The first out of town trip with the Tacoma

Well, I had to run over the mountains last night after work for a class marking the first real out of town trip with the Tacoma. The route is 75mi one way and from my town at 4000+ feet travels over one pass just under 5000ft and the second at just over 5200ft with 6%+ grades on both. The destination is at an elevation of around 1800ft so there is a descent hill to pull on the way home. On the way over I let the transmission work with the cruise on and set to 65mph. The truck seemed to be searching for the right gear but pulled the grades just fine. On the way home set the cruise at 65mph(where I could due to the curves) and dropped the tranny into 4th gear. The truck was much happier and pulled the hills better without searching for a gear. This is a learning process but I am liking the trucks quirks more and more. All of this and I got just over 20mpg...I am one happy camper.

 

I heard the same thing with the tranny "seeking" and from what I read it builds up heat doing this. This is why when you tow you should put it in 4th and avoid the whole "seeking"

 

mine did great on monday, started at 600 feet ended at 7200, had a VERY full bed and cab and no hunting of the tranny...still managed to get 17.5mpg all uphill.

 

With the automatic tranny, the top gear (5th) is basically an overdrive. It seems when going up hill, the tranny upshifts and downshifts a lot to keep the speed constant with the cruise control. Dropping it into 4th disengages the "overdrive".