Tacoma Lurch - Transmission problem

My 2019 has been acting up by not engaging into gear when first starting. The first few instances sure did seem like the rear drum brakes locked, but recently it has begun to really seem like the transmission.

incident #1 : pulled out of gas station after fueling up and having no issue getting to "D". Began accelerating only to feel like i was stuck in 1st gear if not less. The truck would not even go 10mph. It would just lurch forward stop lurch forward stop upon acceleration. Had to pull over. Tried cycling through the gears. Tried turning on and off. Nothing worked. Eventually went to sport and it began to drive again. Then flipped back to normal "D" as i was going... no more issues.

incident #2 : start up after a day at the lake. Would not go forward in "D". disengaged / reengaged the emergency brake multiple times ( to eliminate the locked brake drum issue ). No resolution. Ultimately had to restart and start the truck several times and cycle through Park to Drive. Then normal.

incident #3 : put truck into gear and it would not go forward. gave it some good acceleration and would just spin the rear tires ever so slightly. again had to cycle through gears and wait for it become normal.

My problems definitely sound like this sites reports. https://thelemonfirm.com/2020/02/18/transmission-problems-in-toyota-tacoma-trucks/

Curious if other owners have had this problem. Search results only bring up our common gear hunting issues. I'm curious if this is a common issue as well. The truck drives normally every time after its initial start up into gear issues. Thanks

 

Friend of mine does the same on his 2019 trd...claims he was told its normal. I haven't noticed it yet with my 2020...my 2020 even shifts gears better when it needs to making the truck drive more fluid. I'm thinking the 2020 transmission has been upgraded with some improvements over the 19. When i spoke with the dealer i got the truck from, they had several 2019 models on their lot...one was very close to what i wanted but black instead of quicksand. You'd think they would try to move that truck harder. Instead they pushed me hard into the 2020 which was what i wanted to begin with, but now they would need to order it. Had to wait a bit longer than 6 weeks, but really glad i did. Imo, its the perfect truck i always was hoping to get.

 

The key is to get it to do what you described when you take it to the dealer..

 

the delay into gear problem was fixed with programming in the 16's
that website seems like a lawyer scam for old people... they have it listed as 15's having same transmission.
how many miles on truck? how often has it happened ? 3 times ever? how long have you had the truck?

what kahanabob said is true. if you go to dealer and tell them you've had this problem that has only happened 3 times in a year. they will problably not be able to duplicate it. or they will need to keep your truck for 4 months and hope that it acts up... maybe there is a problem but it needs to be replicated easily

 

Had it since October 2019. It has 5k miles on it. Good to hear the delay was fixed with programming. Perhaps the TSB update can resolve my issue

I drive it to the Lake hulling one waverunner mostly. It sits in the garage for weeks at a time. It has happened 3 times to the extent that there was a significant delay in actually driving off.

 

You're still under warranty, just take it into the dealer and have them address it. Even if they claim it is "normal" or "not reproducible", you have a record of reporting the issue.

If it doesn't get addressed now, you keep bringing it back if it continues to happen and eventually it will be fixed or you can explore the lemon law.

I think its probably software related and can be fixed by a reprogram.

 

I'm thinking you don't drive the truck enough on a regular schedule. Try using it everyday. At any rate this doesn't happen very frequent with a friend 2019 trd, plus its not that pronounced. Seems like the dealer claimed they all do it to so extent....it just the way that transmission behaves. If really bad i'd see the dealer about it...maybe they can set it operate more like the 2020's.

 

Check the tranny fluid level. Mine was doing some rough up shifts when I got it and other annoying things until it heated up, which improved it, but not completely rid it of issues. I checked it and found it just under a qt low from the factory, now it does fine. Couldn’t hurt to check it.

 

This
I still need to check mine....

 

Update : Yesterday. Went to drive the truck off. Would not go past 25mph and was stuttering. "transmission temperature" light came on , went away, check engine light stood in. Got it towed to dealership. Code is for "low fuel pressure", they are storing my truck for months associating it with the recall. I'm officially in a avalon rental car until possibly October. Sad sad sad. My lake season is basically officially over here in Vegas without a truck. :/

 

Once you get it back, I'd still check the tranny fluid, you can ask the dealer to do it along with your fuel pump but I'd just do it yourself. Mine had the pump start to fail and thankfully they had one last pump in the parts room that Toyota ok'd them to install to put me back on the road until the recall is sorted out. That and I told them a truck or nothing on the rental. F150 was all that was available and they must have had a heart attack when they saw what 4 months of F150 rental was going to cost them.

Anyway, back to the tranny fluid. When I was getting rough shifts, this was a while back when I got the truck, I told them what it was doing. They said they checked it 40min later after I brought it in and it was full. I still doubt this because it needs to be checked at a certain temp and I highly doubt it cooled to that in that short of a time since I drove it there. I bought a quart and the washer from the parts room and I left. Did the check procedure I found on here the next day, fully cooled and allowed to heat to correct temperature for checking. It took almost the full quart and my shifting never again had a problem.

Its kind of odd that the tranny temp light came on, Mine just showed a check engine after it stalled. By that I'd do the check when you get it back since it is known that some trucks came from the factory low and a quart of fluid and a washer is cheap. You can do it even without the truck on a jack.