Transmission being replaced in 2021 TRD Sport

I finally have a verdict to an issue I have been dealing with since I bought my 2021 Tacoma Sport.

I purchased it in April 2023. First owner had it for 1.5 years and put 7k miles on it. After a few months of ownership I noticed that the shifting seemed a bit odd and the ride uncomfortable. I did some research and found about the infamous Tacoma shudder and chalked it up to that.

A year later I was just about fed up with how uncomfortable the drive had become. I did some more research and found out about the ECT and the OTT. I tried the ECT and was happier with the drive after that. The shifting felt much better but there was still a shudder when not shifting and bouncy ride. The same day I tried the ECT for the first time, the check engine light came on and the truck reported and issue with the 4WD system. I took it to the dealer and they determined the ECU was faulty and replaced it. They also found some corroded wires and replaced those. The truck seemed to drive better after that but maybe it was in my head.

A few months after the ECU was replaced, I realized I had come to hate the modified exhaust that the original owner put on. The proportion of noise to power just wasn't there for me and I decided to have the muffler replaced with something closer to stock. I was much happier with the truck after this change.

Weeks go by and the drive seemed to be getting worse. At about 40-50mph the truck shuddered and felt very bouncy. I thought the tires might have been out of balance so I took them to get balanced and rotated. When leaving the dealership I was disappointed to learn that this did not fix the uncomfortable ride.

I took the truck back to the dealer and described the problem and asked for a vehicle tech to do a drive along with me. He felt the shudder that I was feeling and thought it could have been an issue with the torque converter. I left the truck with them for a day and they ran some tests and determined that the entire transmission needs to be replaced. They ordered the parts and hope to replace it next week. They did not give me any details on exactly how they determined the transmission was bad, or what was bad about it. Thankfully this is all covered under the power train warranty.

Just sharing my experience because while I did find many topics about the Tacoma shudder, I did not find many about total transmission replacements. I feel slightly vindicated now because my intuition was that something was wrong with the truck and I just could not pinpoint it.

tl;dr Bought a 2021 TRD Sport in April 2023 and it had a very uncomfortable drive. Toyota is replacing the transmission for me.

 

I forgot to mention, the truck has about 24k miles on it as of this posting. I plan on continuing to drive it until they get the parts in for the transmission replacement. I will update the status here after the replacement.

 

That is odd with such low milage on the truck these transmissions are usually pretty bullet proof although they do have the typical gear hunting they are known for. Did the dealer comment on fluid level? They have been known to come from the factory with low transmission fluid.

 

The tech at the dealer did not comment on the fluid level, but it was a question I asked. The service tech I was dealing with was very helpful and attentive but did not have many of the details I was looking for. I wanted to know how and why they determined it needed to be replaced, but he did not have the answers. I need to get those details eventually otherwise I am going to be paranoid about this truck for as long as I own it.

 

mines still good after adding lucas, a trans cooler, an inline filter and changing the fluid every 30k and its from 1997 original

 

Nice! That's the type of reliability I was hoping to get when I purchased this thing

 

I understand the shifting issue. Mine sucks as well, as do all of them from what I gather.

I am interested in what you mean by "uncomfortable ride?"

 

more than likely, they have no F'n idea, they are replacing in hopes of correcting it,, which I doubt it will. Hopefully I am wrong on the latter.

 

To be honest it's hard to explain properly, but basically when I hit 40-50mph the truck would start to bounce and almost shake a little bit. It felt like there was some sort of resistance that was keeping me from going a constant speed. I could accelerate through it and it would go away at around 70mph. I felt this even when limiting the max gear to 4/5/6 in S-mode, with ECT on, and in cruise control.

 

That's what I am worried about too. I am definitely going to see the repair through and hope that it corrects it. I still may sell it on the other side of this though. I just don't know what I would change to. I'm not a fan of the Gen 4s and am worried about those issues. New Tundras are nice but are out of my price range and have their own issues. I will possibly consider Frontiers or Rangers. But I truly hope this fixes the issue and I can keep my Tacoma.

 

OP, IMHO I would demand to know what they found wrong that warrants the entire transmission to be replaced. I think @Chew nailed it.

 

It's easier to just R&R the whole unit rather than to remove, crack it open to replace the converter, then replace.

And if they are convinced it's the trans. But unsure what, just change it rather than burn more diagnostic time

Hopefully this solves your problem. I don't think I could have put up with that for 18k mi

 

Good call. I'll push to get this information - thank you

 

Yeah that makes sense. Honestly, it has definitely been pretty annoying and definitely getting more annoying lately. But early on I kept reading about the Tacoma shudder and just chalked it up to that. I forgot to mention, but on the same day I had the vehicle tech drive with me I test drove another used Tacoma that was on the lot. That was very eye opening about how rough mine rode comparatively. I wish I did that sooner.

 

Some of the symptoms point to an out-of-balance drive shaft.

 

Toyota had torque converter shudder issues on different models due to software design.
Required a software upgrade and , in some cases, a replacement of the torque converter
There are a few folks here who had the same issues and none of solution helped them.
OP mentioned the speed range where the issue happens. We had the shudder at the same speeds on 2016-2017 models with B03 ecu calibration. Was somewhat fixed on B04 with 2018 TSB.
FIY, the issue is related to driving terrain, traffic and speed limits

 

I've had the same issue with my 2021 since new. 40k miles later and every time I brought it up with the dealer they blamed tires, my AAL, etc. Glad your dealer was more proactive and I hope this fixes your problem

 

Sorry to hear you are having the same issue. Is my description of the shudder I was feeling consistent with what you feel when you drive yours?

 

Yeah, the truck gets jerky between 40-45 mph which is the speed limit on most of my commute. KDMax helped smooth it out to an extent but I've never been able to eliminate it.

 

I just heard from the dealer - they got the replacement transmission in stock. I'm shocked at how quickly they got it. They diagnosed the issue only 2 days ago...

Anyway, I'm dropping it off tomorrow to get surgery.