2010 1 Month old DCLB...shot transmission??

Man, I just came back from a short drive to the Post Office and I'm tripping out. I was driving normally and was approaching a red light, so I shifted from 'D' to '4' to engine brake along with stepping on my brakes...next thing I know, I hear a loud grinding and a beep from the instrument panel and the car suddenly slows (like something caught the tranny). After a quick second, it's gone. Like nothing ever happened.

This happened once before, almost a week ago, while on a sharp curve. I did the same thing, engine braked and I heard the grinding again, along with the beep. I thought it was a fluke, but now that it's happened again I'm more worried.

Anyone else experience this or might know what it is?

(btw, I have a 4x4, I was in 2H the whole time. I don't switch to 4H unless I'm off road.)

 

hmm, never heard of this....

 

stop shifting. or get a manual.

 

dont do the engine breaking thing and see if that helps

 

never heard of such a thing. I was always under the impression that unless you have one of the new type "triptronic" auto shifting trannies it was not wise to make a habit of manually shifting.

 

This beeping noise happened to me when I was doing donuts in the snow. I think it has to do with the VSC or something that is in the 09+ Tacomas. During this, the truck began to brake a little, and started going straight again. I don't know what would have made it do it on a shift though, especially with an automatic.

 

brake pads are cheaper to replace than trannies.

 

It could be VSC. I "manually" shift my auto all the time... no issues to date and I'm nearing 40k.

 

How fast were you going? What kind of road?

What you are describing sounds like VSC activation. Sounds bad....Works good.

 

hah. i wish "get a manual" was that easy.

yeah, it doesn't ever do it when i'm not engine braking. from what i've read, engine braking should do no harm. in my old '98 4Runner, I engine braked all the time by switching off my OD. Never had any problems. Thought it was the same concept here.

hmm...that's a good point. maybe when i slowed down it was hard enough of a deceleration that it caused the VSC to kick in. I don't know about that grinding noise though. It's not a pleasant sound to hear while driving your truck.

 

First of all, the powertrain in your truck shuts off fuel, soft locks the torque converter, and goes down through the gears, so what you are doing is....whatever. If it beeped though, that is usually the VSC system. Is there more to this story? Do you have factory rims and tires?

 

What exactly were the road conditions...was it wet, icy, dry, etc.

 

I'll second the VSC activation theory. It makes a horrible, horrible noise when it activates, it sounds like the truck is falling apart. Was it wet or icy when you were downshifting? I know I've had the grinding and VSC activation by downshifting while going down a steep-ish gravel road. Kept me nice and straight, though.

 

yeah, i made sure to read all about engine braking on the new systems to ensure i wasn't doing any damage to the tranny...from what i've heard from many other members, i shouldn't have a problem. guess that's not the case here :/

I hope that's the case. I wonder why mine is subject to VSC though...both times I was traveling at around 30-40 when i started to brake.

 

sounds like the traction control activated, may-be hit some oil or something.
The automatic transmission is computer controlled, and you trying to engine brake is counter productive.
Now here is the reality check, which is cheaper to replace
engine and transmission or brake pads ????
Which one are designed to stop the truck ????
If you said brake pads to the above questions, put your truck in drive and leave it alone.

 

from what you're saying, it sounds like i shouldn't even need to engine brake because the truck will do that all on it's own. i can work with that, if that's the case.

i do not have factory rims and tires...I have a 3" lift with 285/75/16 M/T's on TRD SE FJ's.

perfectly sunny days on dry roads.

exactly! that sound is crazy. looks like that's exactly what's happening here.

Yeah...i agree with you. like i said in the above responses, from what i've read and researched, engine braking should do no damage to your vehicle. what it seems with modern technology, though, is that engine braking is a moot point.

 

ya. like others have said, you might wana not do that anymore. oh and I drive 4x4 on the highway I keep my speeds below 60 mph. Gotta lube it somehow. H4 ofcourse. Nothing wrong with doing that.

 

Lift and big boots+sensitive VSC = beeping
Not sure what the solution is, try a search others have had this as well.

 

awesome. well thanks for the info guys...this all helps me feel a little less worried.

the collective knowledge of the forum is so much more worthwhile than the toyota techs...I called them about the issue and all I got was "well, it could be anything, really.."

 

Exactly. Doesnt even make sense.

Think you're at a race track or something, Dale Earnhardt?

Unless you're doing down steep hills, it's pointless. And besides, when you brake and slow down enough, you can feel/hear the car downshift by itself to engine brake. If you want to lock it in that gear afterwards, go ahead speedracer.

Maybe you're granny-shifting and not double clutching like you should be.