Question99 Tacoma, 2-wheel drive, manual tran., 143,000 miles. Slipping, or popping, out of gear. Started with 1st gear - a "bam!" (like I had hit a speed bump) then the engine would race and I'd have to shift back into 1st. Then, it started popping out of first and third, with no noise.
Guy at the transmission place is talking about parts on the "shifter" being worn, but not as much as he thought it ought to be for what's happening. I live in a farming area, lots of dust, bad roads, etc. Also, I drive a lot around the state. Seems to me this shouldn't be happening with only 140k miles and 5 years old. My '86 toyota truck had no clutch/transmission problems, and I drove it for almost 13 years!
Only other repair has been a new EGR valve (is that right? - emissions system) in the last 4 months.
Thanks for your help
AnswerHello Mercer, welcome to my expert page.
The first thing that needs to be checked are the bushings in the shift tower, if you feel like doing this yourself, you need to remove the center console(if any) and then remove the shift boot, you will see a silver looking shift lever retainer, press down an turn it one way or another until it pops out, inside the shift tower is a bushing, if it has not disintegrated, replace it and the one on the end of the shift lever, I suggest you get the new ones from the dealer first so you know what they are supposed to look like, if this sounds like too much trouble, have a shop or toyota dealer check this first before condemning the transmission itself.
