1993 Camry LE 4 Cyl Reverse Slipping Need HELP
 

Just recently when it finally got hot out where I live, I noticed when going in reverse, my transmission was slipping. Going forward all gears seem to be ok. Maybe shifting a little smoother then normally. Any ideas what the problem could be? Car has 156,000 miles on it. I found one message about Toyota's:

"At higher mileages, (125,000-150,000) the automatic transmission may not shift correctly. This can be caused by the throttle position sensor being out of adjustment or a shift solenoid needing to be replaced. Typically the transmission does not need to be completely overhauled."

There appears to be 2 solenoids in this transmission. Would one of these cause my problems? I just hope that this transmissions is not on its way out.

Thanks!

Reverse is a manual operation controlled by the gear shift lever. There are no electronic solenoids for reverse.

Could be internal trans issues due to a failing part(s).

What condition is the trans fluid in? Red, black, etc.

If the fluid has not been changed in the last 30K miles suggest changing it all (changing the pan fluid only gets 1/3 of the total fluid). This may or may not help but worth a try.

I think I have put on about 50,000-60,000 since I bought the car. I myself have not changed the trans fluid since I bought it. I'm not sure what the condition of the fluid is. It was about 3/4 qt low though.

Might be low fluid, the pan holds about 2.7 quarts.

Suggest if not changing the fluid to top it off ASAP as slipping is not good for the trans internal clutches, etc.

If you don't know when the fluid was last changed and the now has 50-60K more strongly suggest you change all the fluid.

Oh man... :(
 

My fluid did not look good at all... Did not smell good either!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5221/...4c3f0f61_z.jpg
IMG_7754 by movado73, on Flickr

I flushed all the old transmission fluid out. I also added a 24oz bottle of Lucas Transmission Fix. Still slipping in reverse. When its cool out it seems fine. But when it gets upper 80's it then slips a lot. Driving forward is fine when cool or hot.

Kind of sounds like a rebuild time eh? I can have it completely rebuilt including new Torque converter for $1200. I think I'm going to have this done. The body is in great shape. It's been garage kept. Then fix the oil leak. Maybe coming from the valve cover gasket. Hard to tell. I'm going to degrease it and see if I can get a better idea of where the motor oil is leaking from.

Might be the reverse clutch pack, this requires taken the trans apart.

That is a pretty good price with converter.

In the future for long trans life change all the fluid ever 30K miles. Some may state this is over kill but if doing it yourself the cost is 8-10 quarts of trans fluid.

Yep I learned the hard way! Totally overlooked it on this car. My 98 Camry is due for trans flush now. 72k on it. I changed only the pan fluid and filter when it had 35,000 miles. But I'm going to do a flush within the next 2 weeks!

Costly mistake on my part! :(:(

Regarding good price, It pays to have good connections.

I know its not much on your part... it wouldn't be successful if you didn't spend much.

Found the problem with my transmission!! The part that holds the bearing and some other parts blew up. So I needed to have the overdrive cover plate replaced, and also the parts flew into the middle of the trans and blew up a gasket. Transmission has been completely rebuilt, and I'm back on the road again. The guy who rebuilt it said other then the reverse clutch plates burnt pretty bad, the transmission was in very good condition. So I'm guessing that's why the fluid was all brown. Because now that I remember about 2 years ago my fluid was prematurely flushed when I changed my radiator the connector for the transmission fluid was loose and it was leaking out and I refilled it after i noticed it slipped while driving around a turn.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6197/...f8865f7b_z.jpg
100_0339 by movado73, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6087/...9b22dffd_z.jpg
100_0340 by movado73, on Flickr

Thanks for posting back with the results.

The trans may have been failing prior to your fluid changes. The fluid degrades as its temp get hotter. Stop and driving, and trailer pulling are worst case.

Suggest changing all the fluid every 30K miles. The internet has many posts about completely DIY fluid changes.