struggle with steep grades? How should I handle this situation if it happens again? Based on my very mechanically uneducated description, how would you proceed in fixing this problem? If nothing is wrong and it is just slow, is there anything I can do to increase speeds uphill?
Like I said, I have super limited knowledge of this stuff, but, I deeply desire to learn to maintain this vehicle through hard work and love. I'm going to need some help if i want to learn this kind of stuff because sadly my dad did not grow up around engines and cars in general. If any of you have any tips or suggestions for me as a new van owner, or any curated threads that you would link me to, I'd definitely appreciate it, as I want to make this bad boy run as smooth as possible.
I understand that I know nothing about this stuff, but with some feedback and suggestions I think I'll slowly start to figure out what I'm doing :) I truly hope this doesn't come across as wishing to waste anyone's time, I just genuinely need some fingers pointing me in the right direction to help me figure this out.
Thank you to anyone who reads this or even responds, I truly appreciate it.
-Kaden and Miyagi, my 1989 Toyota TownAce.
So, this post got erased so I'm going to cut out the story. But basically today was the first day I've used my van on a steep grade. On the highway the van is awesome, never breaking halfway on the engines thermometer (which i have read on this forum already that I should replace, thank you) and really never passing 4k rpm's. Today while bringing it up the canyon it immediately began to slow, to a whopping 40-50kph, basically 30mph and slower. I initially thought that this must be normal, just an old van, slow speeds, I'll have to get used to cars passing me going double my speed, haha. It wasn't until the A/T Oil Temp Light came on that I understood something wasn't quite right. Knowing I needed to stop and let it cool down, but not yet experiencing any mechanical problems of my knowledge, I began to look for a place to safely stop which I decided was just probably 5ishmiles up/down the canyon at a nearby town. After climbing slowly I began to head downhill which is when I realized the transmission clearly wasn't shifting correctly. The rpm's were fluttering all over the place, and for lack of a better term, the engine sounded bad. I popped it into neutral and coasted down the canyon until it flattened out and the I drove on fluttery rpm's until I stopped to let it cool. Once starting it back up the A/T Light was gone, but It still sounded, weird (Sorry for my terminology) and the rpm's were still fluttering. I decided to rev it to 5000rpm which is when it finally switched and it fixed it. This same problem happened going back home up the same canyon, but resolved itself once getting back to flat ground/the highway, and acted normal after that and was fine for a 1 1/2 hour freeway drive home, with no ntoicable issues or changes from day to day driving.
So, here are my questions.
Was the transmissions oil temp the cause of the fluttering rpms and trouble switching gears? Does my A/T Oil need immediate replacement? Is it possible I have any major mechanical issues with my tranny? Will the van always struggle with steep grades? How should I handle this situation if it happens again? Based on my very mechanically uneducated description, how would you proceed in fixing this problem? If nothing is wrong and it is just slow, is there anything I can do to increase speeds uphill?
Like I said, I have super limited knowledge of this stuff, but, I deeply desire to learn to maintain this vehicle through hard work and love. I'm going to need some help if i want to learn this kind of stuff because sadly my dad did not grow up around engines and cars in general. If any of you have any tips or suggestions for me as a new van owner, or any curated threads that you would link me to, I'd definitely appreciate it, as I want to make this bad boy run as smooth as possible.
I understand that I know nothing about this stuff, but with some feedback and suggestions I think I'll slowly start to figure out what I'm doing :) I truly hope this doesn't come across as wishing to waste anyone's time, I just genuinely need some fingers pointing me in the right direction to help me figure this out.
Thank you to anyone who reads this or even responds, I truly appreciate it.
-Kaden and Miyagi, my 1989 Toyota TownAce.