Stammering at ~50mph 2018 Taco Pro

I've noticed, what I believe is called transmission stammering, at around 50mph. It's happened here and there over the past couple years, but it appears to be becoming more consistent.

Has anyone else experienced this issue with their tacoma? If so, what was the issue/fix?

 

How many miles and when was the last oil change??? Did the dealer do the oil change?

 

The truck has a little over 50,000 on it now. Dealer did last engine oil change around 7,000 miles ago. Trans oil change is due, so that'll get changed here shortly.

 

You say "stammering". The motor perhaps? Did you get the fuel pump recall; and did you get it done?

 

2021 SR 4WD at 1,600 miles and counting.. I have made peace with the transmission shifting but my truck does this wild shaking/shuddering at low RPM's pretty much like what you describe. It's like a momentary loss of power or a slippage or something where it will buck and jerk. This usually happens red light to red light where I'm running between 45 and 50mph. If I throttle up and get a downshift, it goes away. Maybe lack of power due to being in too high of gear? But it’s done it since day one and with each occurrence, it’s more violent..

 

I guessing the trans is straining the motor by holding the higher gear at those rpms. Makes sense to me.

 

Sounds the same as a friend 2019 trd when his auto's in 6th gear and the engine rpm are are around 1200....been in the truck with him. Imo, the engine is lugging. Toyota claims its normal, yet i haven't noticed it on my 2020 sr5.

 

There is technical Service Bulletin on this issue I think.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think I saw a thread here on TW about it.

 

You are correct, there is a tsb for this issue.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/v6-autos-40-50mph-surge-tsb.557724/

 

The TSB appears to be for 2016-2017's, but this does sound like the issue I'm having. At the very least, it's a jumping off point when I take it in to the dealer to show they may need to extend the dates this TSB applies to.

 

Good find.

 

I have a 2018, and they did the TSB for my truck even though it says 16-17.

 

I have not, but will be tacking that on the next service appt for sure. It doesn't feel like engine, or fuel cutout. It feels like it's more in the drivetrain, like something isn't locked in. Almost like there's slop somewhere, if that makes sense.

 

The way I explained it to the service advisor was "like a manual transmission in too high of a gear, the rpm stays low and it just kinda bucks as it tries to accelerate, only happens between 40-55mph"

 

Good to know. I'll be bringing the TSB to their attention. I know some dealers are more liberal than others, when it comes to applying TSB's to vehicles out of their scope, so we'll see what they have to say.

 

Yup, I think that's about as accurate of a description as you can get. I specifically recall a car I had with a MT that would do exactly that, when in too high of a gear.

 

If they deny you, reach out to local TW'ers. They'll be happy to help you with the TSB and / or Customizations.

 

Great. That'll probably be more of the direction I'll be heading in regardless. I don't care too much for other people working on my vehicles. If there's a way to do it, without dealer intervention, I'd rather learn how to do it myself. That way if something gets messed up, I only have my self to blame...lol

 

See the 1st Post in the ECU Update thread. All the info that you need is there. The only problematic part is the $170 Tactrix adapter.


I have updated many folks with the TSBs and Customizations. It has been painless so far.

 

Nice. Will do. Yeah, I look at it as a $170 investment. Beats spending time at the dealer, or dealing with the dealer...

Off hand, are there any fixes for the gear hunting issue? The dealership claims they updated the FW to fix the issue, but the trans still hunts away. Probably wouldn't be so noticeable, but the tuned exhaust on the Pro ensures I hear every upshift and downshift...lol