Transmission care video

cause the reality is that most of us don't drive around all the time at red lines which is why i agree that its a general safe area but running it in the extremes for extended periods of time is never a good idea. the auto trans in auto mode avoids such problems which is not the question at hand. The question at hand is manual mode which disengages those safeties.

 

It doesn't disengage safeties though. If you're at 100mph and try to manually downshift into 1st, it will just beep at you. You can select reverse and it will just go into neutral. Park is mechanical so yes you will damage the park pawl if you're moving.

 

Very good points.

Plus I’m guessing that the vast majority of us on this forum are so OCD about our 4Runners, that we would not approach the threshold definition of “vehicle abuse”.

 

you keep missing the point. its not disengaging the safety of stopping you from running the engine at its extreme. Go test it out for yourself. put it in what gear you want. drive it till it red lines. its not going to upshift to prevent you from bouncing off the redline. Its going to let you keep doing it. now do this all day.

 

The limiter keeps you from exiting the safe zone. You can run it past if you are running down hill in too low of a gear but that's asking for it. Now sitting on the limiter isn't good either but your engine isn't going to explode if you touch it.

 

I know the engine has a rev limiter but the video was concerning the transmission. My takeaway was that the transmission could be abused without exceeding the engines parameters (RPM).

 

I'm on point with my vehicle services to keep my vehicles happy. I also bury the pedal to the floor when needed.

 

It cannot because the ECU will not allow you. I can get video if you like of my downhill section I downshift on daily on the way to and from work. I'll bring it up to about 60 and try for 1st.

 

just so I’m clear, your saying the ECU does not limit engine RPM?

 

Count me as one of the ones who will have to cut back on downshifting around town, and on putting it in neutral at long red lights...

 

Maybe I'm saying it wrong...You cannot downshift to the point where you will overrev the engine because the ECU will not allow you to. However if you are in a low gear and your speed increases to more than the gear allows for a safe engine speed like a steep downhill, the ECU cannot stop it with the limiter but can if it's programmed to upshift.

 

I do the same thing if the truck is parked out in minus temps. No idea if it helps warm up quicker, but a tech had given me that tip 100 yrs ok.

For the parking pawl: I have a friend who worked at the GM factory parking completed vehicles in their huge parking lot. He told me that he was instructed to always slam the transmission into park 20' before stopping. I have no idea why, neither did he.

 

Im not really thinking that he was saying shifting down to third so it holds third going down hill is a bad thing. Or holding 4th while towing is bad.

I took it as, it’s bad to downshift to slow all the way down all the time, instead of using the brakes. It’s not holding a gear that’s bad, its the unnesseary shifting from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1. If the computer is shifting on its own, it would likely just go from 5 to 1st, and skip loading a clutch/es for each shift.

Kinda the same idea on a manual transmission. It’s cool to shift down through each gear and all, but on a normal day, it’s much nicer to the trans to simply shift into first once you stop.

 

That’s a good explanation, thanks

 

I like the Car Care Nut videos but due to his limited English language experience, his explanations are not always clear, more encrypted or incomplete.

 

The guy seems like that rare combination of practically and technically brilliant, but I think sometimes you do have to fill in the blanks a bit.

I’d still rank him higher with communication skills than my shop teacher in high school

 

What?!?! Actually, I dont even know how to interpret that. Wouldnt you t get stopped by the transmission before 20 feet? Or did he have to be going fast enough to slide the 20 feet? Or slam into park, slide 10 feet, then drive the rest of the way there? My mind would break with a directive like that lol

 

Thats messed up.

Sounds like a disgruntled employee to me.

 

I was very fortunate in my younger years. I had really good shop teachers and mentors.

 

Me too. He was my only shop teacher, and almost 30 years later and I still think of the guy regularly, and use what he taught. Not the best verbal communicator, but students were wise to observe him and listen carefully regardless. Us kids were asses anyway, so more or fancier words would have been lost on us lol. He had a lot to teach.

It’s a shame what society’s attitude has been towards the trades the last few decades. Honestly, I’d like the idea of making shop mandatory for everyone if it wasnt for the blood bath that would happen now that kids dont have the same motor skills as they used to haha.

 

I disagree with this: "let it sit and warm up before putting it into drive but don’t let it idle too long".
The fastest way to warm up an engine and a transmission is by driving it. Dont rev it too high, dont race, and it will be fine. This is true to most vehicles, including newer ones and turbos. I remember my VW Passat manual saying to not idle more than 30 seconds first thing, just drive as that idle is not good for the engine. Another example is the ZF8 tranny in all the newer Rams/Fiat/Bentley/Rolls/BMW, Audi/etc., it has coolant lines from the radiator that warm up or cool down the tranny.
So drive it normally, common sense prevails. Of course there are exceptions. We let it idle a bit when we go ice fishing on really cold arctic fronts. We had a -37C (-35F) morning and the engine was crying. We let it idle for about 5 minutes before we went out way. This lasted all week. That Corolla was sold at 205k miles and we saw it on the road for years after.

 

Got video of the ECU not allowing you to overrev the engine when downshifting. I gave the throttle a blip to make the 3 to 2 shift easier.

https://youtu.be/p7q7l_7zcno

 

normal driving in over 95F and traffic in chicago/newyork/boston / DC ,,, transmission fluid should be changed and the filter 80K miles .. I am in a rural area and do not have stop and go so I have no transmission issues ...
I start my vehicles for 2-3 min and then drive it . now some use a remote start .. then the cold / hot temps like a nice interior temp .. well if you start it for over 15-20min then the cat converter will fail and it will cost a load of $$$. many change the transmission fluids in a nice driving area change the fluid and filter around 100K miles.. many on the Toyota forum members have good transmissions fluids , change it around 120K-140K miles ..my runner temp is around 165F transmission temp..I have a scantool to check all the data / temps..

new vehicles when you take the gas pedal off then the vehicle will still keep moving at the same speed ..so I put it in 4th gear some times to go down a ramp on the exit ...on my 1996/2000 vehicles I do not put it in down shifting when the gas pedal I take it off.. my old vehicles brake pads replaced at 80K miles...
new toyota runners change the pads 30K-60K miles...........I have to change the toyota runner pads around 60K miles..I am in a hilly area ..

 

It's an Automatic transmission, after all! I think some trannies are made so that you can shift them like a Manual, but guessing the 4Runner is not. My friend told me many years ago, that the easiest way to shorten the life of your automatic transmission is to shift it like a manual around town. Downshifting one or two gears on a long hill is another story.

 

I wonder what The Car Care Nut thinks about the new "feature" of some cars that kill the motor when you come to a full stop and restart when you hit the gas? Talk about shorten the life of your starter motor!

 

the runners transmissions last over 200K miles and the fluid changes should be around 100K miles.many did not change the tranny fluids over 140K miles and they had to flush out the old fluid .. many did not have part failures ..
runners should tow trailers then the 50-80K mile fluid changes ..
GM 2007-now suv/trucks transmissions are failures .. the PCM software changes the shifting then it has component failures and GM had to change the tranny fluid spec on 6sp/8sp ............don't buy these GM vehicles.