2019 Tacoma Hesitation

Ive always been die hard Toyota, but I can’t help but question the new ones. I wrecked my 2004 last year and decided to pull the trigger on a new one. I love the truck but at any given time the truck will hesitate especially when it downshifts and rpms start to climb. At first I thought it might be trans but now I’m starting to wonder if it’s engine. No lights on the dash at all, anyone heard of this?

 

Do some investigating. The trans searches for gears. Its a known issue.

 

Welcome to the forum Adam

 

I’m leaving it with the dealership next week and letting the master tech drive it until he figures something out.

 

Reason why I got manual... Hope you knew this before buying your new truck...

 

Welcome to the forum!

If by hesitation you mean that no matter how much you press the gas, the transmission refuses to react, I’ve been complaining about the same since I picked up my new Tacoma 2-1/2 months ago.

I feel it most when I’m traveling at 60+ MPH and I need power to pass, mash the gas...and nothing happens.

I’ve been told on here that “that’s how it is.” There are TSBs the dealer can perform, we can have the dealer check the trans fluid level, there are tuners we can buy, we can shift the automatic manually, we can fill up with high grade gas, etc., all of which supposedly help to some degree.

I started filling up with 92 octane gas. It has helped with the engine response, but the transmission remains as stubborn as always.

 

It’s more like a miss actually but seems like there would be a check engine light if something was wrong...??? Opinions on OVTune, please

 

Maybe there is a TSB for that.
I just had one performed when I had my truck serviced.

 

It is an unfortunate feature of our Powertrain and yes it feels like something is wrong. My girfriend drove my truck last weekend and literally in the first 90 seconds she says "I think something's wrong!" To help mitigate:

S Mode
ECT
OVTune

I pray that it doesn't impact the reliability. I've always thought that an engine "lugging" was bad for it.

 

M/T Taco owner for 3 weeks now and I have found that on the highway in 6th gear, if i mash the throttle not much happens, only slightly better in 5th. Downshift to 4th and all is good. This is likely because 5th and 6th gear are fuel saving overdrive gears.

I think the same thing, 5th and 6th gear with A/T are also OD, so why not just manually shift to 4th gear when highway passing performance is needed?

 

Mine does it. Feels like a hard miss sometimes

 

Your truck is 6cyl.? I went with 4 cyl. And mine gets up and goes if I stomp on gas to pass on highway.

 

Yes mine is a 6cyl, thanks for the input guys.

 

I actually think the opposite man... I’m not a mechanic but comparing auto and manual (had auto, now manual) actually 6 th gear now pulls.... with the auto NOTHING happened... the biggest difference that I noticed was that before, even being slow, on 6th auto I could get to 100mph with the rpms still under 3k rpm... now I’m at 80mph at 2.5k... the difference in ratios is huge..

Again, not a mechanic but in my opinion 6th gear on autos is almost useless unless you want to ride low beyond speed limit... but if you want to be below speed limit 5th is the one...

 

"Issues" with mine. Normal to some if it helps any
1) cruising at 1200 rpm want to speed up a bit so I give it some gas, nothing, some more, nothing then bam! Up to 2500rmp!
2) coming to a red light 1 in like 10 it feels like it slams out of gear and into neutral or into 1st.
Clunk when I shift to reverse from park but only if it wasn't parked perfectly flat.

Tbs update helped tranny alot.

 

Are u talking about a fish bite miss? Will u research that and see if it aligns with how it feels?

 

the 2019 Tacomas already come with the Updated torque mapping and Transmission tune from the factory. You already have Toyota's best effort with that power train.

2016 -2018s come from the factory with the old tune, so the ECU update will only help those models.

You're only option is to either get OVtune or get a Ford ranger.

There not much else you can do with that Engine/Gearing/tranny combination.

You can re-gear to 4.88. that seems to help even with stock wheels.

 

Similar situation for me. Came from a 2004 V6 Manual to a 2019 V6 Automatic. Huge change. Accelerating while moving means major boggage virtually every time, keep pushing the skinny pedal then eventually hard downshifts of 2-3 gears. Simply placing the transmission in D doesn't cut it for me.

Every time I drive:

• ECT on
• Transmission in S mode (S3 or S4 around town, S4 or S5 on highway/freeway). Manual downshift when descending hills. So yes I am shifting almost as much as if I had a manual, but the automatic is nice when in traffic. 6th gear is useless.

For me this manual intervention thing is required to make these V6 automatic trucks driveable. Getting used to it and not a big deal coming from a manual. Otherwise love the truck.

After warranty expires:

• 4.88 gears
• OV Tune

 

5th and 6th are Overdrive gears. I usually leave it in 5th unless I see RPMs go above 2400/65mph.