ALL 2016-2018 Should get the ECU update

There is a service campaign on that. Google Toyota recalls and enter in your VIN.

 

Yes.
https://www.toyota.com/recall?srchi...Vj7fACh3GcweLEAAYASAAEgJB9_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

My new 18 does the exact same thing. Run 91 and it’s gone.

 

YOUR SIR, ARE CORRECT - and that was a GREAT explanation by the way. Just curious, do you LIKE the way it shifts overall? Do you feel it could be better? Much better? I have an issue with cruise control - it wont hold 6th gear but maybe 35% of the time on the xpressway, and less if there is a strong head-wind. If there is both a slight hill with a headwind it will even jump down to 4th. I bought it mainly to pull utility trailer up north. How is it going to pull when it cant maintain itself in 6th? I may have to make a decision tomorrow on whether I keep it or not. Opinions and comments are welcome

 

That’s my dealers #1 daily complaint. The harsh 2 to 1 downshift that feels like someone hit you hard from behind. You could tell he was tired of dealing with it lol This is also the largest dealer in the state I would think so they get a ton of business.

 

You have to decide what is best for you. You need to decide if this truck currently meets your needs and wants. I suspect you bought the truck because you thought it did. If it does and it has some characteristics that you are not pleased with then you need to evaluate whether or not those are significant enough to warrant moving on. Luckily, this is not a marriage. It’s a truck and you own it and you can do as you please with it.

I can tell you from owning over 25 (well over) new vehicles over the years that all of us will just have to learn to deal with certain vehicle behaviors because there are no perfect vehicles. I’m happy, very happy in fact, with my Taco, issues and all. I also have several other vehicles in my garage MYs 16 and up and they all have something quirky about them. I think the TSB made mine a different truck and in a good way. What I’m hearing from people is that it might not be as positive for them but I also have to wonder if what they are feeling is the AI in the tranny relearning their driving habits. If so, it took my truck about 2,000 miles to learn mine.

What does all this mean? You have to do what is best for you. My current fun car is a VW GTI and it’s in the shop again. It REALLY likes the shop. It’s there a LOT. But, darn I love driving that car. My next fun car will be a 911. I suspect it will find its way to the shop just as much as my past German cars, but to me it’s ok. . Best of luck to you.

 

Same here. Yet I get stupid and think I can go back to regular and it’ll be ok. It’s never ok. Mine likes the good stuff.

 

Do I like the way it shifts? No. It could definitely be better. I'd gladly trade 1-2 mpg for this to drive and shift like my 2nd gen. In fact, I'm sitting at 18.9mpg overall in the 3rd gen. My 2nd gen was 19mpg over the course of its 60k miles.

I don't know why they cant just make it shift like every other vehicle on the planet. Simply smooth, linear acceleration and shift points bottom to top and top to bottom.

Yeah you're probably going to have to use an S-mode when trailing a utility trailer. Either that, or just slap it over to S4 when you get the surges and leave it there until you're on the flats again. This isn't unusual. I'd often have to do that in my 2nd gen. At 70mph+ with some wind, the truck just can't make up its mind. Smooth sailing in 4.

 

Is this TSB applicable for 2018 Tacoma’s with the 2.7l as well?

 

I'll add... it's just absurd to me that when accelerating quickly, all of the sudden it will just wuss out when it hits 4th gear. Do other recent model year vehicles do this? Is it truly a fuel saving measure or is it bad throttle mapping? I'm guessing it's the former, or they'd simply fix it. I'm tempted to believe they can't "fix it" without going outside the published fuel economy parameters.

I presume this is what the surge was pre-TSB. Same exact stuff happening, but much more pronounced. More precisely, more dead pedal when you hit 4th, combined with an even greater amount of "pop" when you continued to go into the throttle. With enough throttle, maybe it was dropping two gears? That's my guess, as RPM's would be up near/above 5k.

Pure speculation on my part.

 

I don’t think so.

 

I agree with you in that its a way to keep the required fuel specs in line with the Feds. I was told by my dealer's master Tech that Yota was trying to lead the pack with this newer technology and stuck out their neck a little too far with trying to meet these requirements. I truly believe the truck is doing what they wanted it to do (after a few TSB's), but it just doesnt feel right to John Q. Public (me included). I agree with you about 4th gear - this is the part that I hate the most. They invited me to drive another new one on their lot to compare - and its the same animal. My salesman drove mine - and he has a 2017 Tacoma - its the same animal as his is. It doesnt bother him as much because he is a driver that naturally "feathers" the accelerator. I also drove mine with their master tech mechanic in the passenger seat. He also said that its the nature of the beast when we hit the 4th gear lag. I cant help but think that Yota is getting some flack on this - and it will cost them some of their reputation. The Tacoma is quite far down on the list on Consumers Reports - not their normal performance for sure. Who knows, maybe they will get it tweeked right, but I have a feeling its a bad design flaw somewhere between engine and tranny matchup, and Federal Fuel economy mandates - and we can probably throw in emissions too. I dont think software is going to fix this, or it probably would have already been fixed.

 

My truck also has the "miss" and also drive conservatively (routinely get over 25mpg in the summer). I have run premium grade fuel on occasion but never consecutive tanks. I will try this and see what happens.

At this point I think I am going to pass on this TSB as beyond it's intended fixes it doesn't seem to offer any benefits once the transmission has gone through the AI period. My only complaint about the transmission is I wish it would hold higher gears longer and this doesn't seem to be affected by this latest update.

 

I think you'd notice a difference in a good way. It shifts through the lower gears more smoothly.

 

I would highly recommend the TSB. It has made a huge difference for me. I’d also highly recommend 2-3 consecutive tanks of 91 plus octane gas. I ran 93 from Costco and by the second tank my truck was a different animal. When I went back to 87 it started coughing/missing again within a hundred miles.

 

No reason to pass, its a great improvement to the truck's drivability. Better throttle response, smoother shifting, better shift points, holds gears MUCH better and, for me, better fuel mileage. I have almost 2000 miles on the new calibration and its great.

 

Sorry if this has already been addressed in this thread but is there also an ECU update for those of us with manual transmissions? Not sure if this is the same thing you folks with the autos are experiencing but If I try to shift relatively fast and give it some gas in second or sometimes third gear the truck can start "stumbling" while it accelerates. I'm not driving the thing like a sports car - just an aggressive acceleration. Seems like what some of you with the autos are experiencing. Anywho, at one point I thought I saw a thread that explicitly talked about an update for the manual ECU's too but now I cant seem to find anything about it. Going to get my 15,000 mile service tomorrow so I'd like to have the flash done if this is a thing.

 

Question. I had my 10k service last Saturday. Do they automatically plug-in and update all this stuff? I asked the guy and he said they don’t, only if a critical update. So is this something I need to just bring in and ask to flash the ECU for free? Also, how about updates to the radio/media center? The service manager at Toyota acted like he didn’t know

 

If anyone in NJ near the Burlington county area needs this loaded on his or her truck just let me know I could easily load it on your truck for you.

Just message me

 

give it a couple thousand miles and it will be back to its old habits