2003 Camry 3.0 Transmission Issue
 

Hello, new guy here.

My son was recently stranded on side the road. He was driving, so I'm just relaying what he said.
2003 Camry with the 3.0 ; Automatic transmission (can post the transmission code later when I get back home if necessary)
He was passing a vehicle, and the car just stopped accelerating and his RPM started climbing. Pulled over to side of road, and I went and pulled it to my house.

Get car home and run through a quick check.
IN D, 2, or L car will barely inch forward if you press accelerator and rev to high RPM.
Will do the same thing heading backwards if you shift into R.

Ran a scan tool. no codes.
Transmission fluid might be a hair low, but not much. Fluid doesn't look brand new, but I wouldn't really call it dirty either.

It's my son's car that I basically never drive, so can't say if there was warning signs leading up to this, but he claims there wasn't.

I'm not a transmission guy, so not really sure how would I go about testing/checking things to at least diagnose my issue.
Car is 20 years old with 180,000 miles on it and he's hoping to buy a truck soon, so we aren't looking to spend a huge amount on this car.

Speculate it is internal trans or torque converter failure and not much can be done unless it is repaired. However check the following.

Check transmission fluid level. The internet will have info on this as its engine running, trans fluid hot and Park. Always the place to start. No here if the fluid within the marks the level is OK.

Determine if a drive axle CV joint broke or an axle pulled out of the transmission housing. The car isn’t going to move if only one axle is driving it. This has actually happened to cars.

Determine if the shift lever on the trans is moving in sync with the gear shifter as in when the shifter is in D the trans is actually in D, etc. Run the shifter to P and make sure the parking pawl engages as in actually in P and go from there. Not likely the cause.

Could be a plugged up trans filter screen. Not likely.

Some have replaced the trans fluid but odds are it does nothing.

Welcoem to the forum