Need help on diagnosis and repair of my mom mobile 2012 automatic rav4. 120k miles and generally well maintained so far. Do all the basic maintenance myself. The behavior is a a loud and tactile rumbling while in low (1500) rpms in 3rd gear or so, around the 35 to 45 mph range. Accelerating beyond this rpm, or simply releasing the accelerator will stop this behavior. When this occurred I changed transmission fluid. Didn't work, so I added Lube guard and there was still no change. Didn't appear to be excessive wear or metal when changing fluid. Some research leads me to believe this may be the torque converter. Ironically, the next few years after 2012 had a recall for this issue but not mine. Called a tranny shop but the guy wasn't really willing to do much consultation on the phone and merely suggested a whole new tranny. Any ideas on what else this could be? Any potentially fixes or bandaids? Can I just keep running it? Probably not worth a new tranny given the age and value of the car.
Is this the noise you're experiencing?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDPW6UYSqs
>>27596837Yes, it appears that this is a similar, if not the same issue. This is the first I'm hearing that it may in fact be the rear differential instead of the transmission itself. My primary concern is whether or not I can keep driving this thing safely for a few more years or not. The audible and tactile "feel" of the problem would lead anyone with common sense to believe that it's a pretty major mechanical issue with some excessive wear occurring somewhere. I have changed my driving habits while operating in the speed and gear this occurs in already, but maybe the change from D to 3 is easier.
>>27596809>The behavior is a a loud and tactile rumbling while in low (1500) rpms in 3rd gear or so, around the 35 to 45 mph range. Accelerating beyond this rpm, or simply releasing the accelerator will stop this behavior.Probably engine noise. Known as lugging. Just manually shift to keep the rpm over 2000. Also change the oil
>>27596900Yes, I have been changing my driving behavior to avoid the issue.I'm curious why the supposed engine lugging would occur only in the past couple thousand miles of the car's life. Obviously it's getting old, but the actual wear on the components is seemingly low given it's relatively low mileage my grandma like driving style. Is this a common issue? I recently changed the oil too. Throughout the cars life it has had the recommended 0w20 full synthetic, and I don't think I've ever waited more than 7500 miles at max between changes.
>>27596809How long ago did you change the tranny fluid? I've had a transmission clunking noise issue that didn't go away immediately upon changing the fluid, it tool a few thousand miles with the new fluid to go away.
>>27597373It's been between one and two thousand miles. I went on a trip right after I changed the tranny fluid. Still no difference from before the change.
