Automatic transmission shift points early

Hoping someone who's familiar with how an 02 2.4 auto transmission works can help here. I took the slack out of the throttle cable and while I was at it tightened the kickdown cable (or TV cable as I've seen it called) ever so slightly to get some slack out of that too, barely at all cause I'd heard its not a good idea to mess around with that one. Shortly thereafter I started noticing a little rougher 1st to 2nd shift, and occasionally a "clunk" sound. So I went back in and adjusted the TV cable exactly to where it was before (i had taken a picture of it in case I wanted to revert back). I took it for a test drive and immediately noticed that it would shift into 2nd then shift to 3rd almost immediately now, I'd never noticed this before and thought it was strange. So I played around with the TV cable some more, loosening it, tightening it, no difference. It shifts in and out of 2nd now so fast that it almost makes no sense to even go into 2nd at all. Normal driving around town its not a huge deal, but if I do ever need to accelerate moderately fast from a stop, that shift in and out of 2nd is definitely a hinderance. If I'm gunning it or acclerating up a hill it'll hold 2nd for a little longer but still seems to shift out too fast. I don't have a tachometer so I can't tell the rpm, but the mph for the shift points are
1st to 2nd: 12 mph
2nd to 3rd: 15 mph
3rd to 4th: 25 mph

So it stays in 2nd for a 3mph gain, equating to less than a second. I don't remember it being like this before, can anyone else comment on whether thats normal? Its almost as if some kind of super gas saving mode kicked in. I have tried resetting the ECU, and I just did 2 ATF drain and fills, no help. I was under the impression that the TV cable had no bearing on shift points, that the ECU controlled that, so I'm kind of scratching my head here. Thanks

 

The slack in the TV cable is what it is. On the TV cable, pop the rubber tip off of the stud that it sits on and pull the cable out a little. You will see a built it "tit" on the cable. The outer side of the tit has to be flush with the outer side of the tube it comes out of. Messing with this changes hydraulic pressures through out the transmission.

 

Thanks for that ^. I adjusted it so its in the correct spot now... don't notice any difference on the shift points though, still in and out of 2nd gear in a split second.

 

tmross, you ever figure out the early shift problem? Mine does the same thing. Taken to Toyota specialists and dealerships, still have no clue why?

 

No i didn't but I stopped paying attention to it/worrying about it and it doesn't bother me anymore. Possible it was always like that and my OCD kicked in after I started tinkering with stuff so I got hyperfixated on it. Around that time I did take it to a Toyota specialist in town and he took me for a drive along, when I pointed out the quick 2nd gear shift he said "so? thats normal."

 

Same here. A toyota specialist shop and a Toyota dealership. Got the same answers. Thanks for the reply.