2016 Tacoma (auto) transmission and fuel economy concerns.

Hello.. I have a 2016 Tacoma Access cab 4X4 TRD with the automatic transmission.. we have been together for 3500 miles. My concerns center mostly over higher than expected fuel consumption but the truck has some bothersome quirks which may be some clue to the issues. Pardon the lengthy descriptions!

Overall mileage in combined driving conditions for the first 2000 miles I thought were very good, almost 18MPG, most of it in and around town and including some mud and sand dunes.. but I just completed a highway trip and the mileage dropped substantially.. as little as 13MPG and only wringing about 17MPG from it by babying it (and limiting Cruise control use).

First: The transmission seems overly sensitive to down-shifting conditions.. and especially with the Cruise control engaged. At speeds much over 50MPH with the cruise on it will rarely stay in top gear for more than a few seconds.. any change in road conditions or wind? and it dumps to 4th or even 3rd.. only by decelerating will the transmission again select the top gears, and then it can still be some seconds before it does so. I have seen the Cruise Control almost red-line the engine attempting to adjust for an average overpass at 65MPH.

Next: There seems to be a varied response from pressure on the accelerator.. if you hold the pedal steady, all is ok, if you want speed and push it down some distance all at once.. response is great! But try to slowly increase speed or power by small increases in pedal pressure or travel.. and there is hesitation, even something like a miss.. it's possible, with low pedal pressure/travel to even get no response at all.

One thing I did try was higher grades and different sources of fuel.. made no difference.

Thanks for any pointers.. these new trucks are a mystery to me (have older models) and I'm wanting to have my questions in place for the dealer visit soon.

Cheers.

 

I have a DCSB OR 4x4 model and my truck is doing this even after the TSB update. I can't even use cruise control on the highway. And if i'm easy on the gas starting out from a light, it shifts to second, then immediately hesitates and shifts to 4th or 5th and then immediately downshifts back to second. I'm currently only getting 18MPG with easy highway driving. Before the TSB i was easily seeing 20 MPG highway. Around town before TSB I was getting 18-19, and am now seeing more like 13-14. There is a TSB for our transmissions that has helped some people significantly with some of the issues you're describing. But it actually made my truck worse. Someone with much more knowledge than me will hopefully chime in soon and have some good info for you.

 

Hey thanks for your prompt reply..

Am a life-long auto and equipment mechanic/tech, left the biz of mechanics 20+ years ago.. Still learning the acronyms and more (TSB?)

All comments appreciated.

 

TSB= Technical service bulletin.
Go to your dealer tell them your concerns and ask them to perform TSB 0077-16. Also you can search Tacomaworld as there are lots of posts about this issue.

 

Great, thanks.

 

I was getting 18.5 while babying my sr5 4x4. Put a 2.5/1.5 lift and 285 tires and computer now reads 15mpg. Probably getting 16 because I didn't recalibrate the speedo. If you're getting 13 mpg, you either have a huge problem (not likely), you have a huge lift kit, or you are driving the shit out of your truck. Ethanol gas gets terrible gas mileage compared to regular gas. That could be it as well. All the new vehicles have more gears and shift up and down much more than the old 5 speeds automatics of the past. I can't imagine how annoying it is to drive one of the 10 speed Chrysler products. The manufacturers are trying to get every drop of fuel economy out of their vehicles. If you drive over 70 mph, forget the decent mileage.

 

No, am a conservative driver..

I get 19MPG from my '92 Xtra-cab V6, 4X4 with a lift! This is why the low fuel economy bugs me.

Thanks!

 

Mine never drops to 3rd on the freeway. Likes 4th gear going up hills at 80 mph. Cruises in 5th or 6th depending on speed, incline, and wind. Average 18-20 going 80. Much better at 65 MPH.

 

Good info, thanks.

 

Terrible transmission always searching for gears. New was getting 24-25 mpg (old guy easy on accelerator). Had 5000 mile check at Toyota in Bellingham took a while but they found a recommendation for "flashing" the transmission (firmware update) to improve searching problem. Now my transmission is marginally better, very marginally and still searching, but have decreased mpg by 20%. What in the world were they thinking.

