Transmission Woes

Hello All, I bought my new 2008 Tacoma a few months ago and have experienced problems with the tramsmission being herky jerky... I will try to explain: if I leave constant pressure on the accelerator, then all seems to go about ok. However, at any speed, if I let off the accelerator, then the transmission (in a clunky way) downshifts. If I let off for just a second and re-press the acc. it then hesitates and then upshifts again. If I let of the acc. just slightly, I can actually make the car go into a type of convulsing... upshifting/downshifting and back again - like it cannot decide which gear to select. This happens the worst when going downhill for some reason. When I apply the brakes, I get a large jolt (due to a big downshift) and even allot of vibration when trying to stop completely - like the car is fighting the complete stop. I took the car to the dealer within the first 800 miles, and they told me that transmission problems on these cars was unheard of. They requested that I drive the car another 2-3000 miles until the first oil change and request a review of the problem. I took it back last week at 4800 miles, and got "working normally". They told me that what I am feeling is the brake-assist "feature" that is trying to save on brake usage". I requested for them to turn off this feature and they told me that was not possible. I told them the problem was bugging so bad that I wanted to sell the car. That's the truth too. In stop and go traffic, it will drive you nuts. Any other's having this problem? I see vibration issues here on the postings, but this isn't just a vibration... its a transmission downshifting problem that is a "feature" of the new vehicles. PLEASE HELP

 

I can't be sure what you're explaining exactly...but it does sound normal - pending the severity of what you're feeling.

There are lots of information being fed into the computer from various sensors and that translates into how the engine runs and how the tranny shifts.

When you took it to the dealer - did anyone drive it? Or did they simply say to you - "That's unheard of"

Personally, I would ignore the problems for now and drive it normally till 2-3000 miles (as they suggested to you).

Then - if you feel things haven't gotten any better, take it back to the dealer and make sure you put a TECH in the passenger seat while you demonstrate the problems (force the issue to occur).

 

That does sound computer related but I'm no transmission tech. I have had no problems at all with my a/t.

 

I have taken the truck back at 4800 miles and a tech did drive it (albeit I was not with him). Another tidbit is that I found another poor soul out on another forum having the same issue and his advice was to run in "4" gear versus "D". I have tried this and it does help somewhat - especially in traffic. I am talking to the dealer now about taking the truck back.

 

Your problem seems a little different than mine. I get a "rumble strip-convulsing" sound and feel at 20-30 mph and hard/rough downshifts and convulsing at 60 mph. When I leave it in 4th it doesn't do it, only in 5th. Toyota has been a real dissappointment in helping me, the delaer acknowledges something is wrong but don't know how to fix it. Toyota is supposedly working on a fix, meanwhile I am driving around most likely doing damage to the truck.

I do find that the truck will downshift when slowing down but mine is pretty smooth in this regard.

 

Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery for 10 minutes, and re-connect it. These transmissions "learn" how you drive and shift/down shift accordingly. Disconnecting the battery re-sets the ECU so it can "re-learn".

 

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The dealer is NOT going to take the truck back just because you don't like it anymore, you bought it a Toyota dealer, not WalMart. It is now a used vehicle, and if there is a problem, they will fix it. If you will do a search, you will find that the trans helps with the braking of the truck when you let off the accelerator, and going downhill just accentuates the effect of the downshift even more.