My recently purchased 2000 model land cruiser (120k, 4speed, Single owner, excellent shape, shifts smooth from what I could tell). There is not much of a problem from what I could tell; gears shifts very smoothly from drive all the way up to 3rd gear. But I am wondering if it is stuck in 3rd gear and not shifting to 4th? Trust me, there are no thuds, no grinding noise, no delay in finding gears, no jumping or slamming while on the go etc. Or is it so smooth, I can’t even tell if it is running at 70mph on 4th gear? It runs all day long at 70mph (RPM constantly hovers at 2k, is it normal? ) From 70mph and upwards, I really have to press real hard to get it to higher speeds. I don’t drive too fast or abuse my vehicles, but I just wanted to test if everything is working as it should. I read great reviews about land cruisers, but it seems to me that the year 2000 models are prone to transmission issues. Or am I being paranoid? Here are some of my questions, if you could kindly answer. 1) What is your normal cruising speed on a V8 truck? 2), at 70 mph, what is RPM? 3) During normal driving, do you have your O/D turned on or off? 4) On your trucks, can you feel all the gear shifts from 2nd all the way up to 4th or 5th depending which truck you may have?
Thank you all.

 

Welcome to YT!

I have a 2002, but I have 285/33" tires so my speedometer is off a bit. Your numbers sound fine. I dont recall exact readings but I think at an indicated 70mph (doing maybe 75 actual) I'm sitting just under 2500rpm. After 2500rpm the gas mileage really takes a dive so that's where I tend to stay on the hwy. I think 80 indicated is close to 2900rpm

Mine had the transmission replaced. There are some reports of failed trans, but the percentage is pretty low. The first owner towed it to Toyota, it got a brand new tranny and he traded it in towards a 200-series instead. I got a pretty good deal and it's been like 75k since trans, so I feel no regrets. Trans is pretty smooth, kinda hard to tell when OD kicks in but you can still tell, at least I can. "Normal" mode is to have OD on. I use OD off when in the hills typically, usually with ECT power mode too so it really holds the gears

The best place I know for info on Cruisers is over at iH8mud. Good luck!

 

So here is an update. This might one day be helpful to others in future. Took the vehicle to a transmission shop. They checked everything and ruled out any transmission issues. As a matter of fact, according to them, if a vehicle shifts smoothly (which mine did) during the first few gears (such as one, two and three), then it is very unlikely the transmission could be at fault (Sigh of relief!). They suggested me to let someone replace the fuel filter and have my exhaust system checked. So I took the vehicle to my mechanic, got the fuel filter replaced. The exhaust manifold had a few holes in them and I asked him to replace that too. And that fixed the problem I asked him which one could have been the problem, he told me the problem was most likely due to the exhaust system. Anyway, Now vehicle runs super smooth. Thank you everyone

 

Yeah I hear the exhaust manifold is becoming more common issue and there is limited options for replacement. I think only OEM and Doug Thorley are the only two options currently. Did you hear a ticking sound at low temps going on? I heard that was the sign.