Transmission Concerns

Sorry if something like this already exists, but I have been looking and haven't found anything yet so figured I'd just post it. I am having what I think is a pretty unique issue that no one else I know with a Tacoma has experienced. Its a long drawn out explanation so bear with me.

Purchased a 2023 SR5 from the dealership in October 23 with about 15K miles on it. 4wd, up to date on maintenance, drove really well and had no visible damage of any kind. Carfax was also clean. Around late November or early December I started noticing that the transmission seemed to be constantly shifting.

Basically, imagine traveling on a flat road in perfect conditions at 65mph. Put your foot on the pedal to accelerate to 75mph. The truck downshifts to provide the power, and around 72 the truck upshifts. The truck then starts to slow and realizes that it can no longer provide the power I am asking for so it downshifts again. It does this all the time, every single time I drive it regardless of conditions, speed, or any other factor you can think of. In 4H/L it does perfectly fine. It seems like the truck is prioritizing getting to the lowest gear possible as quickly as possible, as opposed to providing and maintaining the power I am asking for.

Everything is still under warranty, so I am going down tonight to drop it off for service first thing in the morning. Again, I figure this is pretty unique so I just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone is having anything similar.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the awful trans shift logic. They all do that. Its normal.

sometimes my 23 will make a shift, say from 2-3 while I’m accelerating from a stop and then go right back down to 2nd again like it realized it made a mistake.

on the highway when cruising it’s pretty much a revolving door of the converter locking and unlocking to maintain speed.

 

Congrats on your first Tacoma!
That's not a malfunction, that's a FEATURE!

 

Pretty much normal. The fixes are:
Install a manual transmission
Change gears
Slow down
Get an OTT tune
or
Sell truck

 

Normal. Get a OTT tune for the fix

 

I don't know if it's because I drive conservatively but mine does not do that. I drive in the Rockies and uphills will downshift but not gear hunt. No ECT.

 

I usually put it in S mode and slap it to 6 or 5. Try that. Dumb computer in drive tries to do things it learns. S mode cleans it up for the most part.

 

This is just how the 3rd Gen Tacoma drives. It’s bad.

Tuning and regearing helps a little, but doesn’t fix. If you cannot live with it, get rid of the truck.

 

Thanks for everyone's input. Really sucks to hear that is the norm. My first car was a '99 4Runner and I loved it. Between now and then I've had been driving a BMW 335xi so maybe I am just used to a snappier transmission. Either way, I do love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Its a great truck, perfect for loading up the dirt bike on a weekend, or just sleeping in the bed. Thanks again!

 

Comparitively speaking...
The transmission on a BMW 335xi is like a smooth and tight set of leather pants on a Swedish Ladies Olympic Volleyball Player.
The transmission on the Tacoma is like a used egg carton.

 

Have you tried the ECT button on and off to see if it shifts better?

 

It seems you think Toyota made this truck to “your” wishes. This truck was made for emissions and fuel “non”-economy. If it sounds like I’m trying to be a “fill in the blank”, you’re right. How am I doing?

As most everyone has said “It’s normal”.

Post back with what the dealer says.

 

OP, welcome to TW forums.

There is one completely-satisfactory SOLUTION for the 3rd gen crappy stock auto transmission shift mappings and behaviors. Don't screw around trying to press the ECT button or adjust your driving style to try to "fix" it or work around it.

Get an OTT tune for the truck, period. End of story. It will SOLVE this problem permanently.

https://overlandtailor.com/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/overland-torque-tune-ott-by-overland-tailor.759590/

(And specifically THAT tune, by OTT, not some other tune. Go read all about it all over TW forums, it's tested by 100s if not 1000s of Taco owners, it works.)

 

Not high enough rpm to get into the torque needed to push our aerodynamic brick down the road.

Do the calculations for torque at the rpm the engine is turning at 75 mph.

Factor in parasitic loss for all aspects of the drivetrain.

Now calculate the resultant wind resistance of the front of our brick on wheels.

What you are left with is a very small amount of torque left to maintain.

Engine needs torque which equates to downshift and raising the rpms.

Transmission is saying no don’t downshift we need to maintain fuel economy.

Torque converter doesn’t have enough pressure to maintain and is screaming for a downshift.

Computer says shift then says my bad don’t shift.

You feel the results.

 

Totally normal, unfortunately. I found running in S6 keeps it in higher gear more consistently and turning off cruise control on hills makes it behave normally based on throttle position. Anytime I'm under 75 or on level ground it's not really noticeable for me.

You might want to pull the battery and let it relearn your driving patterns. Give it 2000 miles and if it still really bothers you there are some good tuners that largely change the shift pattern. Make sure the dealer has also flashed it to the current versions, they made a lot of improvements over the years.

 

My work truck running no lift, front air dam, and narrower street tires has never had shifting issues, but my personal truck did from Day 1 and it got worse after lifting and upsizing tires. Fixed the shifting issues with a tune that made it smarter and faster with shifting timing, and added manifold spacer that gave up a bit of top end horsepower for more low RPM range torque (meaning the truck has to downshift less often on the highway because it has a bit more power in overdrive gears now).

 

Tune and smile again