Transmission shifting oddly

Hey everyone,

I recently picked up a 2012 trd sport. All in all the truck has been pretty great. When I first test drove the truck and up until a couple days ago the truck shifted real nice. It's an automatic transmission and vehicle has 118k miles on it. Although, a couple days ago I noticed a clunk shifting from 4th to 5th or at least pretty sure those are the gears. I'll get up to about 40mph, I let off the gas a bit, I put my foot back on the gas, there will then be a hesitation and then there's a clunk. When I say clunk there's actually no sound, though I feel it through the vehicle. It has happened three times in the last three or four days. From what I can tell last transmission fluid change was at 60k miles.

My biggest concern with buying a used a vehicle is the automatic transmission in higher mileage trucks. Although, I hoped for the best since it's a Toyota.

I guess my question is, has this happened to anyone and did you manage to resolve it? I'm so paranoid about having to replace a transmission. Also, have you had to replace a transmission in your tacoma yet and how long are transmissions good for in these trucks? I know it depends on how well the truck was taken care of but I've heard they are pretty resilient all in all.

Thank you

 

First thing I would reccomend is check the fluid level and condition, it may simply be a bit low on fluid.

 

Check the U joints, sounds likely if letting off then clunk when back on. If they seem good and no play then trans drain and refill, not a flush, and see if that fixes it

 

Mine was shifting weird due to a slightly underfilled fluid level. Also, the carrier bearing is notorious for needing replaced, also check the u-joints. They may be shot as well. I think the transmissions in these trucks is relatively good with proper maintenance. Yours could probably use a drain and fill, or possibly a pan drop/filter change? If people don’t go to the stealership to have their fluid changed, often times other mechanics don’t really know the proper procedure.. as I found out the hard way and had to fill to the proper level myself.

 

When I click on the file it just pulls up a blank page. Not sure if I’m doing something wrong?

 

Idk it works on all my devices, should bring up a download box.

 

If you ease off on the accelerator at the same time the transmission is trying to upshift you can get a hard shift. It can happen with any transmission, any vehicle. It doesn't happen often, it's just a matter of bad timing.

 

True. Mine was actually downshifting at odd times and searching between 4 and 5. After filling my trans correctly, it started shifting much more like normal. The thing is, it wasn’t even off by much. It seemed like about a 1/4 of a quart.