87 4wd auto tranny died - what now?

I just got my van running, got maybe 2 months of weekend use out of it at the most, and now the tranny died! :no: So the question is, what to do now? I've never been a fan of automatics, but made an exception here because I wanted a 4wd TV so bad. So now I'm wondering if I should replace the tranny with one from the junk yard, have my current tranny rebuilt, or find a non-running 4wd five speed and use my current engine in it? What do you suggest? While I really have no idea, I think the death of my current transmission may have been due to the fact that the previous owner had about 3/4 quart too much fluid in the transmission, and I ran it like that for some time before draining it. When I finally got around to draining it, I noticed it seemed a little separated, like there was two different consistencies of fluid. Like oil and water but not as dramatic. What experience have others had with rebuilt or junk yard transmission replacements long-term?

What does the tranny do? Does it slip all the time, only when shifting, is it not shifting or what? Is the fluid red or brown? Does it smell burnt? Did debris come out of the pan when you drained? Have you dropped the pan and checked the strainer yet? Based on what you said about the consistancy of the fluid I'm wondering if somebody added Dexron VI or some other incompatible ATF and messed things up that way.

If the tranny is bad, your options are rather dismal (sorry). A master rebuild kit can be purchased for around $250, but it's not a job for beginner mechanics. Transmissions are extremely complicated and you need a good clean indoor location and some special tools to rebuild. If you are capable of removing the tranny yourself, a shop will probably rebuild it for around $1,300 - $1,500. If you need them to remove it, expect the cost to be closer to $2,000.

A used transmission (A45DF) would be hard to find in your area. Even if you find one that's supposed to be good, there's still a risk. I've been pretty lucky with used transmissions, but every once in a while you'll get one that's been misrepresented. It's a pretty big job to swap one of these out, so it's a major PITA when this happens. If you're paying somebody to do the swap, then you'll end up paying them twice (unless you find a deal where the seller will install). These transmissions tend to go about 200k miles or so before failure, so I'd avoid anything with over 125k miles on it.........and that makes a good used one even harder to find. The last used one I installed had about 175k miles on it. I was sweating it, but it turned out fine. I sold that van and as far as I know the transmission is still doing fine.

Your idea of finding a manual transmission van with a bad engine is a good one, but the finding part is easier said than done. Manual transmissions vans are hard to find even here in the PNW and we have the biggest selection around. Putting your good engine into another van wouldn't be too terrible, but converting an automatic van to a MT van is a long involved project and a general PITA. Good luck. Tim

Tim, thanks so much for the quick response. The tranny will engage after the engine has been turned off, and sometimes it will even shift up to third gear, but at some point very quickly it will start slipping, and then it will not re-engage at all until the engine is turned off and restarted.

I haven't got the van home yet, it's at a friends house. When I get it home I'll find out the answers to your questions as far as the fluid condition to see what your advice would be at that point.

There's no way I'm going to spend 2k on having this tranny rebuilt. I figured it would probably be that much, and that is just out of the question. I found a used tranny that supposedly only has 67k on it for $450, but its about 300 miles away. I'm going to be in that area this spring anyway, but I would be extremely upset if it ended up being a dud :pissed:. I think I'm going to do a pretty extensive search for a manual van and go that route.

Thanks again for your advice. It's really appreciated. I will let you know what I find in the tranny, but it may be a little while before I get the chance.

That sounds odd. Slipping is never good though, so if that's happening chances are the tranny is toast. Keep us posted though and good luck with finding another van. Tim

Update: Changed the fluid and filter and drove it 40-50 miles home with no problem. :dance2: Stayed off the interstate and drove it easy, but so far everything seems fine. The filter was definitely clogging, so that was my main issue. I'm just going to keep driving it easy for a while and see if I'm ok. And I still need to add the lucas transmission stuff to help try to protect it. Hopefully I'm ok, but I'll let you know.

That's awesome you got it home :thmbup:. Clogged filter would make me worry a bit. That debris came from somewhere, and since the transmission is a closed system, I'd suspect something is starting to fail. Was there lots of debris in the pan? How'd the magnets look? Was the fluid burnt smelling?

Regardless though, you can't argue with success, so hopefully it will stay in working order for a long time. Tim

My dad actually wiped out the bottom of the pan, but he said that it really wasn't that bad. Not a ton of stuff attached to the magnets either. But the filter itself did have a lot of debris. I wish I had taken more time to identify what type of material it had in it. Oh well. I won't lie, I have my hopes up a little, but I know only time will tell.:cool:

Got to drive in the 4-5 inches of snow this weekend! (That's a lot for us) 4 - wheel drive and everything worked great. That's about all I've had a chance to drive it since I got it home. Probably 70-80 miles at the most. But everything seems fine so far.

Tim, earlier in the post you mentioned that dexron VI is incompatible. Why is that and what do you use? Thanks.

Toyota designed our transmissions to run on Dexron II. When Dexron III came out it met all the specs of Dexron II so Dexron II was made obsolete. Dexron VI is a synthetic fluid and completely different than Dexron II & III. I'm not sure what compatibility issues there might be, but I wouldn't dare experiment on my equipment.........even if it meant walking to the store to purchase Dexron III. Tim