2017 3.5L Surging Under Acceleration

care to explain?

 

Mine surges under acceleration also. I'll try using mid grade gas next few fill ups instead of the 87 I've been using

 

My 2018 Tacoma started having the surging issue two weeks ago. Noticed it between 25-40mph. I took it into the dealership and they did the TSB update. After getting it back is was better at those speeds but is way worse between 40-65mph. Truck has less than 6000 miles on it. I took it back in to dealership and they opened a case with Toyota's tech support. Tech support told us this is normal opperation due to the way the fuel injector performs for fuel economy. I was also told that the update can make it more noticable. No codes showed anything diagnosticly wrong. I was told there was nothing they could do but I could call Toyota customer care because after they get enough complaints from consumers then they will issue a recall. My concern is if it is normal then why did it just start two weeks ago?

 

Can you describe what it is doing?

 

The surging you describe with a 6MT can be fixed with a TSB update, mine did the same thing and the software update fixed it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/software-update-for-the-manual.562550/

 

It surges/jerks during acceleration up to highway speeds. When it's at it's worst it almost feels like it is slipping and can't find the gear it wants. It reminds me of when my transmission was going out in my 94 Explorer years ago.

 

When did you get the TSB applied to yours?

I test drove a new 2018 truck that was really bad - felt like it had water in the gas tank. When I test drove the one I bought (also new), it didn't exhibit the surging at all, but after about 500 miles or so, it began to hesitate on acceleration. I took it in for the TSB update at around 1500 miles and it was much smoother, but then reverted to its old ways after another 1000 miles. It's definitely worse before the engine is fully up to temperature. I have switched gas brands, octane, ethanol content, etc. and not much seems to help (I always use Top Tier gas). 91 ethanol free may improve things a little.

I'm pretty disappointed in how Toyota could release something like this. Honestly, in my 35 years of owning vehicles, this engine feels the most unrefined/mis-tuned of any of them. I might not have bought it if it felt like this off the showroom floor.

 

I had the TSB update done last week and the surging is more noticeable now. The service manager at my local dealer said that Toyota says this is normal operation and the 2019 of the same model on their lot performs the same way. I have yet to go in to see if this is true. If my truck had done this during the test drive I would have never purchased it. I loved the truck until two weeks ago. I agree that it definitely feels as if it is untuned.

 

@txst @Tacomacap @sssr

Wow. I'm Blown away that a thread on surging got as far as this without someone suggesting the OVtune.

You guys wanna know why the engine surges?

Read this, and bask in the glory of Toyota's idiocy...

https://www.ovtuned.com/blogs/news/tacoma-1-05-tune-release-information-complete-changelog#comments

The latest version for the manual hasn't been released yet. But that's pretty much the jist of why the engines all over the map. That tune was developed with logging and feedback from a dozen 3rd gen tacoma owners here on TW for over a year and a half. It works.

 

Do you know if having the OVtune done effect the warranty from Toyota?

 

OVTune isn't detectable by dealers. So you're safe.

 

Well it might, but it's invisible, loaded via the OBd2. So you flash once and done. No tech would ever find it unless he was looking into your ecu cause you told them about it. There's about 1200 guys who have it now and IveI never seen anyone have problems at the dealer. And no one's had any transmission issues pop up either and some guys have over 60000miles on various versions of the tune.

The reality is, the truck runs ridiculously better on the tune, and it's noticeable right off the bat. In the alpha thread guys are getting 2-3mpgs improvement over stock because it's just programmed so poorly.

 

1.05 is, if the do a readout it says version: 1.05 now.

 

Good to know. I just don't have the money to spend right now especially on an issue that the manufacturer should fix. Thanks for the info.

 

They're not gonna fix it. The fact they let this slide in the first place is indicative of the current Tacoma engineering administration. If it ever gets so bad You're thinking of taking a hit on your investment and trading, I'd do the OVTune first. Saved me from trading in.

 

Yeah - I have been following the OVTune threads and am probably going to do it. Thank goodness for people like Mat who see the opportunity to help a community like us and I for one really appreciate what he is doing.

I guess my point was that in this day and age, with the technology on this truck and the engineering know how at Toyota, its amazing that we are driving a truck that runs this rough.

 

Mat decided not to change the ECU ID to 1.05 in the official release due to the concern it caused within the community. As before, you flash the 1.05 version that matches your previous ECU ID, and when viewed with a scanner/techstream, the ECU ID looks right.

 

I've got the same issues. I'm taking Toyota to Lemon Law mediation.

I'm not paying for a tune to fix an issue on a $30K truck that I bought new 6 months ago.

 

They aren’t going to fix it, because it isn’t broken. Toyota has had 4 years to “fix” the 3.5 and they really have not changed anything. Even the recent TSB is not globally applied and only targets very specific customer complaints on some trucks. This is because Toyota, perhaps arrogantly, is confident in the engineering and programming choices they made.

The stock tune is fine if you agree with Toyota’s design philosophy for the truck, and drive it accordingly. If your expectations are different, you may be disappointed. Average folk are buying these trucks by the dozen without complaint, and only notice the trucks drive way better than the 4 cylinder Toyota pickup they owned when they were 18 years old.

Myself, I understand the source of the complaining, but also appreciate the benefits of the stock tune in terms of fuel economy and, most importantly for me, range between fill-ups. Performance-minded guys will tune their Ferrari because the stock tune sucks.....I digress.

The Tacoma isn’t for everyone.....most people are happy with it.

 

Let us know how you make out.