Overdrive Not Working

[blobstrom]

Hi, Ive got a 94 Lucida 2.2Td auto and when driving it doesn't engage overdrive, is this an electrical thing or more worring

[rickers]

it might be in limp home mode but i think that only lets in rin in 1st and 2nd. on y car the o/d won't engage untill the engiine is warm, so maybe your temp probe is broken. what does it register?

could be good, could be bad.

rickers

[blobstrom]

Well it goes in the first 3 gears, the guy I bought it from said there's a solonoid that sometimes stops working and he's going to fix it free of charge, the O/D light works OK

[rickers]

if he is going to fix it why ask? <_<

rick

[blobstrom]

In case its a common fault and was wondering if anyone had the same problem, and what they did to fix it.

If its something that breaks down and can be fixed temporarily with a squirt of WD-40 but will come back, then obviously I don't want a temp. fix

[rickers]

fair point :D

i just read your second comment. the o/d light goes out when requested to engage, not on! it is there as a reminder that you haven't got overdrive enabled.

the post could be read in two ways . just want to make sure i have read it the right way.

good luck and enjoy

rickers

[blobstrom]

Yeah the light says "O/D off"

[rickers]

if the o/d off light illuminated it will not go into o/d. neither will it go in if the engine is cold.

rickers

[blobstrom]

Ive driven 30 miles at speeds upto 70mph and the engine is at 3500rpm it definatly ain't going in OD. Apparently the guy at the auto shop is gonna change the solonoid valve, but I have the car back for now as the part wont turn up til next week. Also the solonoid valve is in the gearbox requiring the sump to be dropped

[Milambyr]

I've got the same problem on my 1995 Paseo, it does not like to engage overddrive and nobody seems to know why. It seems to have a mind of it's own when it comes to using it or not. I always leave OD on but seems to randomly work. DOes the "it won't work if your engine is cold" thing apply to my model as well? What steps do I take on trying to figure out what the problem is?

[blobstrom]

I thought it only applied to Estimas that have the (sorry can't remember its name) switch down on the right by the radio, which is a go faster button I think, mine doesn't have it. The temp gets up to normal OK (just below halfway) it's not intermittant in my case it just aint going in. But Im sure its this solonoid as the rest of the gears are perfect and the oil is spotless

[blobstrom]

Well just found out from a friend who works for Toyota, the overdrive solonoid is one of two, so you need to drop the auto sump to see which one you want. The trouble is the cheap one is £150ish the expensive one is around £340

add VAT to those figures too

[Buzzar]

Yep i've got the same problem with my Estima G 4WD

I will have to drop this sump and investigate these soleniods

[blobstrom]

Right folks here we go.

I have a haynes manual and a 3C-TE manual. The Haynes maunal tells you how to go in diagnostic mode and check the alarm data from the engine and gearbox, all OK.

I then found the 3 wires that go to the solnoids in the gearbox.

1 solonoid engages 2nd gear and 3rd must come in mechanically. the other 2 solonoids are for O/D and torque converter lock up.

I went out for a drive and yep you guessed only the 2nd gear solonoid got called for from the ECU <_<

So now what tells the ECU that it can select 4th gear. I have checked the water temp sensor and it read within parameters. What else folks

[chrisandhiace]

This may have no connection at all, but what about info from the speedometer?

Have read that kph to mph convertors can affect the data sent to electronically controlled dampers for instance.

ie: a device may be waiting for say, 100 kph to be hit. But once converted to miles the vehicle may never hit 100mph......if you get the drift.

Be interested to know more on the electronic control effects of kph>mph

[blobstrom]

I have no converters except a different speedo face, but I understand what you are saying. I will need to check if the speedo pulses are getting to the ECU

[blobstrom]

Well after lots of interogation speedo inputs, the switch on the gear stick, the throttle position sensor, turbo pressure sensor, I called the guy I bought it off, he had an M reg Lucida there and we swapped ECU's and guess what everything is peachy :D

I have all the gears torque converter lock up the lot, so who would have thought the ECU was at fault.

[chrisandhiace]

Not me........Well done!

Wouldn't like to pay for one of those at the toyota parts dept......

[blobstrom]

Not me........Well done!

Wouldn't like to pay for one of those at the toyota parts dept......

Well the guy I got the car off of thinks he will have no problem replacing the ECU, I would imagine as there are now quite a few Estimas on our roads, there must unfortunatly also be quite a few smashed ones that are in breakers yards and the chances of them having faulty ECU's is also remote, although bear in mind that after late 93 the ECU is different because the engine management became electronic. 3C-TE from 3C-T the difference is the lower plug out of the 3 on the old ECU has less pins

[carlmicro]

can anyone tell me where on the estima is the ecu for auto gearbox

as i also have overdrive problem tried everything except ecu i didnt know it had one

[blobstrom]

Its the same ECU for the engine, looking on the plugs on the ECU the upper most plug has the 3 wires that go to the autobox, check the 3 pin plug on the gearbox and wire colours, Im sure they are the same on the ECU wires as well

[blobstrom]

I've got the same problem on my 1995 Paseo, it does not like to engage overddrive and nobody seems to know why. It seems to have a mind of it's own when it comes to using it or not. I always leave OD on but seems to randomly work. DOes the "it won't work if your engine is cold" thing apply to my model as well? What steps do I take on trying to figure out what the problem is?

Just checking, the overdrive will engage if the engine is cold but the torque converter lock up will not, try to not get the 2 confused when driving, torque converter lock up means the engine has a direct drive to the gearbox therefore the engine revs will increase directly with the speed (unless you take your foot completely off the throttle)