'10 Tacoma not downshifting

Hey,

I recently bought a 2010 Tacoma with 60k miles on it. I'm not sure if the maintenance had been done to it before I got it, but when I am in drive at 50+ mph and approach a hill, start climbing, it is supposed to downshift to 3rd but doesn't. It will bog down and slow down the truck unless I downshift it manually with the shifter. It won't downshift until I step on the gas rather a lot and even then it will bog for a few seconds before shifting, but then I am accelerating too fast.

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem or what to tell the dealer when I bring it in. I told one Service Mgr and he told me I need to step on the gas to get it to downshift, which is like "Duh gee George, I didn't think of that!" lol I told him it won't downshift anyway and he didn't seem to believe me. He did nothing to fix the problem.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

It's hard to say what the problem could be without driving it..... Yes, it could be normal. Your expectations of how the truck should shift could be based on any other vehicles that you've driven in the past. When you say 'bog down' could mean different things to different people.

Is this your first truck? Is the truck stock?

Have the dealer check the fluid levels in the transmission and have them drive it.

There's no maintenance required on these transmissions until 100K miles - Needing maintenance earlier than that would depend if the truck had extreme driving /towing conditions or abuse on a regular basis by the previous owner.

 

This would need to be diagnosed correctly , but I believe you need valve body work .
If memory serves me correctly , Trans -go has a fix for lazy kick down and poor torque converter UN-lock symptoms . Will see if I can find some info .
Here you go
http://www.transgo.com/products.php...d=253&countdisplay=1&start=0&addcountview=Yes

 

Hey,

When I say bogs the motor down, it is like trying to go up a 40 degree incline at 50 mph in 4th gear. The motor can't develop enough power to push it up the hill. It slows the truck down unless I shift it. Heck it won't do 65 up a 40 degree hill. It is a 4 cylinder, but it should know when to downshift properly.

We have a Rav4 in the family and it downshifts perfectly going up hills or when you want to accelerate to pass someone for example. Mine just goes boooooooooooooooooooog. lol

I will contact my usual trustworthy independent garage and see about getting one of those kits put in it after I take it to a different dealer and ask them to look into it.

Thanks guys!
Bob