I am not a car guru. I don;t know much about car. I bought a 2008 Toyota Rav4 over a year ago. It now has 74K miles. I noticed the car start acting weird like about 4-5 months ago. High RPM but slow acceleration. Also, If I don’t drive the car for over a week, when the car goes reverse at the very first moment, I hear a single big loud bang/clunk sound like something just break. I thought the wheels caught something and it wasn’t the first time happened. But the car still runs OK.
Then I brought to Toyota dealership and told them the problem. They changed all oil. They change spark plugs and replace a new battery. They even rebuilt my engine. But I still feel the car accelerates slowly. Today is getting worse. I smell something burn but not like rubber burnt smell. More like oil. I keep researching and researching and found out my problem is most likely called transmission slipping. And the oil burnt smell was probably the transmission oil burnt. I just saw one video saying if you have a car for over 70K miles and never had a transmission service done. It’s too late. What does he mean too late? I know it’s probably costly to fix them and even more tor replacing them. Is it worth fixing it or just sell the car and buy another one? Please advise. Thanks.
You brought it to the dealer claiming a possible transmission issue and they didn’t replace the fluid but overhauled the engine? That’d be about $8000. Maybe they didn’t really do that. At any rate transmission fluid should be changed about every 30,000 miles.
There are clutches in the transmission and they wear out eventually. When they wear out you can get slippage. You can also get slippage from other transmission problems or if the fluid is too low. Once the clutches start to slip they won’t last long and an overhaul is about all that can be done. So back to the shop for a transmission check up and to change the fluid if it wasn’t done, but it could be toast at this point.
Your nose is the best indicator.Take the transmission dipstick out and smell the oil …a .burnt smell indicate that the liquid is old and need to be change or a problem with the transmission. Toyota automatic transmission are made to last over 200 k miles without problems with regular maintenance.
+1 to all of those statements.
I really hope that the OP wasn’t sold an engine overhaul for what sounds like a transmission problem.
@bitboyx2005 There are some very good mechanics and do it yourself people on this site. You are going to need to be a lot clearer for them to help you. One of your threads claims the dealer rebuilt your engine because the warranty was about to expire. You should have some paper work that shows what was actually done to your vehicle. It really sounds like you have a transmission problem and a 9 year old vehicle does not need to be taken to the dealer, just a good honest repair shop.
Find a good local transmission shop (not one of the transmission chains) and take your car there for an estimate. Chances are that you’ll get quality work at a lower price than the dealer at a place like that. Unfortunately, this is likely to be expensive, especially because you didn’t bring the car in at the first sign of trouble.
+2
I too was troubled by what I read in the post. I seriously doubt if the rebuilt the engine, but the work they did so seems totally unrelated to the problem and probably didn’t need doing. My suspicion is that they screwed the OP.
The next step should IMHO be to follow Lion9car’s suggestion.
Good luck.
+1
I think that the OP misunderstood exactly what was done to the engine.
How much was charged for this “overhaul”?
And exactly what does it say on your copy of the shop order? I hope you kept it…
It only has 74K miles. It shouldn’t need either a engine or transmission.
If you are smelling burning oil then the transmission is likely toast. Be prepared for a big repair bill.
I would not take it back to the dealer. They are clearly incompetent. Find a independent shop that specializes in transmissions. Be prepared for a $2,000-$3,500 repair bill.
In lieu of a new rebuilt transmission, you could also get a junk yard one from a wrecked car for $500ish and the labor to swap is probably in the $600 range.
I think there really needs to be some clarity in your complaint as I’m having a hard time understanding why all of those things were allegedly done including an (?) engine rebuild.
Usually a slipping transmission burns the fluid and this becomes very noticeable so that may be what you smell.
I am curioius about the total bill from the “engine rebuild” event though.
This vehicle was covered by a warranty extension for oil consumption, they replaced the pistons and rings.
Sounds like you have a SUV with a 4 cylinder engine, it is going to rev high during certain conditions, maybe that is why they couldn’t find fault with the transmission. Were you able to demonstrate the problem for the dealer?
Ah, that would explain it.
I’d start with a proper transmission service. Usually that means to drop the pan, replace the transmission filter, and refill with fresh fluid. If that seems to help but doesn’t fix it 100%, try doing it again after driving a week or two. It’s not possible to get all the old fluid out during the course of one service.
our vue has a toyo aisin af33 trans and doing a simple trans drain/fill helped the shifting issues. easy to do. use the toyo T-IV fluid