Hard shift over drive when cold

My first winter with trd sport doublcab auto. Always the first shift into overdrive feels hard in morning then after that seems ok. 60k, just had all tranny fluid changed by dealer. I phoned to check that they checked the fluid level properly. They say it's normal when cold. Anyone else.

 

OP , do you mean while the truck is running an the TC locks in D or do you mean it's stiff to put the shifter into D before you start driving ?

 

Sorry it's when the tc locks for the first time, I am usually going down hill about 60 km per hour. My winter is victoria bc so not that cold? Thx jeff

 

If you're going downhill , are you sure it's not the engine braking you are feeling ?

ie downshifting rather than upshift or TC lock .

Where did you get your truck , Metro Victoria ?

 

I don't think it's the engine brake because it has also done it on the flat. I am probably overthinking it because it only happens once, then it's ok.. And sometimes I don't notice it at all. All other shifting seems fine. Just wondering if anyone else had experienced it. Don't know what else to check. Naniamo toyota.

 

You're not alone. My truck ('10 AC 4.0L, 50k miles) does the same thing when it's roughly 10 degrees or below. But, once the transmission fluid gets up to temp it's a non-issue.
Every automatic I've ever driven or ridden has done that when it's cold out. I'm sure it has something to do with how much thicker the colder fluid is and the extra work the truck's doing until everything warms up and thins out.
The Automatic transmission is designed to work with certain viscosity oil, and oil essentially "thickens" as it gets colder. At 70 degrees you can hop in and go, because the oil behaves like olive oil. At 10 degrees it's more like honey, or molasses.

Also, there are some vehicles out there where their computer will actually lock out the OD until the fluid hits a certain temperature. Not sure if Tacoma's are in that category or not, though.

If it bothers you, you can let your truck warm up for longer before you start driving in the AM and that should help with the late shift into OD. I usually only let mine warm up until it drops below 1k RPM's, but on mornings when I get distracted and it warms up for longer I notice I don't get that delayed shift.

 

Thanks I figured it was something like that