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2002 Toyota 4runner Third Gen. Goes Forward When in Reverse

Discussion in '3rd Gen 4Runners (1996-2002)' started by shacacoora, Aug 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM.

  1. Aug 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
    #1
    shacacoora

    shacacoora [OP] New Member

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    Hey guys,
    I just bought a 2002 Toyota 4Runner and had an issue initially when the SUV was downshifting from 3-2 it would jerk the SUV at highway speeds (70mph). It would also do it at lower speeds but it wasn't bad at all. Anyways, I read up on forums to replace the transmission solenoids and so I took it upon myself to do so. 1st go around, I replaced all the solenoids with a Rostra solenoid kit and afterwards encountered an issue where the vehicle goes forward whenever I'm in reverse and in neutral. 2nd go around, I replaced the shift 2 solenoid with a genuine Toyota solenoid and put in all the other original solenoids and I have the same issue. This time I noticed when driving it around a little, it will not shift into 3rd gear. Anyways any help would be appreciated! I included the photos I used from the service manual to take off the valve body and how it looked before I removed it.
     
  2. Aug 22, 2025 at 3:25 AM
    #2
    BS67

    BS67 8404 USMC Doc

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  3. Aug 22, 2025 at 3:49 AM
    #3
    JET4

    JET4 Old Member

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  4. Aug 23, 2025 at 7:51 AM
    #4
    shacacoora

    shacacoora [OP] New Member

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    FIXED: Turns out there's a valve/sleeve that you need to connect to the gear lever next to the valve body. I noticed this after I was editing this video and I was looking at the image before I took out the valve body. The service manual does say to do so but I got distracted by the bracket that sort of hooks onto the gear lever.
     
    djwantke likes this.

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