Just bought 02 Taco; transmission concern

V6 Prerunner SR5/TRD with 150k miles. Seems to be a nice truck. My concern is that the motor seems to be a little lazy. Can be driving along around 50 mph and to accelerate, seems like I have to push on the gas pedal a bit before she starts moving faster and then, it may go into next gear and there is a jolt when it does. The jolt or jerk is not violent but it is definietely noticeable and concerns me that perhaps something is going on with the tranny. I had never driven a taco before I bought this one so I did not really know what to expect when I test drove it. The tranny fluid looks to be ok, not new but not overly old and there is no bad smell to it. I'm having a reputable Toyota mechanic drain the tranny and clean the filter, change front and back differential fluid, transfer case fluid, r&r the plugs and wires later this week.

Any thoughts on what may be causing the above? Hope I explained it well enough. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter.

 

I have an '04 Tacoma PreRunner DC and I just 100k miles. My truck was never used to pull anything whatsoever, in fact, I don't even have a trailer hitch. My transmission, from what you're telling me, does the same thing. Early in the mornings it's kinda hesitant to shift from 2nd to 3rd and a lot of the times it shifts kinda hard. My other PreRunner was an '02 as well and had 190k on it and did the same thing. All my fluids looked great on both trucks so the only thing I can assume is that it's normal wear?

 

My 02 does the same, but it only has 64,000 miles. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does it quite a bit. It isn't a super hard jolt, but it is definitely there to be felt. It happens mostly from 2nd-3rd or when I'm downshifting up a hill.

 

My 04 does the same thing. Hesitates when it's cold shifting from 2 to 3 only does it when it's cold so just assuming it has to warm up?

 

Sounds to me like you are experiencing a normal load-downshift. This description does not sound abnormal at all. I would be looking into a few other maintenance items, such as spark plugs, air and fuel filters, and a possible throttle body cleaning as these trucks, like so many others, tend to get a decent amount of carbon build up on the back side of the throttle plate.

 

Wow, it sounds like you three that responded are experiencing about the same thing I am. I got concerned that perhaps I just bought a truck that is about to cost me some serious coin but perhaps that's not going to be the case. It's not a serious jolt but a jolt nonetheless. I drove it out of some pretty mountainous terrain to get it home the other day and it drove me nuts. I'd go down a long hill and while going back up, it tended to give me a jolt. In some instances, it went into passing gear just to keep my speed up. Seems that a V6 should have a more linear band of power before jerking like this, but again, I have no experience with the taco and in fact, most of my driving has been with a straight shift. Thanks! Any other thoughts would be welcome.

 

Same thing, sounds exactly like my truck. I live in the Texas hill country so mine does it literally everyday. It's a pretty common characteristic of the Tacoma. After awhile you won't even notice it anymore.

 

Felt that way when I first got my truck. It is by no means a fast truck, especially at hgwy speeds. Check your leaf springs for frowning or flattening. If you are still on stock leaves then the clunk is most likely axle wrap.

 

Wife's Sienna does it also, known issue with Toyota auto trannies, doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 

Not exactly a "known issue", it is normal operation, and many other trucks/cars operate exactly the same.

 

this lucas auto tranny fluid may help? i've heard good things about it

http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=270&catid=9&loc=show

 

I think it's normal like everyone else seems to think. Also when I'm driving and I slow down very quickly to a dead stop and let my foot off the brake and the truck goes forward I feel a jolt like the transmission is going into gear kinda thing? Maybe like a nudge but my family all has Lexus and all their cars do it too. Is this a known Toyota thing too?

 

I always thought that axle wrap occurred during really hard acceleration or deceleration. That wouldn't be the case here.

 

Axle wrap initializes as you come to a stop, then reaccelerate. The clunk is as the axle returns to it's normal position.

 

You could try to tighten your trans kickdown cable for the 02 guy and see if you see any improvement in shifting. Not much mind you.

 

Got the truck back from my mechanic (trained by Toyota but operates independently now). He said the transmission looked good, no junk in the pan or screen so that gives me great piece of mind. The posts as above also make me feel better about it and I really appreciate the input. Again, I didn't really know what to expect in terms of how these trucks drive and I guess I was a bit paranoid that I perhaps was getting into something that was going to cost me some serious money on down the line.

 

get a bottle of this and remember to thank me later.... stoped my problems and for 10k miles I havent had a slip or anything

 

The jerk or jolt (assuming that it isn't neck breaking) when shifting isn't necessarily a bad thing. If one is shifting very smooth and has little to no resistance going from gear to gear, then you have a issue. Unless you have a CVT transmission that jolt is the clutches going together the smoother, less noticeable the shift the long it is engaged, causing more friction and heat. The short, sweet, somewhat jerky shift is where you want to be. There is little to no friction to cause excess heat to the transmission.

I highly recommend a transmission cooler on these trucks. The cooler you can keep it the better. I think mine was only a 7x9 cooler and it made a significant improvement shift wise. I'm trying to get my gauge in so I can keep track on the temps.

 

I added

B&M 70268 SuperCooler Automatic Transmission Cooler , Black

THIS cooler about a year ago, I've noticed longer shift points when either the WX is cooler or when I jump in and go which is rare.

 

While I agree that for the most part, this type of shifting is perfectly normal for a Tacoma, an easy shift is not necessarily a bad thing. certain cars are designed to have a smooth, light shift that is almost impossible to notice, short of the change in engine RPM. That light shift is due to the accumulator spring design. A stronger spring will result in a stronger apply, and a weaker spring will have a softer apply. Also the PCS solenoid will vary the line pressure to control stiffness of a shift as well. Again though, while this is the general operation of all automatics today (CVT not withstanding because technically they are not considered an automatic transmission) it is all based on what the manufacturer programs and designs based on the particular vehicle.