How smooth does your V6/auto shift gears?

So I'm trying to gain some perspective here. My 2004 Tacoma 4WD has an A340F ECT transmission. When I purchased the truck with 175K miles the transmission shifted very harsh at half throttle or more. Also just cracking the throttle open the truck would lurch forward.

I have since done a complete tranny fluid flush. This improved the transmission shifting harshness and off idle performance a lot but still not great. With a full camping load merging on to the freeway at WOT the upshifts are moderately harsh with some shuttering...can't be good for the drive train. The problem is at it's worst in 4WD low. An upshift over about 1/3 throttle are out of the question. The upshift is so harsh it feels like a CV will snap.
My buddies 2nd Gen Tacoma has no problem with WOT 4WD low standing start launches. It's pretty damn fun too.

How do you guys rate the A340F ECT transmission shift quality? I ask because all my other trucks have been manual tranny so I really cannot compare.

 

btu44 Your Tacoma looks exactly like mine, same color. is yours a limited edition. As far as my auto trans, it shifts smooth as butter. I recently had the stealership do a flush and fill at 110k miles or so. So far, no problems. What color was your fluid before you had it changed. Did it smell burnt or look very dark. Mine was still nice and pink. I know burnt smelling trans fluid is not a good sign. I purchased my truck with 80k miles on the odometer. Now has 132k. What's bugging me about mine, is every time I put it in reverse to leave my driveway, I get a "Clink" sound from underneath, and again when putting into drive. if I hold my foot on the brake pedal, it's not so obvious. go figure.I've replaced the front and rear universal joints, so I'mg going to remove the rear slip joint and try greasing the heck out of that. Good luck with your Taco, I hope you get your trans issues figured out. You might at some point have to go rebuild or purchase a used one. I'm no expert on auto trans and would never attempt to tear one apart. I can do most mechanical repairs, but Tranny's I don't mess with.

 

My manual trans does the same metal sounding "clink" when going into reverse. It's the ujoints, greasing them helps it go away some but generally speaking it means you'll be needing to replace them in the future. I would try greasing them good first and see if that helps.

 

I replaced the front and rear, but do the ones in the double looking yoke ever need replacing. I might have read somewhere that most people have never changed these. I'll wait for a nice day and try greasing them all again. I tried to isolate which ones were noisy before I changed the front and rear, but it was difficult for me with being old and deaf.

 

02 with 283k kms. 1st to second is noticeably a shift, maybe a bit of a jolt. 2nd to 3rd is a tiny bit more tame, 3rd to 4th is smooth as butter, then overdrive is also smooth. It’s worse when the transmission is cold. As these trucks get older the transmissions seem to gain a bit of slop in the higher torque/lower gear changes. I think that may just be how it is. Yours does sound like it may be something more though since it’s so harsh. The torquey-ness of 4LO could be exaggerating the issue too though.

 

Mine is a SR5 TRD Off Road. Did the Limited come with an E locker rear end? The seats in the SR5 sucked bad.
The trans fluid was very clear but it had a sulfery smell like gear oil and was way over filled. Toyota Type T-IV fluid smells different so that why I changed it out. This helped out a lot but far from buttery smooth. Thanks for that...

I just recently cleaned and regreased my slip joint with a good synthetic moly grease. This solved the slight clunk when coming to a complete stop. I figure the slip joint was binding up a little and when the truck is fully stopped the binding releases. I am getting no "clink" sound when going from drive to reverse. My universals and cardan joint are in really good shape. There is grease flung off the joints from over the years. Looks like the PO took good care of most things.

When I took the truck to an AMCO for a free diagnostic they said it felt pretty good for a tranny with 185K miles on it and I agree. It is not "got to fix it now" bad but could be better.

My idea of the problem is the line pressure is too high and this would be the fix.
https://www.sonnax.com/parts/3462-oversized-pressure-regulator-valve-kit

I have been calling around to see is a shop can measure the line pressure but get vague answers. I guess holding WOT with the wheels chocked nd brakes on is a little sketchy. See PDF. Maybe I'll give it a try...has anyone else tried a test like this before?

 

is your trans a fully electronic trans or is there a cable that comes off the throttle body that goes to the transmission?

 

I have an 01 xtra cab 3.4L, and bought it with 76,000 miles on it. One of the very first things that I noticed was how super-smooth the auto trans shifted! I was impressed right from the start. Now has 115,000 but still shifts just fine. I will have the trans flushed and checked in the near future since I did have a CEL warning during a 4,300 mile road-trip where I was towing a trailer. I think the code was 0400. Anyway, it was for one of the shift solenoids in the auto trans. I cleared the code on-the-road and it hasn't come back on in 6 months of further driving, so I figured it was simply from the obvious strain I was putting on the truck with towing the 7x14 extra-tall enclosed trailer.

 

My 2001 A340f is smooth top to bottom.

 

Smooth as jazz with 149k miles. @gearcruncher is the transmission expert here!

 

I have an auto transmission and have very recently been dealing with this. I found that it only does it for me when parked on a slope and pulling it out of park. Setting the parking brake fixed it for me. I never hear the ping as long as I set the parking brake and I do it everywhere I go now if i feel that the truck will try to move after being put in park.

 

this is normal. There is a mechanical pawl that is engaged when you put it in park. If the ratchet doesnt line up with the pawl when in park and you let off the brake the truck will either roll forward or backwards until the pawl falls in place. The stiffness and or ping you hear is the ratchet being pulled away from the pawl. The clunk, ping or other noises after that are different. There is something worn, loose or dry and there are many many pages of peeps trying to solve those noises, some successful, some not.

 

I've been doing some research on the 2 solenoids on the V6 auto transmission. there have been some good write ups on how to test them,right here on TW, but dropping the tranny is not something I want to do. I would really like to have them both tested, and even possibly replaced, but who should I take it to. Transmission place or Stealership. I would like to think that the Transmission specialist might have better pricing that the ripoff dealers.

 

My 2001 does the reverse thing as well.

 

Good info here...thanks to all.
You guys with smooth shifters have me jealous enough to put some more effort into a fix. I have a transmission test pressure gauge and a 1/2 NPT to M8x1.0 adapter on the way. If the pressure is out of spec. I'll consider the $600 for a rebuilt valve body. If the pressures are okay then I'll just live with it. Like Jamesboy...only at WOT is the shift harshness noticeable. Remembering to blip the throttle at 5000 RPM controls the harshness pretty well.

 

my dads 02 shifts pretty harsh. (170k, done it since he bought it at 60k)
whereas my 01 shifted smooth as silk (298k before i started the restore)

 

More reading gentlemen :
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...sions-write-up-your-4-speed-automatic.325531/