Engine brake, can it be disabled?

My 18 TRD Sport does far too much engine braking for my taste. In the hills of Pa. it drops a couple gears the minute I start down a hill, and it isn't even a steep hill.

I read a lot on here about engine braking but didn't see anything about this topic. I also went through the entire on line manual and couldn't find anything????

 

Are you tuned? If not, tunes help tremendously. If you are, I would look into a different tune.

 

I am not tuned. It does this way too early in my opinion, it is constantly slowing the truck down on a small down hill where I would like to keep my momentum for the upcoming uphill.

 

That is one of the big complaints with the factory tune that aftermarket tunes address. Stock this truck shifts way too frequently.

Tunes (to my shocks and the ECU) saved me from trading in this truck.

 

Ive found that if I rest my foot lightly on the gas pedal with cruise control off, my stock (factory tune) truck doesn't downshift while coasting. When in doubt I turn off the technology, but you can also manipulate it to do what you want. In the sequoia and tundra they do not engine brake with traction control turned off... Haven't tried it on the Tacoma before though.

 

Pardon my ignorance but what is involved in a tune? Cost? time frame?

 

Cost and time will depend what options you choose, but generally ~$400 if you have a mobile tuner come to you. It's just a flash tune loaded into the ECU that takes less than 2 minutes to install.

 

Haven't tested it but what happens when you manually put it in S5 or S6 to make sure it doesn't drop the gear? I don't know what map it uses (load+speed+rpm...) to figure out what gear it should be in. Mine doesn't do it all the time but sometimes kicks down to a lower gear; most of the time stays in higher gear to roll more freely.

 

I've put 30,000+ miles on my truck in the past year. Around town I use 87 octane but on road trips I run mid grade (ethanol free is great but pricy) and it downshifts less. In the mountains it'll ride higher RPM and from my personal experience it keeps the trans much cooler. I've taken cruise control off and watched trans temps climb pretty high in top gear, if you let it downshift to 5th the temps drop 15 degrees during summer driving conditions. Perhaps that's what it was designed to do. If I had the aux trans cooler and could keep the temps lower I might consider a tune to change shift points. Totally stock my trans temps are running like 190 in 5th gear on big inclines during the summer... Baby it to stay in 6th and its over 200 every time. My second gen trans with a larger Hayden cooler was running more like 160 degrees on the same mountain climbs

 

When I had my automatic 3rd gen going up and down the RT16 mountain in PA keeping the truck in S4 it never did any crazy engine braking like you're describing.

 

That’s because the truck is already engine braking in S4. To increase the engine braking effect while in S4, it would need to downshift to 3rd.

The primary purpose of S-mode is engine braking. The owners manual mentions this in a couple places.

 

That's good to know, thanks. I am currently in northern Pa. in the ANF and I think the hills are gentle enough to be driving in S5 as opposed to S4. It is so frustrating when it drops down without any real reason.

 

That's just 3rd gens in general, honestly. I live in a rural county and my commute is all back roads. Truck would always be shifting in and out on those hilly roads.

 

OP, can’t you simply push on the skinny pedal?

 

Sure, I could, but I don't need more speed, I just need to coast until I start back up hill.

 

I don't think it downshifts to engine brake unless you are going downhill and tap the brake when in normal 'D' (not S) - but I could be wrong. Maybe just push the shifter over to D and don't touch the brake when you want it to coast downhill?

 

TBQH, I never noticed my 2016 a/t downshifting while coasting downhill.

I do however engine brake frequently with my 2020 m/t, so I’m quite familiar with the concept.

 

this is the way mine works

 

Try this:
The next time you're going to be heading downhill, DO NOT touch the brake pedal. I have found with my '21 TRD OR that with Cruise Control ON OR if I touch the brake pedal, the tranny will downshift.
If Cruise is OFF it will not downshift when descending a grade UNTIL I tap the brake pedal.
It appears to me that when the truck detects a downgrade it will downshift when it thinks there is a need to maintain the current speed.
No Cruise, No brake, no downshift.

 

Thanks! I will.