New Tacoma Engine Issues

My Tacoma has about 4,000 miles on it and it just doesn’t seem right. I live in Louisiana so the area is extremely flat. The biggest hill is artificial, an overpass on an interstate. To go over any overpass, my truck feels like it’s struggling. If I have cruise on at 70 mph 1800 RPMs, to get over the small overpass my truck shifts down twice. The first is two 2400 RPMs and then the second downshift is 3800 RPMs and it floors it to get there. I just feel like a brand new truck shouldn’t have this problem. Thoughts? Don’t know much about motors so try to speak English lol

 

Maybe the ECU update would help?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ecu-update-at-dealer.517647

 

Supercharger.

 

Have you tried driving with the ECT button on to see if this helps?

 

Your issue is common! All of us experience this. This is a small affordable truck with decent gas milage, and perhaps Toyota hadn't optimized their tuning for this exact situation. Most Americans want a full size truck with a huge engine that wouldn't down shift in this situation. An ECU update (Either Toyota's or OVTune's) is our best bet for improving this issue. I too am looking into this...

 

I think our definition of affordable is different.

 

No doubt!!

 

yup. I would love if toyota went back and put out a basic pickup for $20,000 ...like the 1982. that
was a ideal general purpose work/play vehicle

 

OP, Read through the Forum. When you do, you'll feel normal!!

G.

 

What did you drive before getting a Tacoma?

 

This happens when you put an engine meant for a 3500lb car in a 4500lb truck.

For all you younger guys...S mode, limit at 4, which is 1:1, run up to 65mph.....welcome to ALL trucks prior to the OD auto trans.

I don’t worry about it anymore, the main reason it bugs people IMO is because you can hear the engine. My wifes Camry does similar things, but it’s quiet about it.

 

OP, you're not alone. The general consensus is that the truck makes plenty of power, its just in the wrong place. The auto transmission on the V6 just liked to hunt to attempt to make better fuel economy. Its annoying, but like a few other people have stated, there is a TSB out to attempt to fix the transmission behavior.

 

Are you saying in '82 a Toyota was $20k? Damn! And I was wishing for the days like '92 when I bought an XLT F150 Extra cab for $19,000 off the lot.

 

The issue is twofold. The 3.5 makes it's torque higher in the RPM range than the 4.0 liter, add in a new transmission that is geared normal 1-4 and then makes a huge jump to 5th (an overdrive gear) and then another jump to 6th (an even larger over drive gear) and you have a truck that needs to downshift to 4th more than is should. The problem when you are cruising along in 6th at a low RPM and it encounters a hill, it will downshift to 5th, (not much help as it's only a few hundred RPM higher) and then the has to go to 4th to get back into the power band to maintain hwy speed on this small hill. CC is telling the truck not to drop speed at all so it goes to 4th which is significantly smaller than 5th thus the large increase in RPM and noise. I think Toyota blew it with the 5th gear ratio in this truck. Had it simply split the difference between 4-6th it would have been much more usable. There are options out there. Make sure you have the latest TSB done, (that helped for me). You can try Shift Sense Pro as it applies better logic to the trans and helps with the erractic shifting. Then there is OV Tune.

 

Pretty sure that is the best explanation I've seen from a transmission technical standpoint.

 

Toyota didn't defeat gravity for the new gen3???? What a fucking TURD

 

Op, two things should happen.

1. You'll learn the drivetrain habits and your habits will change to anticipate what the truck will do.

2. The fly by wire will learn as well, and it will begin to anticipate your driving habits and the truck with shift smoother, hold gears longer and completely change the feeling of the truck.

Mine transitioned to a much smoother drive around 10,000 mile mark.

Edit: I came from a life of manual transmissions, so learning to drive an automatic was painful.

 

LOL, you could buy a vette for $20k in 1982.

 

My 2.7 4 popper does the same thing. I wish it had a CVT transmission in it.

 

maybe maybe not, but a Tundra will guaranteed