2016 Transmission T-SB-0077-16 Shift Feeling Enhancments (PDF)

It's relearning.

 

Well they did it no questions. Took about 30 mins and so far it seems to better. I tried to watch on the way to get it done vs what it did driving the route back and it seems to shift smarter. Time is going to be the true look at whether it works but for now it's definitely better.

 

So I had my TSB done this morning (30 min with an apt) and so far I am extremely happy. Just drove it from the dealership to our office. Very responsive now when I step on the gas to pass. Downshifts smoothly and quickly. I have been manually shifting my truck since I got it and I didn't feel any need to do that today. No delay from P - D or R and R - D. I have not used my cruise ever so I cannot elaborate on that.
I do have a surge when I back it into the shop but have not backed it in since the update, so stay tuned.
I drive to Hayward on Monday's to visit my Granny, the real test will be going over the Dublin grade. It is constantly gear searching and shifts to a higher gear and I fight back and manually shift it. I will post my experience.

I can't say enough good things about Livermore Toyota, they have been extremely helpful and understanding with my concerns (they also checked my tranny fluid for me on a previous visit, 3/4qt low). I always get the "look" when I take my vehicles in to the dealership, you know the one "You're a woman and you don't know what you are talking about". Not here, they take great care of me and my truck and "listen". I usually see Marshall when I take my truck, today I saw Carol and she was just as nice and helpful. Super nice people.

BTW, I did ask about it reverting back, not possible with this TSB update. I will post another update next week.

 

Took mine into Charles Maund in Austin, TX this morning. At first they seemed a little clueless about the ECM update. Luckily I brought the print out of the PDF with me and they did end up performing the update. However they were, extremely helpful and already aware of the low transmission fluid problems on the tacomas and they spent the extra time to check that and I was also low by about 1qt. So they did do both the receipt shows they did I can copy it in here a bit later when I am off of work.

Now as far as the feel, I am not sure yet. Haven't had a lot of time with it, but my transmission feels better a more responsive overall. Time will tell if that will last though. It did feel like it was in a more appropriate gear to accelerate from slower speeds.

 

I bought my truck from those numbnuts at Crown/John Elway and I could already tell by just walking into a dealership of that magnitude that I would never be coming back to them for anything. They were the only one's in the IE area that had a 4x4 DCLB TRD Sport in Super White at the time and I already had an approval from my CU to purchase. All I needed was to find the truck.

Do yourself a favor. Call Redlands and ask for either Cesar or Andrew and tell them what you want and you're not there for the tech to replicate anything. You just want the flash. I told them both that they're probably going to hear from a lot of 3rd gen Tacoma owners very soon. They'll set you up with an appointment and the day of your service bring in the print out of TSB for the tech.

 

Left off truck at 10am this morning. Going to p/u this afternoon. I'm the first to get TSB in my area. Service manager asked me how I found out about TSB. I said my friends at Taco World, he said I hate those guys...

Ha !!!!

 

You are NOT the first to get the TSB at Toyota of SLO. They did mine on Tuesday. I fought them tooth and nail to get it done! More lying!!

Who is your Service Writer?

 

Eric
Sorry about the length of reply, but I've used this description several times(to tell my "Sales Rep" on 7/15 ) and posted a thread 7/20, but cant find my thread again (I'm new to forums, etc.) This was before I heard of the TSB 0077 16 of 7/14/16. Been reading a lot of similar issues, some dealers are knowledgable and some are obstinant. I also had probloems "hunting for a gear" in the 40-50 mph range. Anyway my "Rep" said he would check and get back to me. Silence as of yet, so I will have to inform him. Hope you can get your problem fixed


Start:
Thanks for the discussion this afternoon. This e mail is just to recap what we talked about with my experience with my new Tacoma SR5 on its first extended interstate road trip to Birmingham, starting with 300 miles on it.

I found that when in cruise control at 75 mph on level stretches of I-65, the engine ran at 1900 RPM. To pass a vehicle, I could apply the accelerator by gentle foot pressure and the truck would move smoothly to 2200 RPM and get around the vehicle at around 80 MPH, then let up on the accelerator and return to 75.

