Just thought I'd share the fortnight I've had.
Noticed a intermittent whirring noise only under load in the Prado,
thought it sounded like something might be wrong in the power
steering or a pulley, something simple like that!!
Wanted to take the car to my mechanic for a
check over before our
big trip to the Cape this year!!
Mentioned the noise in passing, took the mechanic for a spin so he
could hear it!! That's when things started going down
hill.
Off to a transmission specialist, "mate, sounds like the torque
converter or pump" took it for a second opinion (to a guy I've used
before), and he said the same thing, so left it with him to pull
apart and see what was wrong.
They found metal bearing bits in the filter, the oil was like a
metal sludge, clutches and stuff all scored by the metal, total
rebuild. To top it all off there are no kick down cables in
Australia and one has to be bought over from Japan, have to wait
three weeks.
$3200 later we shouldn't have to worry about the gearbox for a while.
So if you hear a noise or it seems like it's not kicking down into
gear propery get it checked straight away, might save you some
money!!
Steve G (ACT)