Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

I've noticed the same thing! I've got a theory on it but I have no idea if it's legit or not. Have any of y'all seen the dyno graphs for our trucks on the 3.5? It's totally insane.

[green is the 3rd gen graph and red is the 2nd gen]

In trying to explain the absurd dyno, I found this technical info pamphlet that's been posted here before (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/a-bunch-of-technical-info-about-2gr-fks-and-the-3rd-gen.391218/). In the section about throttle control I've found this graph

[page 78 in the engine PDF, 146 overall]

It seems like in order to smooth out acceleration feel to the driver, they've dicked around with the throttle valve opening and ignition timing to something that's not necessarily intuitive for our trucks. It may explain why we feel random power loss early in the RPM range.

OA

 

I'm in the same boat, I'm in and have been in love with the ease of the transition, only time I've had trouble going from 1st to R is when she hasn't come to a full stop which in my opinion is a plus, not a minus.

It may not be much consolation, but at 250k mine has maybe a 2lb difference in pressure going into R as opposed to tapping her into 1st at a complete stop. She's been like that for quite a long time as well.

 

yeah i have noticed in the past week, as i approach 2k miles on her, that the shifting going into R and back into 1st is pretty effortless. i think this will be an easy thing to do in another 1000 miles.

 

That is not an accurate dyno, there's a manual trans dyno floating around that still has peaks and valleys but it doesn't drop 80 ft lbs of torque.... it's not smooth but it's much more linear than that trash dyno.

 

That dyno actually drops over 100 ft lbs of torque, this is much more accurate

 

What I always enjoy is that the 2gr has better low end torque than the 4.0 after 2000 rpms

 

glad you can *always* enjoy it. I'm feeling like Toyota is playing tricks... all the power i want comes on in a snap right at my shifting point, every shift. you know, I'd maybe be ok with this motor like this if it saved me mpg, but I'm getting 14.7 outside of the power. if a tune or supercharger comes then it may save me from considering another ride next year. it's the combo of low performance AND horrible mileage that isn't looking great. still enjoy driving it tho.

 

That dyno, as others have said, is garbage data. It's an impossibility. The operator must have been ignorant, because they should have known there was a data acquisition or post processing error. Torque and horsepower are linearly related in terms of engine speed. At 5252 rpms they will meet at the same point. Notice that the horsepower is relatively smooth. It does not follow the same trend as the torque. Again, not possible.

 

I just put in my URD kit last week.

The install was a bit more painful than expected, but wow did it tighten up the shifting feel a lot. Shifts are more with the wrist rather than the arm.

Dumped the 900 mile old gear fluid at the same time and added 2.6qt of Ford Motorcraft

$34 XT-M5-QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid - 1 Quart , black

XT-M5-QS.

Shifting feel is MUCH improved. Still getting used to the timing since it takes a fraction to grab the next gear now.

No more cold weather sluggishness. No more resistance getting to first gear, which I had encountered a few times already with the factory fluid.

Throwing into reverse when I meant to go to first will never happen again, since there's a bit more force required to get the reverse gear.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the factory boot. I'm just not feeling it.

 

Mine has done this as well, ever since the reconnaissance drive before taking delivery. Somewhere under 2k rpm, it noticeably hesitates. Power delivery smooths out above 2k.

I'm starting to realize that the habit of keeping revs under 2k stems from the '98 Ford Ranger I was driving before, which kept fairly good gas mileage if I kept it between 1500-2500.

Maybe the Taco just needs to be wound out a little more.

Sucks though since I'm averaging something like 18MPG.. The Ranger with 170k miles on it got better than that..

 

What kinda gear fluid is in it from the factory? Does it really make that much of a difference? What are some other fluids recommend?

 

i have seen quite a few folks including some old timers use Redline MT-90 in the gearbox. many of those have said you can feel the difference after changing to it.

https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=46

 

Yeah redline mt90 is a good gear oil. However, cold weather operation is poor. It takes a while to warm up. Lots of feedback out there about its cold weather properties.

The Ford motorcraft oil is much better in colder climates. If you are getting sub zero temperatures this time of year like I am, the redline stuff might be less than optimal.

Coming from someone who has ran redline oils in other vehicles.

 

So you are saying this mornings temps would not work for redline? I drove my wife's FJ because my truck lives outside and hers was parked in the garage .

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing the weird cut out at 1500 to 2000 rpms, I thought I was going crazy.

 

I feel pretty confident that they didn't do any cold weather testing on the trucks, I could hardly move my clutch this morning with it being -22 out.

 

My god

 

Yeah, it gets a little cold here. Elko ain't Las Vegas...thankfully.

 

Yeah highs are in the teens here in Michigan. The clutch is like molassas on the first few presses.

Gotta be something that can be done about that. Are the clutch hydraulics a closed system in this truck?

 

Yeah I just try to stay over 2000 rpms. If I'm below that i just accelerate slower or down shift.