Trouble accelerating

before I say anything I’m fairly new to vehicles and this is my first vehicle I’m actually working on so bare with me. So I have a 2002 Automatic Tacoma with a 3.4 V6 engine. I’m running 35’s on it and it has a certain gearing that I forgot when I got the truck. But whenever I’m driving on a very subtle incline it has trouble accelerating and without flooring it, It always slows down. But even when I floor it. It doesn’t go any faster or it speeds up and a very slow rate. I haven’t really done anything about it for a while because I’m not even sure where to start.

 

Start simple:
Check the tightness of the throttle cable.

Any check engine lights? Any other issues?

 

Throttle cable is good. And no check engine light. However, I’m not sure how many times an automatic supposed to shift but I only ever feel my truck shift 3 times going from 0-60. And I looked up the engine specs for my exact truck and it showed a 4th gear ratio. So I’m not sure if I didn’t hit speed where transmission needed to shift a 4th time or it’s just not there whatsoever

 

Be realistic with your expectations of the vehicle homie. I am on like 32s and I usually turn OD off so hills are less likely to put me to sleep. With OD off, I can maintain 70 up a sustained grade without issue.

What exactly is your gearing?

*edit before I go to bed to fend off nightmares about the OPs 6" DB lift & 3" body lift. Holy moly.

 

4th is the O/D button on your gear selector. Usually my truck likes to hop out of 4th real quick on inclines. I'm also on 35s but I wouldn't say I have your problem of needing to floor it, below say, a 10% grade

 

Just what are you comparing it with?

It is a Truck not a Muscle Car

It could be just be many factors the tires the increased Wind resistance under the truck what ever gears you have.

 

Does it downshift properly when you floor it? Your gearing would be helpful to know.

Where are you finding grades greater then 10%. Federal highway's can't be greater then 6%. Some state highways are higher, but 10% or more?

 

What is the RPM of the engine when you are climbing the incline you are talking about?

If you are running close to stock gearing with 35's then you may be bouncing off the limiter but if it shifts up, the drag from wind and your drive train may cause it to shift back down. At 70mph on a flat road, what is the engine running at rpm wise?

 

Idk, yolo'd a number

Point is I dont have to floor it unless I'm driving up a mountain

 

Was just up in Idaho on a road marked 16 percent. That is one steep hill!

 

Hell yes that is! How long of a pull was it?

 

About 3 miles. Going up was hard. Coming back down (turned out the road didn't go anywhere - just ended) used more braking than I think I have ever done. Second gear, M/T. Couldn't bear the engine scream in first.

 

Not sure what the maintenance history of your truck is... Might be a good idea to give her a good tune up. Oil change, air filter, spark plugs, throttle body cleaning (throttle body being dirty shouldn't effect your on throttle power but while your doing the other stuff. Effects idle.) New fuel filter and fuel system cleaning.

My old Jeep started and ran mostly fine but I did notice a gradual loss of power. It just didn't seem to go like it used to. I popped in some new plugs, Boom! like new agian!

You never know with older vehicles sometimes. Things are generally not properly maintained. People will take their new car to the dealer for scheduled maintenance but after a couple of years and 50k miles they start popping into Jiffy Lube. Dealers are expensive but they should know ghe maintenance scheduled for your vehicle (if they sold it to you.) Many times people think dealers are charging them outrageous fees for scheduled maintenance (sometimes they are), and its just a scheduled maintenance item. Most people don't know they have a fuel filter.

I am in no way advocating for auto dealers. They NEVER see my vehicles after I leave the lot with them. I do not even get the free oil changes that sometimes accompany an auto purchase. I'm just stating vehicles are almost never maintained per their maintenance schedule.

A little off topic, Go into a motorcycle dealer and ask them if they replace the brake caliper bolts on sportbikes with radial brakes EVERY time they need to remove the front wheel? They don't. But those bolts. They stretch (permanently deform) when properly torqued and must be replaced whenever they are removed. So new front tire? New brake pads? Fork service?

Anyway. Do the tune up before trying anything more serious.

 

did you just buy this vehicle? if so, the previous owner might have sold it because it needs to be regear'd to drive properly on 35's.