Tranny Gear Hunting, What to do?

Short prologue, I drive about 3 hours of highway (80mph/400 miles total rnd trip) on the weekends each way. I find the cruise control a worthless addition to the truck because the transmission wants to downshift multiple gears to increase speed instead of just allowing the throttle to adjust/ correct the speed. This aspect gets crazy-spastic enough that I cancel the Cruise control and never use it anymore.
We took the spouses SUV on the trip last weekend and what an eye opening, pleasant, experience. Hers has the same liter size engine, and is a much heavier vehicle. No gear shifting once at highway speeds. Just smooth controlled speeds, uphill, downhill, etc.
I also have noticed that around town, the tacoma trans upshifts so fast, that I have to always apply a heavier foot to the throttle at midpoint of acceleration because the truck starts to "bog down" because the PRMs are so low. I have counted the upshifts and have witnessed the 0.3 sec. it spends in 3rd gear, and the 1 sec it spends in 4th going straight into 5th at 32 mph creating a 1000 rpm engine situation. This just isn't enough rpm to keep the truck accelerating requiring an increase throttle to force the trans to downshift. ........Toyota screwed the pooch on this truck with their better engineering and their "learning" transmission. I'm beginning to envy the manual trans guys.
I don't know whether to blame Obama with his "cafe" standards change forcing better mileage on manufactures or toyo's B.S.
And yes, I drive A LOT in manual mode on the shifter. I've also started using the ECM more often. But I shouldn't have to do that. The trans should be programmed to function somewhere in a middle ground between the ECM and the factory "standard" mode. The trans should work correctly out of the box.

So now for the question, Is there an after market fix to program the transmission once and forever and cancel the "learning" process? I was looking at the OV tune but it appears to be maps for the engine performance. Which may or may not help the transmission shifting. I don't know.

I believe I would go ahead and sell this truck if I wouldn't take such a financial loss. These two issues (gear whine and transmission shift/hunting) really make me consider this purchase a mistake. new buyer beware!
ESPECIALLY WITH TOYO SAYING "IT's NORMAL". What utter BullSh*t.

Sorry for the rant, but being the perfectionist that I am, this really becomes upsetting.

 

Check out Castle superstore. They seem to have a good arrangement of gear. Oh wait I misread

OV tune is absolutely for trans as well as engine. It gets easier with time though.

 

I've never met an individual yet that when using the term perfectionist, that didn't really mean asshole

 

Hello Friday my old friend. I've come to deal with you again....

 

Sell the truck

 

Manual transmission. Problem solved.

 

+1
It normal behavior for the Tacoma to shift like that, live with it or dump it.

 

Try ECT.
The. S mode to keep you put of OD. Choose your highest gear according.

Edit: completely forgot about OVTune. Are you running larger tires or heavy weight? Maybe look into what a regear would do for you.

Then look at getting a different vehicle if this doesn't fix it.

 

Yeah this is definitely due to CAFE rules, the truck needs to upshift early otherwise you get horrible mpg on your FTP test cycle... they could cheat like VW... but that doesn't work out so just leave the ECT button on every time you hop in the car. Problem mostly solved... unless you are very picky...

 

Now that's fuckin funny.

 

How many miles you have on your truck? If less then 5000 give it some time it’s a learning tranny it’s trying to figure your driving style out.

 

Welcome to the club. The ovtune is a tuning for the engine and transmission shift point plus the newest patch removed the annoying learning crap. I would try ovtune first and drive it for 2 year then sell it if you dont like the truck.

 

The problem isn't the transmission, it is the engine. A manual transmission won't help. You're driving a truck with an engine designed for max torque at 4600 rpm compared to older vehicles that got their torque at half that. Either way you've got to have rpm's to get power with that engine and in many ways a manual is worse. Especially trying to get moving in 1st and reverse.

Slow down, you're driving a truck. It ain't designed to be happy at 80 mph. And if you do drive 80 simply don't use OD. That way it won't hunt for gears, you'll have more power, the transmission will last longer and you'll probably get better fuel mileage. That truck NEEDS rpm's to run. OD reduces rpm's in an effort to improve fuel mileage. But you have to match rpm to speed. The trucks rpm's are too low to maintain 80 mph in OD.

Same thing around town. Just because you have a transmission that WILL automatically shift gears there is no law requiring you to always let it. You have the ability to select the best gear for the conditions. Around town or on any road where I'll never get over 40 mph I don't use OD. The truck runs better, has more power and gets better fuel mileage. OD is for cruising at speeds from about 55-65 where you're trying to get optimum fuel mileage. Learn how to drive the truck instead of letting the truck drive you.

 

How many miles OP? I drove about 6000 miles in s5 only and drove it pretty hard. Now it shifts great when put in drive. Doesnt even try to use 6th which is too tall for anything besides flat ground 60mph. It will downshift to 4th hold till the top of the incline and then back into 5th. I drive 170 miles a day to and from work between 70-90 mph and use cruise the entire time. It wasnt like this at first, it would hunt and pick gears at random. Just gotta drive these trucks with a purpose, the 3.4l was the exact same way it liked to spin.

 

15000 miles in and I cruise at 80mph in 6th with under 2k RPM every day.

 

Well first of all i rarely drive a constant 80 mph. Just got back from a drive doing 70 mph with the cruise control...encountered no issues my tranny stayed in 6th the majority of time except for some long uphill grades. In fact i actually thought there truck performed fantastic passing slower vehicles with ease. Pretty sure rpm were under 2k all that time except for a few hills. All i can say is.... i really really like this truck.

 

I can't say I have ever had this problem on the highway and I live in the mountains on top of that. It hunts a little if you're driving around town stop and go outside of ECT mode (if you aren't being light on the throttle anyway)....but I didn't have it happen on the highway even when it was brand new.

The one thing I do hate about the cruise control is just to do with the adaptive cruise control. I don't like how it slows you down for the car in front of you and you go to change lanes and it will often basically floor it to get back up to speed. But the downshifting from that for me is only when the adaptive cruise is on in that scenario.