Cold weather gear shifting issue?

Hi all. First timer here. I live in Denver and have had my truck a little over 18 months and 21k miles.

About a month ago we had pretty cold temps in the teens/20s with a lot of snow. A lot of the undercarriage was coated with snow/ice. Got into my truck in the morning to head to work and shifted into drive, took my foot off the brake and nothing happened. I shifted into park again, then drive, still nothing. Went through neutral and reverse, then heard/felt a pop and then I was moving. It happened one more time while I was at a red light, in drive with my foot on the brake and when the light turned green I released the brake and didn’t move until I felt that pop again. After that, there was no issue on my 25 mile drive.

Cut to this morning, again with temps in 20s but no snow or moisture and the same issue happened again but only while I was still in the driveway on that initial shift into drive after a cold start. This time, I noticed the shifting was really soft, meaning the shifter just kind of glided through all the gears almost like I was pulling it through sand and I couldn’t feel any of the normal “clunking” as I hit each gear until drive.

Has this happened to anyone? Any thoughts on why? Should I be concerned or scheduling an inspection? Thanks!

 

Kind of sounds like the gear shift lever is moving but the connection to the transmission isn't changing. I never owned a tacoma before so i don't know exactly how the linkage is hooked up. Other than that when was the atf changed last? Was it replaced with the correct atf?

 

the parking brake is known to get stuck sometimes. that's probably what happened. and the "sandy" shifter is just due to very cold/thick fluid.

 

^^
This

 

just so I’m interpreting this correctly, the parking brake can get stuck despite not being engaged? Is that anything to worry about at all?

 

not usually when dry but with snow/ice it can get packed up in the drum brake mechanism and do the same thing

 

Check your transmission fluid level . You could be low on trans fluid
When its cold , transmission fluid is thicker
Its harder for the transmission pump to suck the oil from the bottom of the pan .
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/