Trans solenoids

Alright boys…just got my first CEL in 16 years/241k miles

Driving down the freeway at 75, trans pops outta gear(no response from throttle) and dash lights up like a xmas tree.

Long story short, Im able to get the truck to move under its own power by putting shifter into manual and limp it home. Its a mess, shifting is all over the place (hunting, skipping gears etc)

Showing a P0766(shift solenoid D) and P0973 (shift solenoid A)

I guess my question is has anyone had any luck just replacing the solenoids? They are about $60 a piece from rock auto. I already ordered them, so Im gonna wing the install in my garage next week and report back.

Already got a quote at $6000 for a new AB60E from Toyota. Sucks but if I gotta go that route so be it.

thanks!

 

I just replaced the A solenoid like a month ago. Same 1 from rock auto, I had the Performance D go as well, the P2794 I think, replaced the torque convertor lock and the SLT on accident since I bought the wrong part. So far all 4 have been replaced this year and it engages smoothly, no more jumping nor rough shifts. For context I'm at 296k

 

Appreciate it! Didn't have any symptoms leading up, so im hoping I get the same result. Needs a fluid exchange anyway.

 

You will feel the loss in 2nd gear to 3rd. More like 1st to 1st to 3rd.. But there will be a slight loss in power and mpg.

 

After the solenoid replacement? Or thats what you were seeing before you replaced them?

Mines behaving similar. Holding 1st, skipping 2nd and lugging into 3rd. Out of the blue though, no real tell tale signs it was coming before it broke.

 

Before the replacement. I was also getting a whine what I thought was the throttle body, but, it stopped when I replaced solenoid A.

 

You da man. Appreciate the info

 

Shift solenoid 'D' here; it did the trick...

Just a heads up though, it is my understanding that non-OE solenoids can be hit/miss in our rigs.

 

Yes, ordered through Orielly’s and they price matched rock auto. Now that 3-4 shifts so smooth need to do the others too. 150k.

 

I didn't know they did this. Coulda saved $40 with overnight shipping... Needed mine before the weekend, cuz I didn't want to drive 150 mile round trip with CEL, VSC flashing and traction control off, on top of that it rained on my way out there... Next time though for sure.

 

FYI, I spent money to overnight a Toyota solenoid in and it was the same manufacture as the cheap Amazon/ebay one. Replaced one and it's been going strong for over a year.

 

Be so very careful and use your little muscles with those transmission pan bolts.

Here in salty Minnesota they like to seize and I was only able to get 3 of 12 out cleanly using all my tricks.

Also, might as well change out the filter/screen 'since you are in there'.

 

Yeah I'm already a little worried about that. Ive got no rust and I’ll lube the bolts up the night before, but been a lot of years and miles since those bolts have turned.

Agreed. Im gonna slap a new filter and o-ring in while im at it

 

My local store seems like they encourage it, so I asked them to price match part plus fast shipping price (since it was coming next morning at Orielly’s) and they price matched part plus cheapest shipping.

 

We talking about solenoid A right? cuz my local store has it at $300 and stealership is like $640 with a local discount to $490. No one had the Rostra part neither O'reilly, Autozone or Napa. Will have to test that here.

 

In my case it was the fourth solenoid from the rear of the passenger side, my code was for D. Best thing is to test each one to be sure the correct one gets replaced. Yes, was $300 at orielly but they priced matched it down to about $150. In fact, at the time the same solenoid was on "backorder" at the dealership who said they were marked by the factory as being very low stock across the country (a few months ago).

 

If they are that cheap why not replace all of them while you are in there? They were all installed at the same time at the factory, the others cannot be that far behind or at least that was my logic. I replaced all of mine but it was in a 1993 LandCruiser. It had 163K on it, no reverse at all and the gear shifting was obviously impacted by the reverse and I assumed there was others. I just bought them all and replaced them and I had 23ish K miles on it when I sold it and never had an issue with the tranny after that.

 

There’s about ten of them. The overdrive ones are expensive, but yeah the 4 or 5 smaller ones that’s a great idea.

 

I replaced the D with OEM it was $200 at the stealership. Also got the torque convertor solenoid as I got a code for it. Both were $394 total. Solenoid A is pricey, do believe is the only one.. I ordered 1 from Japan, so when this one fails I'll have spares.

I go by if it ain't broke don't fix it...

 

10 gears sound nice but the tranny in the LC was a beast and would do anything after the noids were replaced. I would treat the tranny pan hardware days before you plane to remove them, just to be sure. I broke one that I helicoiled

 

Some of the bolts for the tranny pan are blind while the others have threads that stick out the top. The blind ones shouldn't be a problem but the part of the screw that sticks out does get rusty. make sure you get plenty of lube on the exposed ends. When removing them if you start to feel resistance, tighten them back up, reapply lube, and try to loosen them again. It could take a few times doing this but hopefully you can get them out. I replaced mine with stainless screws and never seize so it wouldn't be an issue in the future.

 

I lived mainly in the west, and I've dabbled in the Midwest regions, more specifically Oklahoma, and heights of Reno, NV and traveled through the Sierras with sky high snow mountains. Issue has been the heads just snap off. As some have posted previously. They may seize at the transmission and that's an issue, but the biggest issue is the head just twisting off like a soda bottle.

 

Update:

Hell of a lot easier than I thought it’d be. All the pan bolts backed out no prob, so didn't have to drill.

Swapping the two solenoid’s did the trick. Cleared the codes and back to normal.

For reference I used the Rostra S1 (Part# 520506)and S4 (Part# 520587)solenoids from Rock Auto. $130 for both. They are visually identical to the OEM solenoids fwiw.

Also agree that there is little need to replace the trans filter if you don't have to drop the pan. 241k miles and the screen/element looked essentially the same as the new one I put in.

Thanks again for the tips