Has anyone seen or heard or know of simalar problems with 1FZ auto ,bought the car some 7years ago the "D" light on the dash didn't work no biggy. About 2 weeks ago notice while out driving went into reverse started cruising backwards all fine, but when i put the foot down to pick up a bit of speed it popped out of gear and freerevs. Once back at idle it retains reverse gear again but will do it again if you put try to speed up. Now getting a bit worried i did a few more tests like, put in "L" drive off normal or any speed and it now upchanges to2nd {odd never used to} If you manually shift down to2nd as you slow down it drops out of O/D but not back to 2nd, then go to "L" and you confuse it it does'nt know which gear it wants 2nd or drive. Now i know this was never the case as it's mainly driven by the wife now for a little longer anyway.
So i took it to an automatic transmission mechanic and told this, then went out and showed him. I ended up leaving the car with him for a day so he could investigate further. First thing found was no dash lights at all for the auto, neutral switch apparently. Got a new switch, no change. He then started asking a lot of questions like have i changed starter motor . Reply no it has had 2 new bodgey aftermarket powersteer pumps done and a 2" lift in the last year.Not to mention he serviced it in August as it was never done in the time i have owned it.Now he's talking about pulling the dash apart to fix the lights then working back through the wiring and on to the valve body, all at great expense$$$.Then the last resort is gearbox $$$$$$$$
I do use the car for towing a 6m boat which i now can't do because of this problem and it only gets towed about 5km to the boatramp and back.

Has anyone got some theory as to what is going on with this gearbox.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

For the sake of $50 in oil I would give it 6 ltrs of new auto oil.

Not sure how the dash lights are relevant. Having said that, I installed a reverse camera in mine the used power from the reverse light. I also installed one in the front of the car too. I did something stupid which caused 12v to feed into the reverse light (cant recall exactly what i did, and yes I do realise that my story makes me sound like a dodgy b@stard). Anyway, that simple thing caused the reverse not to work properly. I concluded that electrics on the auto were quite sensitive and shouldnt be screwed around with. Maybe its the same with your dash lights?

Thanks MichaelW but auto oil is good and had a service on it 4 months ago. Pulled dash out today but couldn't see anything obviously wrong anywhere. Still no dash lights for the auto only one that works in the block is the O/D light at the bottom no "P" "R" "N" "D" "2" "L"

First get a new auto guy, you really want someone who understands that particular box, my D light has been out for years but no effect on auto. Call wholesale automatics or send them an email, they usually hand out helpful advice and know these boxes inside out, it really sounds like you need a specialist though, also it's probably best to limit driving it until you can get an answer.

It does sound like an electric problem though but better safe than sorry

Barry

Thanks Barry i think i will shoot them a message .

Yeah, I dont know about the light thing??? My "D" light has never worked in the dash or the on the shifter! My auto works fine... Touch wood.

Cheers, Scott

Yeh it's a worry , i spoke Rodney {i think} from wholesale automatics this arvo and he has givin me a couple of things to try.
First thing he said to do is have it running on flat ground in park and check oil level 6 times as these are'nt very accurate and if it's fine then check the shifter linkage. If thats all good he said to unplug the neutral switch wiring and take it for a spin in reverse. If it still popps out it will be a gearbox fault as the computer does'nt work in reverse only forward gears . He was also saying that the ETC {computer} are pretty much bullet proof on these so he doubts that will be a problem. Looks like another busy day tomorrow.

Well good news so far i managed to do those checks this morning and with the neutral switch unplugged reverse is fine. Driving forward is good too if you manually shift can't leave it in "D" as it hasn't a clue which gear it should be in. It thinks it's on the highway and selects top gear. Now to try and find the electrical problem . Oh and i noticed this morning that my reverse tail lights don't work either at the moment. Hopefully all related to the 1 electrical problem fingers crossed.

John

What was the outcome

Mick

Hi Mick, so far the outcome is it is in at a auto electrician has cracked plate in the battery $220 for a new one. Found a plug above the starter motor which the little dust cap was not over the plug and has corroded the terminals in the plug. Must be salt water getting in with the amount of corrosion that was there. Very possible was at Stadbroke Island last September and have done plenty of trips up to Double Island over the years. It has about 15 terminals in it which go to just about everything starter,neutral switch,dash, tail lights ect half the terminals were gone. Whilst he is there he is going to check the other plugs around there to see if they are alright and if so just give them a contact clean. The drive light in the dash has blown so thats $20 through Toyota {special bulb}.So far they have had the car for two days and may need it for atleast another two days. Bill wise so far i'm up for $620 and will have to wait and see if it fixes all the problems but it does sound hopeful.

Well picked the Cruiser up this morning all fixed . The plug was the source of all the problems i was having with the gearbox. Once i figure out how to post photo's i will stick some on.

John

At least it was not a gearbox rebuild/ new one.

Mick

Thats very useful information to store in the old brainbox for future reference as well.

Barry

Maybe we should have a few sticky's purely with faults found for quick reference, one for auto's, manuals, steering, brakes etc, you get the idea, would save time having to search through many different threads.

That's why the Frequently asked posts page was setup. Submit any posts you think are suitable to me or anoth mod and thwy will view them and I can add them to the page