I was on a road trip a few weeks ago, riding in the back of a friend's 2006 Rav4. It had 125,000 miles. Trying to accelerate at 65 up a hill, there was a rather awful shudder, grinding noise, and loss of power.
Driver: Did you hear that?
Me: Yeah. It sounded like us walking.
D: It does that on the highway when I'm going up a hill. I brought it to the dealer and told them I thought it was the gears. They ran diagnostics and said it was fine. I've been to both Toyota dealers now. I have the receipts here (hands them to me).
Sure enough, both dealerships charged her for transmission diagnostics and found no problem.
At the next rest stop, I pulled the dipstick. It was awful - like used motor oil out of my diesel truck. Completely black and burnt smelling, and I mean black - not a trace of translucency or red. I'm guessing it was the factory fill at 125k. How did they miss that at two dealerships? I partially blame Toyota for not specifying a flush in the suggested maintenance. She's had all maintenance done at dealerships since she bought it at 30k. Before anyone says so, no I did not accidentally pull the oil dipstick. It was the transmission dipstick with the rubber ball on the end.
I didn't have time to deal with it myself before heading home, but I sent her to a good mechanic I knew (they live in my hometown). His diagnosis was the same as mine. The fluid had been there for twice as long as it should have been. He told her that the transmission was likely failing, and discussed a few options. He was afraid that a flush would cause catastrophic failure, and told her that her best bet would be to contact the dealership or Toyota Corporate first and ask why nobody figured it out before that since she'd been there for 19 oil changes and other services since 2008.
Well, she went to the dealership, and traded it in for a new 2012 Rav. So, that's as far as it ever went.
I'd be tempted to flush via the cooler lines with Amsoil ATL and see what happens. Oh well. Fun story. I told her to make use of the maintenance guide and add "transmission flush" at 60k.
Driver: Did you hear that?
Me: Yeah. It sounded like us walking.
D: It does that on the highway when I'm going up a hill. I brought it to the dealer and told them I thought it was the gears. They ran diagnostics and said it was fine. I've been to both Toyota dealers now. I have the receipts here (hands them to me).
Sure enough, both dealerships charged her for transmission diagnostics and found no problem.
At the next rest stop, I pulled the dipstick. It was awful - like used motor oil out of my diesel truck. Completely black and burnt smelling, and I mean black - not a trace of translucency or red. I'm guessing it was the factory fill at 125k. How did they miss that at two dealerships? I partially blame Toyota for not specifying a flush in the suggested maintenance. She's had all maintenance done at dealerships since she bought it at 30k. Before anyone says so, no I did not accidentally pull the oil dipstick. It was the transmission dipstick with the rubber ball on the end.
I didn't have time to deal with it myself before heading home, but I sent her to a good mechanic I knew (they live in my hometown). His diagnosis was the same as mine. The fluid had been there for twice as long as it should have been. He told her that the transmission was likely failing, and discussed a few options. He was afraid that a flush would cause catastrophic failure, and told her that her best bet would be to contact the dealership or Toyota Corporate first and ask why nobody figured it out before that since she'd been there for 19 oil changes and other services since 2008.
Well, she went to the dealership, and traded it in for a new 2012 Rav. So, that's as far as it ever went.
I'd be tempted to flush via the cooler lines with Amsoil ATL and see what happens. Oh well. Fun story. I told her to make use of the maintenance guide and add "transmission flush" at 60k.