Whenever I ran into slight grades, 5 degrees or less, in cruise control the cruise would initially shift smoothly and RPM would increase to 2200. If the grade continued, or got steeper, the cruise would radically and roughly shift to a lower gear(3? 4?) and jump to 3400+ RPM to maintain 75 MPH. This shift to 3400 made the engine extremely loud and annoying, disrupts the driving experience, and is not something I have experience with any other vehicle I have driven, including other Toyota products (2003 Avalon and current 2014 Venza) with V-6’s and 3.5 liters. The Tacoma is sold as 278 HP and 265 ft lbs torque and I do not expect such a radical downshift to maintain speed with that type of power available.

The manual talks about ECT power(?) that can be activated, but is not very helpful in terms of what actually goes on with the ECT engaged. I hope casual driving would not require constantly engaging and disengaging this feature, if it helps the situation I described above at all.

I will continue to drive the truck for a few days to see what helps the situation, but if it continues (which I expect it will) I will bring the truck in for a check out.

 

I will most likely visit Redlands the next time I need something. Crown did end up doing the flash for me but acted like they were doing me some huge favor ("we couldn't duplicate your symptoms, but we decided to do the flash anyway - please give me a good rating on the survey you will receive"). The closest dealer to me, Valley-Hi in Victorville, has been very nice but they are idiots and I don't trust them to do work correctly (as I mentioned before, the SA had no idea how to use the push button start and when their tech got control of my truck he found it in 4wd low ). I don't mind driving to Redlands for better service and quality work.

As far as results, I did immediately notice less lag / more power from a stop, and cruise control on the way home up the Cajon Pass seemed to shift MUCH better and at the appropriate time. Haven't had a chance to really test the R to D delay and the surge when I am pulling into the garage but I am hopeful.

 

Picked up my truck today after some warranty work and the tranny flash. R to D and P to D hesitation is gone. 1-2 and 2-3 seem much better. Only driven 5 miles so far. Happy with everything done this week at First Team Toyota in Chesapeake. Will do a more thorough test drive after supper. And no sticker.

 

Had mine done tuesday and the truck drives like a completely different vehicle. ALL AROUND this truck is enjoyable now! It's not even the shifting that was most notcaible for me - even cruising down the freeway when my truck would struggle to keep 60-65mph, on the way home from the dealership I realized I was easily cruising at 70-75 with hardly any throttle. Every time I grab the gas now even on regular stop and go traffic it seems like the tranny is in the right gear to actually get up and go.

Every once in a while it seems there's a small hiccup in the throttle or shifting, but I'm assuming it's just relearning the way I drive I am WAY impressed with this truck now....love it!

 

I did read about your experience at Valley Hi in the last post and I wouldn't bring my truck back there, either! Your experience with Crown sums up exactly the feeling I was getting from them when I made my purchase. Very arrogant and made it seem like they were the King of Toyota dealerships because they have such a massive inventory and make "two thousand sales a month."

I haven't tried my CC going up the hill through Yucaipa and into Calimesa/Beaumont (San Jacinto Pass) on the 10 but I did notice that the truck was shifting at the appropriate times and actually made it through the smaller hill grades in 5th and not downshift and gear search the entire time. I already noticed no lag in D to R backing up into the garage and it stopped lunging while in reverse too.

 

I also had good luck with Charles Maund Toyota in Austin regarding the ATF level check. No grief whatsoever. The service advisor (named KP) knew all about it and how to check it manually. I'll go there for this TSB if the reviews remain positive after 30 days. My truck isn't too bad so I can wait a bit.

 

I'm sure a lot of dealers feel that way about tacomaworld,

 

Another Canadian story here....you Americans are driving me nuts describing how good the truck is after the flash! My dealership tells me that it only applies to American trucks because Canadian Toyotas are "calibrated" differently for our cold winters....what bullshit. Even though mine falls in the described VIN range they are telling me there's nothing they can do. I'm about 3 hours from Buffalo but it may be worth the trip if they'll do it for my uniquely calibrated machine. Ug.

