My 4th gen Taco experience

Hold the button down for a few seconds. The display will tell you when it’s disabled.

 

I appreciate everyone's input!

Jerking occurs from Reverse to Drive as well, so its not the automatic parking brake.

I have a hard time believing a Toyota service shop would make up "metal shavings". Then again, both dealerships expressed "we want to find an issue, because Toyota will pay us for the warranty work". I appreciate your opinion, but this issue didnt exist the first 3k miles and its in toyota's best interest to say nothing is wrong after the trans swap to avoid more expenses.

I went through all the necessary steps, respectfully, but if you don't speak up for yourself then this large corporation will get away with this bs. The last thing I want to do is be hounding and pleading to the dealership employees. They've all been very nice.
I don't have buyers remorse, I love the truck, aside from the trans.

I once changed the trans fluid on my Ranger and didn't put quite enough trans fluid back in. That feeling of rough shifting is similar to what I'm experiencing with the Tacoma. For a $60k modern Toyota truck, the trans should shift like a dream.

 

WHY would you go from a perfectly functional, road-proven Ford Ranger to THE FIRST MODEL YEAR of a completely new design?

What did you expect? The 4th gen is a completely new platform with very little in common w/ the 2nd and 3rd gens.

4th-gen reliability is completely unknown and cannot be known, by anyone, for at least 4-5 years until at least several hundred high-mileage 4th gens hit the 200K-mile mark.

You shoulda bought a good used 2nd gen or 3rd gen.

 

With all due respect, the OP is seeking solutions to a real problem, not an ill-willed brow beating. Why the hate?

 

Your last para reminded me that many Toyotas from prior gens were found by owners to have low factory fills of fluid in the tranny. Fluid check and top off procedures are available for 2nd/3rd gen, haven’t seen anything on the newer trucks. If you can find info on the correct procedure, worth checking fluid level on the dealer installed transmission. Or even better ask the dealer to check level.

 

most transmissions sent to dealer are shipped empty due to EPA stuff. so your saying that his original transmission was low on fluid. and the new one they just installed that 90% chance they had to fill from empty is also low on fill?

 

Of course I assumed the tranny was installed empty and filled by the dealer.

I’m not saying anything except that some of the observations from the OP align with symptoms of a low fluid fill, which should be relatively easy to rule out. It’s merely an idea. I’m not making any assumptions.

 

No ideas, other than put up with it for a little while and trade for something else at your earliest convenience.

The dealer service writers say it’s completely fine, yet I’d bet the used vehicle manager at that same dealer probably wouldn’t touch it.
Good luck.

 

To the OP, you may want to just ignore the comments that are not very helpful; It sounds like you are getting jerked around by Toyota enough and you do not need to get more of it here...

At this point, I would drive the crap out of it and hope for a catastrophic failure, or at least some tangible codes. It looks like the dealer will not take your word and requires more "proof" that the new trans is bad. My experience with mechanical issues is that they do not self-heal and will only get worse until a total breakdown occurs. You obviously know the difference between a good trans and a bad one since the first 3,000 miles, everything worked fine.

I just hit 500 miles on mine and my serial number is in the TSB, so I am curious to see how this plays out.

 

I’d bet against you on the used vehicle manager. The dealership will absolutely buy it or take it as a trade, and never say a word about its history to a potential buyer.

 

Lol, the used car manager will use that as an excuse to low ball you, then put it on the lot the same day.

 

Think someone has exited this conversation....

 

Yeah, I agree. It's not really called for. I'll hem it in a bit better in future.

It just seems so obvious to me -- a sensible person NEVER buys the first model year of a new vehicle or vehicle generation. Not EVER.

Look at the 2nd gen Tacoma for example, wow, now has a famous reputation for reliability yadda yadda yadda yadda -- EXCEPT if you bought the first model year!

Excited buyers of the 2005 2nd gen Tacoma V6s got SCREWED with a defective head gasket! We're not talking door-trim coming loose or even paint failure here, but the head gasket!

Toyota made good & fixed the 2005 2nd gen V6 HG issue under TSB/warranty (mostly) etc. -- but still, all you had to do was wait a couple years and buy a 2007 or later...

 

You’re right- they’ll take anything with a Toyota badge right now, certify it, and pass it off. That’s the power of reputation.

But for the truck that service says is fine, they’ll offer him 20 bucks and a shuttle ride home.

 

He just posted this morning

 

I see that now, darn...
Wishful thinking, I was being optimistic...

 

This certainly crossed my mind. I inherited my mother's car, so I sold the Ranger while it was still running. Then in March the wheel lug bolts snapped off the hub while driving in a parking garage. Tire shot up into the wheel well and fender. Insurance deemed the car a total loss.
Not the best position to be in, but I pulled the trigger and here we are.

I would really hope they would check the fluid after installation and after the foreman was requested to look at it. They service guy said the transmission is sealed, no transmission dipstick like my Ranger.

Hi Mr. Slater!

 

Hope is not a course of action

The fluid level is likely correct but you never know until you verify. It’s true that the trannies don’t have a dipstick, false that they are sealed. There is a procedure to check level and add or subtract fluid.

Anyway, hope you either get a solution that allows you to enjoy your truck, or find a way to move on without too much financial impact.

 

Your logic is ridiculous… listen to yourself!

 

Not gonna lie, it’s pretty sound logic, just not really a helpful addition to this thread because it just browbeats the OP.