 

I took the truck in and they did an update for the drive-ability issues.. accelerator response is much improved, quicker, less hesitation. It did not effect the shifting issues nor the low mileage. The service people said it could take more adjustments if I did not like the way it drives.. when I asked how any of this was going to improve the problem with (over) downshifting and low mileage *** crickets ***.

 

The truck has a modest (dealer) lift. I'm a conservative driver and don't 'drive the crap' out this pretty new truck! LOL.. but one suggestion of yours was a good one. I took my Garmin with me in the truck this morning and when the speedo says 60MPH the GPS says 63-64, at 67MPH on the speedo Garmin says 71MPH! If true this represents a >5% under-error on the speedometer and odometer. 5% does not get me close to the window-sticker mileage estimates but it does help. It's a good thing I'm not usually the fastest guy on the highway or otherwise I could have picked up some love notes from the DPS!

The second issue is why would the dealer not adjust for this before letting the truck off the lot? I'll give their answer after the new year, if they have one.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the Best New Year to all.

 

The 3rd gen I owned never saw above 18mpg. It got worse mpg's highway than in the city. Tranny was flashed, dealer said "all operating normally'. The transmission post flash seemed better, but then got uppity again. Coupled with the fact that the one time I needed 4-lo it refused to engage, a less than comfortable cabin for long road trips and the fact I could use more cargo space- After 5 months and 14,000 miles, I finally traded it in. Here it is- https://www.lithiatoyotamissoula.co...soula-mt-006c98560a0e0a6b652f5af0a3cccb01.htm

Sad thing is the 2016 Silverado has a 6.2L V-8, 8 spd auto tranny with gobs and gobs of HP and torque, larger but get's the same or better MPG as the Tacoma I had. Smoothest transmission I've ever had, and that is no exaggeration.

It seems there is a 50/50 chance that Tacoma owners get 'good' mpg's, the rest don't. I have no idea what is going on with this gen Tacoma, but I'm not impressed...


Here's a shot of my average highway MPG when my wife and I had to road trip 3200 miles round trip for a funeral. This was taken in IOWA... Flat ass IOWA.


It was during this trip we decided this truck was not the right fit for us and began searching for a replacement.

 

I don't know how dealers are getting by adding lift kits on trucks, and not disclosing how that affects their warranty. They aren't covered under the factory warranty, and can void the warranty on any related parts. Yet they don't tell their customers this. Most of the time the salesperson tells them it the factory warranty will cover it, which isn't true. They usually put low quality lift kits on, and don't recalibrate the odometer.

My 2.5 lift and 285/70/17 tires were exactly 10% off. If the speedo said 60, I was doing 66.

 

The Chevy dealer I went to will add a warranty rider if they install their in-house level or lift kit. kit (which I would not do). Thought that was interesting.

 

The dealer can't make the factory warranty cover a dealer installed aftermarket warranty. The dealer can promise to cover it in-house, but no factory warranty will cover aftermarket parts, no matter where it's installed. Some extended warranty company may have an extra cost option for a vehicle with a lift, but I've never seen it. Aftermarket parts are a nightmare for a warranty company. A properly done, mild suspension lift, won't damage factory parts usually, but there are too many crappy lift kits out there, plus the bro dozers with 6 in lifts and 37 inch tires that tend to tear up the drive train.

I worked for an extended warranty company and we had a guy take his Polaris Razor into the sand dunes. He replaced his perfectly good air cleaner with some B.S. K&N type kit that let sand in, and blew his motor. He bitched and whined that it was our dealer that installed it. I don't know if the dealer paid for his engine, but we didn't.

 

Yeah I didn't bother to read it. The only question I had for the Service Dept. was putting a set of proper AT tires on it, saving the factory supplied MPG sippers for spring and summer use only. He was like "Oh- you want to put 35"'s on? We have a kit for that"..

Yeah, nah- I just popped on 265/70-18 Cooper AT3's and called it a day (and after a 1,200 mile round trip hunting / work excursion last Wed- Sunday in -35deg temps- I still got better mpg's than the Tacoma).