Transmission problem

Have 05 access cab with 4 cylinder and the 4 speed automatic.
Problem:
When accelerating moderate to hard, with a heavy load, or when taking an incline the engine seems to strain and the trans seems to not want to downshift and help take the load off. In those situations it makes it seem like the engine has no power / torque and I know that is not the case. If you just floor it or almost floor it then it will harshly downshift and take off with much higher RPM and a more powerful feeling.

If I shift the trans manually then acceleration or hill climbing seems easier to do and the engine seems to have the power it should.

Is this just the way this engine / trans is supposed to act or is this something I should have a dealer check out.

I did a search here and in the second generation section but didn't find anything similar.

 

Oh, I forgot to note that I have put in new plugs, did the secondary air filter removal, new stock air filter, fresh oil change and cleaned the MAF. After all that I disconnected the negative battery cable for 4 hours to reset the computer.
Same problem before and after I did all that. It does idle better since did all that. I wasn't getting great gas mileage before all that and still and not getting much better.

 

i
have a 07 4speed 4 cyl....
i noticed that this transmission really really really really really really really does not like to shift out of over drive. Cruise control in the mountains drive me insane. I cannot even use it. It will lug in 4od and lug and lug and all the sudden it will shift to third and scream up a hill overshooting my set speed. I can hold the same hill in 4th once I get it out of OD. But anyway how many miles are on your truck, I am just about to 30000 and I have notice it is not so shy about downshifting lately, but that might be me adjusting to the truck. Also if you have not had a vehicle with the electronic throttle, I takes a little getting used to. In my opinion the electronic does not feel as responsive. I have a Chrysler cirrus with the Mitsubishi v6 and its real egger to downshift. But like I said I am kinda used to it. My dad and I took a road trip, he said “I feels like it just does not want to go” the only thing I could tell him is do not be afraid to mash on it. He said that the seemed to be either not enufe power or to much, and as soon as you let off the throttle it was shifting up again. Hope this helps, us 4cyl guys need to stick together.

 

Man - that is exactly what it is doing!! It drives me nuts.
Me ---------------------------------> The truck.
The truck has about 59,000 miles but I have only owned it for the last 1000.
I have an 02 Highlander but it is V-6 and I don't think it is electronic throttle.
Getting used to the throttle - shifting thing may be what it's gonna take.
Thanks a bunch for the reply. You're right - we 4 bore guys have to stick together.

 

Tried the overdrive and off before and that takes care of the cruise control problem going up and down hills.
But taking it off overdrive in town still does not cure the tendency to not downshift and lugging the engine.

 

My wife has a 2.4L 4-cylinder '07 Camry with a 5-speed automatic and it behaves the same way at higher speeds on hills when the cruise is set. It'll refuse to downshift until the speed has dropped about 5 MPH or more and then it'll slam all the way to 3rd gear and scream back up to the preset speed, shift to 4th & then 5th - and then starts the cycle all over. Drives me NUTS. On the smaller hills, I'll just leave the cruise on and manually shift it down to 4th as soon as I see the speed start to fall and it'll usually pull the hill and maintain the set speed without needing to shift lower. If there are lots of hills (or larger ones) I just switch the cruise off. It seems to have different shift points when the cruise if off vs. on - because it'll pull most hills in 5th gear just fine without downshifting at all. Sometimes I'll manually shift it down to 4th. I think Toyota must have hired Forrest Gump to program the shift points when the cruise is on... it's horrible. I've complained to the service guy at my dealership and he just says "Yeah, I've heard that a lot... they all do that". I keep waiting for Toyota to release a TSB to reflash the ECU to fix this, but nothing so far. Apparently Forrest also programmed the Tacos. Glad I got the 5-speed manual in mine.

 

Its the four cylinder. It doesn't have the power to just cruise up a hill. My 98 that I just sold did it do, 2.7L. Drove me nuts, one of the reasons why I got rid of it and am now trying to buy a 06 v6.

 

I disagree... it's not the four cylinder... it has plenty of power. It's just the wonky transmission shift programming. It doesn't shift down as soon as it should when pulling a hill - and then it slams down TWO gears and races to catch up. Even V8's downshift when pulling some hills. Either way, it's not an issue with a manual tranny... I decide when to shift. Pulls hills just fine. I have yet to encounter a hill on an interstate that required a downshift. I'm sure if I headed up into the mountains I'd have to drop down a gear occasionally, but so would you.

 

"Lieutenant Dan, yo're truck don't run right"

So much for the shifting - anybody got an answer to my other thread about the whistle under the hood in my other thread. When I have a mild to moderate acceleration, especially under load, or sometimes when decelerating there is a whistle under the hood. Not an unpleasant noise - it's actually gotten to be sort of funny. It is like a very quiet train whistle. Just wonder what it was.

 

If you notice, lets say you have it on cruise control and you start going up hill, it doesn't give it a little bit of gas it pretty much has to punch on the gas.

 

ok there turbo, i have had about enufe of the 4cyl bashing. As i stated in my post earlier, the same hill i can hold by getting the truck out of od, cruise control goes insane with. There is something with the programming on the cruise. its like it to slow to react to the hills. There might be a very small percentages of grades the the v6 does not need to shift our of OD where the 4cyl does, but od is just that over drive. My dad has a v6 Mazda b4000, (same this as a ranger) and it is a shifting machine. If you want to tell me that the v6 Tacoma can hold 80 up Fancy gap and not shift out of OD, than I want to tell you, your full of shit. Don’t take this the wrong way but I think you will find your precious v6 is going to shift more than you think. One last thing, a reg cab 4cyl, vs an double cab v6, their power to weight ratios are not far off.