Truck back in shop for round 3 of attempted tranny fix

Alright, so I spoke too soon in my previous post this year about fixing all the issues that have been plaguing our trucks. My tranny "false neutral/rev limit" issue has resurfaced, and with a vengeance!

After first adding fluid, and then having TSB performed I thought the tranny had been cured, but it is now acting up worse than ever. The issue has been with me since I got the truck in May, but almost disappeared after adding fluid. Then my hopes were high for the TSB, and it took care of all the other tranny issues (delay between D/R/N, and cruise control), but made my real issue worse. It's now happening daily, and I've had more than a few close calls merging on to highways. Basically, my truck will hit a false neutral when punching it, and instead of accelerating, will naturally decelerate, while hitting the rev limiter. I have to ease off the throttle to get it to engage the lower gear, only to reapply throttle to accelerate.

According to Toyota Corp (yeah they're involved now) my truck is the only one they know of with this issue, and today I dropped it off at the dealer to have it inspected (3rd time). This time they're gonna keep it, and Corp is paying for a loaner. I've dealt with the service manager all along, and he also said it's the only truck they've had with this issue so he'll test it himself tomorrow.

Wish me luck, I really want this truck fixed now that I've fallen in love with it after resolving all the other issues I had.

 

at this point I'm surprised they don't just give you a new transmission.

 

Funny I was on the Colorado Fans forum today and didn't see nearly the same complaint threads I am seeing here.

 

Yeah the service manager jokingly said a new tranny or truck was appropriate remediation. Who knows, at least now i have some leverage by being eligible to Lemon Law the damn thing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to, but it helps when negotiating with Corp.

 

I know, the world is up-side down these days, and I left Chevy for Toyota because of reliability

 

i'm just thinking with how much these trans are computerized I wonder if its something in the program. Like a corrupt file or something.

 

I hope so, which is why I was so hopeful for the TSB. Funny enough, the manager had just recently been instructed by Toyota that the TSB had been creating some adverse reactions for certain trucks, and therefore wait on further application until another version comes out. As he said "will they f****** make up their mind".

 

I'm not sure that's how it would work. It's firmware not software and my guess would be that they verify its correctly written/updated, down to the bit, before the updating system says "complete".

His sounds like a unique issue unfortunately. It's probably a hardware malfunction that the computer doesn't understand so it assumes something else is happening and you get: his problem.

 

Your auto trans is slipping so hard/failing to change gears that it redlines? That sounds like a major solenoid and/or valve body failure.

Had this happen in my old truck at ~150k miles. Sometimes on a cold morning I could go in 1st, but it could not get to 2nd until the fluid warmed up a bit. It would just slip and rev and be stuck in "neutral."

This should be, without a doubt, a transmission replacement since they sure as hell aren't going to take it apart and rebuild it.

 

Whatever it is, it is not related to heat. The tranny will do it warm and cold. And it doesn't feel like slipping at all, it feels like it simply shift to neutral, before downshifting into right gear. Just like the feeling of a "false neutral" in a manual car or a motorcycle, where the gear is not fully engaged. At least they're taking it seriously, and a Toyota engineer is coming to the dealer on Tuesday to investigate.

 

Sorry to hear you are having such an unusual issue. I appreciate you keeping us updated and being objective about it instead of just bashing Toyota. It sounds like you have a decent service department to work with which is a big help.

 

You and me both, after 20 yrs

 

Haha I appreciate the vote of confidence! Truth be told, I meant to buy a used '13-'15 to avoid the new model issues (prior experiences), but with a 10% company discount I couldn't help myself as I would have paid more for a newer used truck. So yes, now I'm just hoping they can fix the damn thing cause there's no other truck I'd rather have.

 

There was mention from other 2016 owners of similar symptoms when flooring the truck but a loss of power during wide open throttle . I think they were guessing at a drive by wire issue but this was speculation as nothing was diagnosed at the time . You are not the only member with this issue but I believe yours is an extreme case .
It would be great to find out what the fix is other than a transmission replacement .
Has the dealer identified the problem yet ? If you change your thread title to " falls into neutral at wide open throttle " , your going to get members posting who can relate to the issue . There have been a few on here with this problem
I agree with Aero90 that your explanation sounds mechanical .
Subbed for more info

 

I was going to buy a new taco, looked at colorados, read about Rangers and now am leaning towards a 5.3 Sierra or Silverado. Sorry about your problems. My tacos have been really good to me. I know there are a lot of people with problem free turd gens but this an unacceptable number of "lemons" for me to feel comfortable. I would try to get them to buy it back and run back to the bow tie trucks

 

I hit the like button, but not sure that was appropriate. I had the TSB done end of AUG at my 10K service. At first all seemed good and I was, and still partially am, happy with the changes made, but I've noticed the hard shift/high rev going from 2nd to 3rd when cold creeping back in. Not trying to steal your thread, just didn't realize there was any issue with the TSB.

 

I have a similar issue. However, mine will pause, upshift, then downshift when I press the accelerator. This is all perceived as a delay. It also will upshift when I turn around corners. For no reason.

 

Yours may very well be the only one, but at this point I have to suspect a sensor, ecm or electronic component on the powertrain. They would most likely would have replaced the transmission by now if they felt it was at fault. Having said that, at this point if I were you I'd be hoping it was the transmission as it would be a simple R&R.

Best of luck and keep us posted
Cheers!

 

Thanks, as mentioned earlier Toyota is sending an engineer or whatever they call them these days to look at it on Tuesday. Will for sure keep everyone posted on status. I'm just so pissed because I honestly thought I had it all figured out and all the bugs worked out of it, and then this issue re-surfaced.

 

It's all good! I hear ya, I had no idea either until manager told me. He and Toyota are just stunned about the issue. I just told him straight up that this is the worst transmission I've ever had, and way sub-par for a Toyota. Aisin needs to get their shit together ASAP.