Suddenly getting no power

Hey y'all, I need help bad! I've recently bought a 1995 4runner 3.0. It's pretty good shape...high miles but its been running good.

Well the other day I was driving through town (transmission acting 100% normal at this point) and I stop at a red light...Light turns green and when I hit the gas I get almost no response at the wheels. I was able to get it goint about 5mph by stepping on it because traffic was building up behind me and I pulled into a parking lot. It just happened out of nowhere. there were no indications leading up to this. And no grinding, funny smells or anything. It just felt like it was slipping or had no fluid. I looked at all the obvious stuff like fluid levels.
I ran it through all the gears and heres what it does. The shifter lever moves just fine and it goes into drive and reverse and all. It gets very little power to the wheels, in foward and the same in reverse. put it in 4hi and its the same. if i go into 4 low its got power to the rear wheels like it should.
My O/D light wasnt flashing, as i read on some forms that indicates a bad shift solenoid. It had all the symptoms of bad solenoids so i ordered solenoids and a new filter and dropped the pan and replaced the parts. That didn't do anything and i've still got the problem. I'm pretty worried I just bought this as my daily driver and can't drive my work truck all the time.

Any ideas? Maybe I did the solenoids wrong somehow. Is this limp mode? does the trans maybe need to be rebuilt? I just can't imagine my transmission is blown or anything because it happened while i was stopped at a light with nothing leading up to it and no noises or anything. I really appriciate y'alls help!

 

Can you shift through all gears in 4 low? If so it sounds like a transfer case problem.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I can shift thru everything in 4 low and my wheels have plenty of torque but as soon as I take it out of 4 low and put it in 4high or 2 I can barley get the wheels to spin. No grinding sounds still tho.
Alot of people who had solenoid problems acted like it felt like it was in neutral when they put it in gear and that's not quite how it is with mine, I've got a little bit of wheel spin so I probably prematurely changd the solenoids. So you're probably right about the transfer case. I don't have lots more money I want to spend on this truck but it looks like I can get one at a decent price, I just hope that's it if I go through all the trouble of swapping it. Anything else I should do to confirm it's the transfer case and not the tranny before buying a transfer case? Thanks

 

I would start with checking the shift linkage on the transfer case. I believe there are a few bushings and that are prone to wearing out. If the linkage checks out I would drain the tcase and look for anything abnormal. If you end up needing a tcase I would swap in a 5 speed as well and call it a day

 

This sounds more electronic than mechanical. Did you find any "evidence" when you dropped the pan of mechanical failure? Is there maybe an electronic shift module that has shit the proverbial bed?

 

I may be mistaken but I would think a sensor issue would be throwing a code of some sort.

 

Linkage looks good. going to drain the transfer case when I get time this week. I've got a friend's shop we can swap the tcase at if that's what it comes to.
And my exact thoughts on a 5 speed if I had the time and money... probably drop a 3.4 in there while I was it at! Appreciate the help.

 

You're welcome. Good luck

 

Not necessarily, if the ECM is not functioning correctly, then it will not know the sensor is not reading correctly, therefore not throwing a code.

 

Right but that wouldn't be solely a sensor problem

 

http://www.omegamachine.com/db/Toyota-Transfer-Case-Direct-Drum.asp