2016 Transmission T-SB-0077-16 Shift Feeling Enhancments (PDF)

Go elsewhere my good man... This guy is not your friend..

 

It would be interesting to see what tool the service advisor is talking about but it sure sounds like he was feeding you a line of ( crap )
Maybe he has a deal going with the technician and charges out a free bottle of WS transmission fluid for every Tacoma owner who asks to have their transmission level manually inspected . Good on you for painting the overflow bolt . I suggest other members do the same
Just a quick EDIT : The 2017 trucks are being sent to dealerships low on fluid . With this said , please vote as I have added the 2017 truck to the 2016 post
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/

 

Well mine was topped off 1700 miles ago and my painted plug was definitely removed. It was flashed over 1500 miles ago. No need for a sticker which I did not get. Now the only thing still fixed is the R-D hesitation. Already getting tired of using ECT up to speed and turning off. That is robbing about 1.5 mpg from my previous average. Toyota has got to address this or every Ford and Chevy lot is going to be overstocked with used 2016 Toyota trucks. I wonder if the 4.0 tranny will bolt up to the 3.5. Just tossing that out in hopes Toyota is still reading this thread. I opened a case 2 months ago. I think I need to email Corporate to let them know the flash only worked for 1500 miles. Curious what, if any, response I will get. I will say that I will not spend another penny on mods until this is completely resolved.

 

Yes, some disappointed things about the trans on these Gen III's, but I still love my taco, I owned a 2004 taco for several years, not one problem, sold it with 170,00 miles to buy this new 2016 taco. I have three neighbors toyota products, 200 to 300 thousand miles range on all of them with no problems, not even a water pump! I almost bought a Ford, test drove the F150s twice and actually liked the power, transmission and drivability better that the taco. But the sheer size of the F150 coupled with the known reliability of tacos pushed me in the taco direction - I am 50 years old and have been thru many vehicles purchases with good and bad decisions and am still happy on my decision to buy this taco, maybe foolish to buy the first run of the Gen III's but Toyota has a world class quality production system and will get some more TSBs out soon (I hope) - very surprising on the low trans fluid, hard to believe, maybe their test and evaluation team that test drove these things were drunk at the time and couldn't feel the crappy transmission responses!

 

I took mine in today for the reflash and lower control arm TSB, they ordered the parts for the LCA's and said they couldn't duplicate what the TSB was stating for discrepancies, but they noticed that it was searching for gears both with cruise control on and off in the higher gear range like 3-4... they didn't perform the reflash bc it didn't cover my discrepancies but that they were in contact with Toyota to see if the reflash would help... we will see..

 

Had the reflash done yesterday and it feels like I have a different truck. Had a good drive after (San Diego to Anaheim) right afterword and the difference was insane. So much smoother and can actually hold a gear on the highway!!! The tech said theyve been doing it to anyone with a 16 that even hints at shift issues. All 17s have the update already.

Mine wasnt even that bad before but i just happened to mention it yesterday and im sure glad i did.

 

Hey, what dealer in San Diego did you take it to? Did they check your trans fluid level too? I'm about to pick up a 2017 and am curious what dealers in San Diego are performing the flash/fluid check without hassling the owner.

 

Toyota of Escondido - all 2017s should already have the flash though

 

BUT..they might still be low on fluid... looks like some coming out low... Toyota is NOT learning anything... Have the dealer check it physically BEFORE you give them the $$$

 

Wish I could tell you all how the regear has affected the shifting issues, but the shop doing it has something messed up.Toyota scanned it and said might be wire harness or ECU for 4 wheel drive. Wires and connections all seem to test out, so ordered and installed ECU. Didn't do it. Now he ordered front differential actuator to try. Has had my truck going on 2 weeks. Costing shop owner a fortune. 4 wheel will not engage. I guess when he tries, a light flashes but will not engage. Dealership wasn't any help. Told me the guy that put in the gears screwed something up and I should have left it stock. Thanks for nothing! Hope the actuator does it because out of idea's and patience and $$.

 

I got the update and was very please with the results

 

I've had mine done for just over a month and the truck has been great since. Over the 5,000 miles I've traveled since the update truck has performed much better. I'm also averaging much better mpg. I had an average of 17.4 mpg over the first 25k miles but over the last 10 fill ups I'm now averaging 21.6 mpg, even while driving faster than I had previously.

 

I had the TSB done back in mid August about 1200 miles ago. I notice an improvement but still didn't feel the truck was shifting propoerly. THe TSB did not fix the gear hunting as much as I Thought it would. It also clunks and races occasionally. I plan to call it in.

But I want to report that I was adding a add a circuit to my truck and disconnected the battery terminal when doing that electrical work for a couple days over a weekend. Well it's been about 500 miles since the battery disconnect and I am finding that the transmission does not hunt for gears. I like to think that the transmission learned from me and hope that it's not that I have learned from its idiociracies.

Either way it still clunks and races. Although I asked for the manual trans fluid check when I did the TSB, I am skeptical that they did not do it even after saying they did.

Mexico built in April 2016.

 

one dealer told me they checked it and they lied... i took it to another and they said it was 2+ qts low...

 

I sent a Letter to the CEO. I found his email somewhere... I hope its correct or that was a huge waste of time

 

Not sure why people are so upset with the transmission, I love mine. Does everything I ask, when I ask it.

 

Sweet!

 

I want to love this truck so bad, but I keep getting into situations where it just doesn't deliver any power. I don't even know if it's the transmission but the engine itself. There is zero throttle response. 0-40 is ridiculous. I feel as though I'm towing a 5,000 lb trailer whenever I take off from a stop. If I'm at a stoplight before a hill I have to pretty much floor it to get up the hill. Today I needed to quickly get into traffic from a standstill and the truck did nothing when I stomped on the gas. 3rd time within a week I got a delay from needing to move the truck quickly.

And I don't expect sports car performance. I do expect it to respond at least on par with any other 6 cylinder truck I have owned. This truck makes my 2005 Xterrra look like a super car, and it got better gas mileage. Honestly, this is the only vehicle I've owned in my 25 years of driving that I could not spin the rear wheels from a standstill. And I had a 1984 Toyota Diesel for my first truck! I don't go around trying to spin the rear wheels, that's not how I drive, but it tells me this thing has no reasonable power off the line.

This truck is almost perfect except for the two most important things, the engine and transmission. The longer I own it, the more I wish I got a 4Runner.

 

The new runners are nice, but not 10k more nice.

I should clarify, I have a manual

 

SR5 Premium 4Runner is probably about what I paid for my Tacoma. I added aftermarket leather on the Taco.

I'm wishing I stuck with a manual at this point. Drove one for 22 of my 25 driving years. Kicking myself now.

I don't want to be one of these 2016 haters, I'm just really bummed at this point. I love so much about it then it lets me down where it really counts.