Dear Scotty,
I have a 1997 Toyota Camry, 4 cylinder automatic with 192,000 miles on it. Everything works and it still runs beautifully except recently I was driving along in 2nd gear and went to shift into drive and through an unfortunate sequence of events involving my dog and a cheeseburger, I accidentally pushed the shift lever all the way to reverse. There was a hard bump. I immediately shifted back to drive so the whole event was probably less than 1 second. But of course the damage was done. The car still drives the same except shifts sometimes take longer, it’s definitely noticeable. The transmission was flushed and new fluid added about 20,000 miles before this happened. Is there anything I should or should not do to help keep this car running?
By the way, I normally just leave the car in drive and don’t even remember why I had it in 2nd gear at the time.
Thanks for what you do. You inspire me to be a better US citizen,
Dan Dion in Everett, WA
All you can do is live with the damage or replace it. It doesn't take long for damage to occur in those situations.
I don't think there is anything you can do but baby it. The transmission still shifts fine but it takes longer to shift? If that is true I would not really worry.
