2021 tacoma automatic trans problems like previous years. and it shakes...

Hey all I figured I would get this out there. I just bought a stock 2021 tacoma 4 door 4x4 automatic. In short its like there is an insane person inside the transmission telling it when to shift. The transmission “wants” to be in the highest gear possible. The only time the shifting makes any since is when driving downhill. Driving on flat or up hill this is how it shifts; driving like normal 1 gear, normal shit to 2nd gear, immediately shifts to 3 gear and the motor is lugging, then like a crazy person it shifts to 4th really fast then back to 3rd. It will hold 3rd as it should and doesn’t hunt around. It will do this every time without fail. In ECT power it does the opposite; hold the shift for too long, but this I understand its more for towing or “hills”. It blows me away that they cant get the shifting patterns/programming correct on this truck. I have driven many 6, 8 and 10 speed trucks and cars and NONE of them shift like they just took some meth. Also, on down shifts from 3rd to 2nd at around 1000 rpms it shakes. I am pretty sure the rear drums are warped, but it also feel like it’s the transmission. The truck has 1,500 miles on it. I live in north CA with lots of hills. The truck is completely stock and I find myself driving in ECT power mode all the time. But that shifting is a little too aggressive. Other than that I really like the truck. Its underpowered, but that's a different conversation or maybe the not.......


Any fixes or recommendations?

 

You didnt notice all these quirks during your test drives?

 

Definitely for sure certainly this is a never before heard thing from a first time poster. Certainly.

 

Here we go....

 

The truck is not underpowered, learn where the poweband is, and how to get peak power, need more rpms.

 

Hard pass on this thread.

 

Thanks for the input. Not.............

 

I guess it’s Friday somewhere.......

 

Frankly Im getting pretty bored by this type of posts.

 

Hey... Welcome.

 

Welcome to the forum, couple of things to consider. 1. The tranny will “learn” how you drive over time and so will you “learn” how to adjust how to drive it to it’s potential. 2. Search OV Tune threads (plan a couple hours of reading) as many here are reporting that their trucks drive the way it “should “ with the tune. Good luck

 

I agree..this shitty transmission issue has been beat to death. Toyota just needs to add a simple disclaimer ..... “Hi, welcome to the Toyota family. You’ve just purchased one of our most popular vehicles. If you want your new Tacoma to drive like it should please keep it in S5 with the ECT activated at all times”

 

Thank you. Ill check it out.

 

Haha.

 

It gets better with miles driven. Mine took quite a while with me being a little more aggressive on the gas pedal.
But it finally stopped doing the
1-2-3-2-3-4-5-6-5-6-5-6 shifting and can hold on hills it would previously shift 6 times on.

I test drove mine on flat terrain 3 times and didn't notice an issue until a few weeks later to my other home in the mountains. So I can believe people who say they did not notice it during a test drive.
I also caught a lot of crap from members here too.
"Didn't you test drive it?"
"Oh...it's Friday again."
"All vehicles do this!"
"I've never felt this in mine!"
"There is no such problem and its all in your head, but you'll need an aftermarket tune to fix the issue we tell you doesn't exist."

I don't drive mine much and had there been more inventory, I would have gladly traded it in....after setting it on fire.
But with a few miles on it (around 6k) it was like a light switch. It started to drive pretty well.

To the point where I'm kind of glad there was nothing at the time as far as Tundra inventory to roll it into and get rid of the Tacoma.

Give it some time. I felt the same way at first. It gets better. It really does. I was very skeptical and a few members here assured me to "just drive it".
I now have confidence in it and can enjoy this "perfect size/feel for me and what I want to do with it" truck.

A special thanks to Mrtacoman88 for being patient with me as I was frustrated over this issue. He was always patiently there to tell me to just hang on.

 

learn to give the truck a chance as it learns your driving habits. Takes a bit. But itll get better with time. If you dont like it. Tough shit. You bought it. Get a Regear done with an OVtune Ecu flash. If you are bitching so much then why did you commit to buy it then? Enjoy the goddamn truck.

 

Thank you. I appreciate it.

 

Pedal Commander. Completely changed my driving experience.

 

My 2021 does none of that.

 

Isn’t there a “tsb” for such a complaint for software update?