Toyota vanwagon's & their automatic transmissions

Hey folks!

Here's a condensed backstory:
I was the happy owner of an '87 4x4 van for a few years.

It was a great vehicle for us, got us cross country from Portland to Philly, then to Maine.

While living in rural Maine the auto tranny had complete & total failure on a country road with really no symptoms to w warn me.

There were no resources or local knowledge for getting the van fixed, & I needed wheels for work, so I was forced to sell cheap. Our whole family cried when the new owner towed her away!

We ended up finding a Volvo 240 wagon which has been a great car & has gotten us relocated back to the NW.

But we've outgrown our car for traveling needs & are looking at buying another van or Previa.

I've read up on Previa's & think they seem great...but not as great as a vanwagon!

So here's my current head scratching situation:

I've found 2 semi local 89 2wd vans that are both running, registered, decent shape.

But they're both around 200k AND they have auto tranny s, & this of course scares me!

In both cases the owners sag the tranny shifts fine but haven't owned the vehicle long enough to know if the tranny has ever been replaced or overhauled.

So tell me, is buying a high mileage van with auto just a crapshoot?
I really love the idea of having another van, but facing another transmission failure worries me to death.

I know I can dig for a manual tranny van but I want to stay semi local to Olympia.

Thanks a bunch!
Mark E Kaylor

Hi Mark, glad to hear from you again. These automatic transmissions are no worse than other autos, and better than many other's found in other vehicles. On average you'll get around 200k - 300k miles out of one, but there are exceptions to every rule. The van I'm driving the most right now (86LE 2wd) has 220k miles on it with it's original transmission and it's still shifting fine. When I had the engine out (about 15k miles ago), I thought about having the transmission rebuilt, but since it had never given me any issues, I decided to see how much farther it would go (so far so good). Personally I don't work on transmissions, so they are somewhat of a threat to me as well. On the plus side they are not very hard to remove and I know a guy that charges between $500 - $800 to completely rebuild (price varies on severity of internal damage). Of course I remove the transmissions and carry them into his shop.

My opinion on auto transmissions is to not worry about them. All you can do is test drive and make sure it shifts well without excessive slippage between gears. If the seller will allow it, you could always take it to a transmission shop for a filter & fluid change at your expense. Just tell them your concerns and ask them to check for any signs of impending failure. If they say it's good, it won't guarantee much, but if there's a failure beginning to occur, they should be able to detect it. Things like excessive metal flakes in the pan or clutch material in the filter are dead giveaways.

Anything with over 200k miles on it will always have potential problems and/or impending failures. All you can do is try to pick based on the overall package and hope for the best. When things break (and they will), fix them right the 1st time, then you won't need to revisit any one issue very often. If you don't do your own work, unless you know a good mechanic that works on these, a Toyota van or Previa with high miles may not be the best vehicle for you. Most mechanics don't like these vehicles and will overcharge for repairs, botch jobs, or will refuse to work on them. Best of luck to you. Tim

Thanks Tim! Its good to hear that there's a good tranny rebuild guy around, is he in Washington?

Luckily I'm in the class of " shade tree fix it man" otherwise I wouldn't be getting back in to van world again. Heck my Volvo 240 reqired as much work to upkeep as my old van, it just comes with the territory.

I'm hoping to check out an 89 LE this week. I've asked the seller alot of questions & so far so good!

Thanks again,
Mark

My transmission guy is in Portland (about 20 miles south of where I'm at). I'll plug his business, but not sure if he offers those prices to everyone (I sort of doubt it). I've used him before he had his own shop, so I probably get special treatment. But price aside, honesty/integrity of your tech is the #1 important thing. There are probably 20 or more transmission shops between me and these guys. Due to past bad experiences I wouldn't consider using anybody but these guys. Scott is the guy I deal with. Here's a link to their website: http://rivercitytransmissions.com/reviews/