Hello all..

I've been lurking around here for a while but this is my first post.

I have a 2000 Camry LE 4 Cylinder Auto with about 120,000 miles. It's a daily driver and I bought it new off the lot 9 years ago. I have been good on routine maintenance and have done most of it myself. I took it to the dealership at 100,000 miles for timing belt and some other routine work. I changed the transmission fluid at 65,000.

Now on to the current problem - for a couple of months the car has had some problems shifting out of first when cold. It will hang at somewhat high RPM before shifting to 2nd - no shaking or violent sounds. It typically does this once and then behaves normally. I wrote this off as "getting older" and since the transmission behaved properly after the initial hangup then I haven't thought much about it.

This morning however the car was very sluggish when I left the driveway in DRIVE. Took it a while to get up to speed in first, then did the typical hangup and shifted to 2nd. It felt a little sluggish on acceleration for about 2 miles of rural driving then behaved normally for the rest of my 35-mile commute. I committed to taking a look at things when I got home.

When I got in the car after work for the drive home the transmission would not engage in any gear, including reverse. The shifter would still click in to place at each gear but there was no sound or slight "bump" as normal when the transmission engages. I let the car run for about 15 minutes and then I could finally get the car to move in all gears, albeit sluggishly as was this morning. I was able to drive home most of the way with no problems however about 10 miles from home after I got off the interstate, the car started having some problems shifting in the lower gears at moderate speeds. When slowing down / stopping for a red light the car should shudder as a manual trans. car does when stopping and not depressing the clutch pedal. It would shudder and shake and eventually drop in to gear. Acceleration was labored but I eventually made it home OK. Just as I pulled in to the neighborhood the check engine light came on. I do not have a code checker to pull the code.

I checked the fluid level and color when I got home and found that all was well there. The color was a nice light red / pink and the level was fine. I have not yet pulled the pan or checked the differential fluid (raining cats and dogs here).

Any preliminary ideas? Could this be a solenoid issue or is the transmission likely toast? Should I try to use whatever is left to get to the shop or are there some "home remedies" to try first?

Thanks to all in advance.

 

Suggest you read the info at the link below:

http://www.samarins.com/check/transmission.html

Check the fluid level if OK might be an internal clutch going bad.

 

Thanks for the info. The fluid level is good and the fluid itself is a nice pinkish-red color. I have not yet pulled the pan off or checked the differential for fluid. Too much weather going on for that right now.

I am debating taking it in tomorrow to have it checked out. Not sure if it will make it to the shop or not. Thanks for your help!

 

kg- i am having a strikingly similar problem with my 2000 camry. i was wondering what turned out to be the solution?
thanks!