On Wed, 01 Jan 2020 20:35:01 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 01 Jan 2020 20:08:58 -0500,
wrote:

On Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:54:02 -0500, micky
wrote:

A female friend has a 2002 Toyota 4-cyl Camry had a check-engine light.
Has a code coming from her transmission, and the shop suggested she just
drive it around town and not from city to city, rather than get another
transmission for a car with 187,000 miles. They didnt' tell her what
the code was.

I've heard that when one breaks, it goes into limp-in mode so one can
still drive home or to the shop.

True for Toyota? Yes.

True for 2002? ??

Surely not always true and depends on what breaks, right? Only true
if sensor out of range, or computer confused. But no limp-kn mode if
actual transmission failure, right?

Usually turns out to be true?

How fast is limp-in? 10mph?

Most of her errands are near her home and if perchance she has to spend
2 hours driving at 10MPH from the far side of Baltimore, that certainly
seems acceptable to me.


I have an $80 code reader, but iiuc most of them can't detect
transmission codes, right? A device to do that is over 1000 dollars?



This is funny, from
https://www.transmissionrepaircostguide.com/limp-mode/

Do not panic! Limp mode is specifically designed to limit further
damage and allow you to get your car to a service center
....
It is advised that you do not continue to drive a vehicle in limp
mode as it is unsafe and can cause further damage to your vehicle

So limit further damage includes causing further damage!!

Dunno about Toyotas but on my wife's old Honda you could make that go
away by disconnecting the battery for a minute. It was actually
shifting bad and stuff. That reset the controller and it was good for
a couple thousand more miles.

And you did this more than once?

Yup. maybe 3 or 4 times in the two years before we got rid of it.
It really lasted quite a while between resets but my wife wasn't
really driving it that much. Her job was about 4 miles away. A tank of
gas would last a month. I thought it was just a fluke the first couple
times it happened. We ended up trading it.

I'll tell her. It actually runs fine now, but the mechanic told her it
had some code, and all her other (girl) friends are telling her to sell
it. She's about 76 years old, loads of energy, but doesn't want to
hitchhike home from I-95.

She's had some extra expenses of about 1000, maybe more, and is in her
words, flat broke.

I'm telling her to keep it and that the worst scenario is not that bad.

I see that my own $70 code reader isn't able to read transmission codes
-- I knew that when I bought it -- but that there is a model now for
$190 that does engine, xmission, airbag, and ABS, though it doesn't do
everything such as relearning. I haven't had many xmission problem so
I'm sure I would not have bought it.
https://www.amazon.com/FOXWELL-NT614..._ob_title_auto

Thanks everyone.

Go to Auto Zone or Advanced Auto. They will scan it for free. You
might get lucky and find out it is an easy to replace part.