Transmission clunk when shift to reverse gear

[woodmanho]

I've just purchased 99 Camry, and the transmission clunk when I shift it to reverse gear. Try transmission fluid flush with SHELL DEX III, and it is still the same. Otherwise, the transmission is still very strong. Any advices? Thanks in advance.

[Cammy_01]

Originally Posted by woodmanho

I've just purchased 99 Camry, and the transmission clunk when I shift it to reverse gear. Try transmission fluid flush with SHELL DEX III, and it is still the same. Otherwise, the transmission is still very strong. Any advices? Thanks in advance.

Inspect your motor mounts and transmission mounts. You could also lift the hood and have someone mash the brake pedal and put it in both reverse and drive and give it some throttle (in revers and also drive) to watch and see if the engine moves excessively, this indicates a possible problem with a motor or trans mount. For obvious reasons be carefull and stand off to the side outa the way while doing this. FYI, mine started doing this slightly in reverse lately with 92,000 miles on my 01 Camry, I have not inspected the mounts yet, but will get around to it.

You mentioned flushing the transmission fluid, I have heard stories of flushing trans fluid all at one time causing issues with transmissions.. especially high pressure flushing machines (not sure if this was the method you used), not the Toyota brand but mainly American cars of the past. Not sure if it is the shock or all new fluid at one time or if the high pressure machine loosens debris or sludge lodged in the trans. Might I suggest just dropping the trans fluid every other oil change.. there is a drain plug on the trans pan and real easy and cheap to do while you are under there, why not.. only a couple of bucks for just under 3 qts of trans fluid per change. I do this rather than servicing the trans and trans filter. I have been doing this for years on my Camry and did get around to finally servicing the trans the other day and it was as clean as could be in the trans pan and has always had nice firm, clean shifts. When I bought my Camry at 50K the trans had never been serviced and the fluid was very dark, it took about 6 or 8 times of changing tranny fluid with every oil change and the tranny fluid finally looks nice and rosy red again. The reason it takes a while is because draining or servicing the transmission does not remove all of the fluid, probably less than half, you only get the fluid that is in the trans pan at the time.. most of the fluid remains in the torque converter so frequent changes of fluid on the trans will eventually clear all of the old trans fluid.

[woodmanho]

Thanks for your advice. I will inspect the mount later. Will post the result later.

Regarding trans flush. I did the old fashion way also to play safe, but I use oil extract machine to do it in one shoot with 20qt Shell DEX III which is about $2 per qt at Autobarn. The color is red now and shift as new except the clunk on reverse as mention before.

I am thinking to put a trans cooler to prolong the trans life since it is not expensive.