I found it here before but can't find the thread again and need help. I've had transmission issues in my '94 4-runner for the past few months. The truck sometimes feels like it gets stuck in 3rd gear - there's no rhyme or reason to its insanity. When taking off I have very little speed and just ease into higher speeds without shifting or shifting sharply. Sometimes the o/d light blinks on and off. I can always tell when I'm going to have a problem taking off - when I take my foot off of the break I don't move forward as an automatic auto should. It seems that once I hit 50 or so for a while then stop the problem is fixed. I'm to the point that I'm afraid to drive the 4-runner because I may have to stop on a hill and get stuck.

I've taken the auto to 3 different shops including the local Toyota dealership and they've found no problems. Very frustrating. I have 156,000 mi. and no other problems - I love the auto and want to keep it for a few more years. Does this sound like a thermostat issue or something more fatal to the transmission? All help and suggestions are appreciated.

I've had a similar problem with my 93. I searced the net, and I found a way to put a jumper in the diag harness and use the OD OFF light to give me the fault codes for the trans. Then I contacted two different Toyota dealers and they gave me the code info. It turned out that it is common for a problem like this on these trans. Toyota told me the fault code was an open circuit on one of the shift solenoids (off the record he told me that every time they saw this, they would replace the #2 solenoid and the problem went away). I asked if there was a way to check the solenoids and he told me that even when they had checked them, if they checked OK, they would replace #2 and the problem was fixed. Toyota wants like $150 for one solenoid, but I found a transmission parts place locally that sells aftermarket parts, they have a set of three (#1, #2, #3) for less than the dealer wants for one. I haven't fixed it yet, but plan to tackle that in the next week or so. I found that when my trans acted up, if I manually shifted to low at a light, and drove like a no clutch stick (manually bumping up to 2nd and drive) it seemed to be OK.