I have a 96 4runner, 5speed. I was just out doing a little driving on some jeep trail and had to use 4wd low for a bit. I then shifted back to regular 4wd. When I got back on the road, I forgot to shift out of 4wd. The 4wd light wasn't on at the time (it didn't light up until I parked the truck!), which is why I forgot to shift back to 2wd.

It was about 15 miles back home, 10 or so at highway speeds. Did I trash my transmission by driving it in 4wd like that?

if the light wasnt on it probably wasnt in 4wd anyway...wouldnt hurt too much, id me more concerned about breaking a CV axle than the transmission, time will tell if anything was tressed, im sure your fine.

There is no problem with driving in 4wd at highway speeds. Your truck will do just fine. The only problem you will have with driving in 4wd on the pavement is when you go to make tight turns, in which case you will bind up the transfer case and then possibly do damage. You can drive in a straight line at 100mph in 4wd with no problems.


Sounds like it was never in 4wd though. You would definetly notice it was engaged on the pavement making turns.

Well, unfortunately I'm having a pretty bad transmission problem now. Not sure if it's related to the 4wd/pavement thing, but it needs to go to the shop and I could really use your guys advice.

The problem is that it will drop out of 1st gear with an awful sounding BANG! It just started this morning, and didn't drop out every time. After it did it a second time, I started holding onto the shifter when it was 1st gear, but it dropped out of gear then, too. After that, I stopped using 1st gear.

The shop I usually go to is telling me I need a whole new transmission. Could this be true? Isn't it possible to rebuild parts of the transmission instead of replacing the whole thing? Also, could it just be a problem with the clutch instead of the transmission?

Even though these guys seem trustworthy, I didn't feel safe asking them these questions. If they are out to just sham me into a new transmission, they could tell me any line of mechanic BS and I wouldn't know the difference. That's why I had to ask the real experts first <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Thanks guys!

it sounds like the sinqros are bad in 1st gear.my truck did the same thing a while back, when i shitfted for 1st to reverse in the mud holes and it finaily went bad, but if you or machanic wants to split the trans and try to change the sinqros might be cheaper bvut alittle more time and hard then throwing in a new trans.

later zack