 

Don't listen to that calibrated different bullshit. It's Toyota Canada that needs to get the TSB released. I had a Honda that had a TSB that was released in the states but not in Canada.

 

Good news to report! I had my 10,000 mile service done today and ask about having the T-SB-0077-16 performed. They were not aware of it but promised to check into it...later I learned they did it with no problems. I really like this transmission now! 6th gear finally has some "balls". It can maintain a highway speed without loosing momentum/speed on slight inclines; therefore, I can finally use cruise control again...yes!!! No gear searching and downshifting all the time while using the cruise (that was my only complaint before this TSB). This truck just feels a little more "peppy". Also, the gas mileage is better!! After 20 minutes around town and then my usual 30 minute trip home, my mileage was up 3 mpg...wow! Ok, I'll shut up now and go take my truck for another spin

 

I hear you.....how do we put pressure on Toyota Canada to release their own TSB on this?

 

Thanks to TW (very informative members) and John B. (tech at Bondy's Toyota, Enterprise, AL). Here's my TSB story (and I'm sticking to it!). I joined TW shortly after getting my 16' SR5 V6 in late December (11/16 mfg. date-TX). Shortly thereafter I read a thread and posts about the seals around the rear doors protruding out at the top. I checked mine and the one on the driver's side stuck out about 1/4" at the top. I stopped at a BIG dealership in Montgomery, AL and the female service writer curtly told me that was "normal." My truck was bought from a dealership in Athens, GA (long story but not important). I stopped (on a whim) at the dealership in Enterprise, AL which is about 30 miles from where I live. The service writer took a look at the seal and said "that's not right" and called his top Tacoma guy (John, a certified Toyota tech) over to look at it. They took pictures of it and ordered me a new one. John then took a few minutes with me discussing the features of the Tacoma and I mentioned the transmission fluid issues I had been reading about. He follows TW as well. He then said, "if you can leave it overnight I will check it when I replace your window seal." A couple of weeks later I took it in to replace the seal and he said he also checked the transmission fluid level, and differential (for leaks?), and according to the service record added 1 1/4 qts of trans. fluid. Then I read about the TSB regarding the "plugs". I called him and he said I will order you a set and let you know when they come in. I went back to the dealership today to get the plugs installed (10 min. job) and I had the TSB regarding the transmission flash printed out to show him (mine was in that serial number range AZ5CN). Before I could open my mouth he said, "I bet that is the TSB regarding the ECU Calibration. I just did one this morning", pointing to a silver TRD. He went on to say that since he was installing the plugs, if I didn't mind waiting for 30 - 45 minutes he would do the flash as well. As I was leaving I casually asked him about a groaning/squeaking noise that I could hear if the radio was off and I was going at a very low speed, like in a parking lot, pulling into the driveway, etc. He said, "I bet it is coming from the passenger's front side of the truck" and he was right. He pulled up and down on the front end and said that I had a defective bushing that had been incorrectly installed during the mfg. process and I was not the first customer who had this problem. He then ordered me a new bushing and I'll go back next week for that.

So far I have been VERY pleased with my 3 gen and all the "fixes" have been done to my complete satisfaction. Ironically, I owned 2 Tundra's before this Tacoma
(05'/12' TRD's)) and neither ever saw a dealership after the purchase. But, both were well into their model cycles when purchased. With the bushing replacement this will be my third trip to the Enterprise dealership but every trip has been a pleasant experience (short wait times/no "that's normal" BS). Final note: The service writer today was a young lady who was "no slouch" either. No hassle about the flash update or bushings to be done later . John, I know you said you read TW and if you read this:
"AGAIN THANKS FOR YOUR GREAT SERVICE...YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR STUFF!

P.S. Ditto to post #697

 

Would you ask John B. if he would like to work in Canada's Cottage Country....Sounds like the kinda tech we need around here...!!!

Give him a big...