The Beloved 3rd Gen Transmission About Got Me Killed This Morning

I bought my truck new Labor Day weekend, it's got about 2800 miles on it. Right off the bat, I hated the transmission (there's a thread around here somewhere with me bitching about it). But, I genuinely LOVE everything else about it. It's a fine truck, and I've gotten more used to the transmission. I've put nice wheels/tires on it and really made it my own. It's a sharp looking truck, probably the best I've ever had.

This morning, let the truck warm up, and left for work. I pull out of my neighborhood onto a pretty busy road. There's a curve just before my neighborhood road, so oncoming traffic, if they're speeding, can get up on you fairly quick. It's a VERY tricky spot.

Went to pull out of the neighborhood, and a car come ripping thru that curve, he was on me fast. I had to get on the gas aggressively, and here's where the trouble started. For a good 3-4 seconds (it felt like an eternity), the damn truck bogged dow, all but stalled out, and I could feel it bumping and searching thru gears 1st, 2nd,3rd, back to 1st...FINALLY it takes off. It was damn close. I don't scare easy, and it scared the total crap out of me. I mean, the truck was totally unresponsive, other than searching thru gears. Bogged down, stalled out, inept, and useless.

I don't care what nobody says, THE TRANSMISSION IN THE 3rd GEN IS A SAFETY HAZZARD. Period. Totally, completely inexcusable Toyota would put a transmission in a vehicle that performs this poorly.

I know what some of you apologist will say "Don't pull out in front of cars, dummy. Problem solved". **Trust me, I totally agree**. But, it doesn't matter how great of a driver you are, there are going to be scenarios that require immediate acceleration to get out of harms way/out of a situation, and my truck this morning failed miserably.

I don't know what to do. I'm gonna lose my shirt if I ditch this truck, but damn, this morning really makes me question keeping this thing. I'm a Toyota fanboy, I want to love this truck, I really do, but geez...

 

Sorry you had a scary experience, if you hate it/feel as though it's a safety hazard you should probably get something else. For what it's worth I think mine feels great. Good luck!

 

If you really feel like it's a safety hazard, then WTF are you waiting for? Get rid of it. Simple.

 

I've literally had the exact same thing happen. I pulled out of a parking lot, a car came blasting down behind me so I hit the gas and the truck bogged down and wouldn't move - it flat out suddenly wouldn't go, until it suddenly decided to. Scared the shit out of me.

I actually made a thread about it. I don't know if it's the transmission, or something traction control related or what, but I've had it a couple time now where the truck doesn't seem to want to go anywhere if I hit the gas after a turn.

edit: with all this, I haven't had the issue since the dealership did the transmission re-flash. I'm not sure if that fixed it or if it's just a coincidence, though.

 

Actually what is inexcusable is that you didn't take the truck for a long test drive before buying it so you knew exactly what you were buying.

 

Can I be honest with you, brother? My wife and I live modestly, we saved a long time to get this truck, I'm really not in a position to take a beating on it.

 

Is this the first time that you’ve had to get on the pedal hard?

 

Weird. On mine when I put the gear lever in first, it stays in first. Then when I clutch in and shift to second, it stays in second.

 

pretty entertaining. this same thing happened to me in a VW DSG box after they were released. it would crap out in the middle of an intersection and flash your life before your eyes.

i setup a NHTSA complaint for it. about 6 months later i got a 70-something page NHTSA report with my name on it as one of the instigators of the report. 6 months of work for the report. so, that's what the NHTSA does, they write reports.

in other words, nobody cares, and your only apparent solution if you want a Tacoma is get the MT.

 

Was the pavement wet?

 

Most of us have been there. Like you, I love my truck and usually will give Toyota the benefit of the doubt with respect to why they made the AT shift the way it does. At any rate, the tranny doesn't bother me and I learned early on in my ownership of this truck (going on 4 years now) how to coax it to do what I want it to do most of the time. Yet, that bog is real. For mine, the TSB mostly fixed it, but it still shows up on occasion. One thing I've learned that seems to help minimize it is when pulling out and turning, steadily and evenly press the pedal to the floor (don't just mash it - more like how with a manual transmission you would release the clutch and apply gas at the same time in a coordinated manner) and it will keep accelerating in a linear fashion. If I mash the pedal to the floor from a dead stop while turning, it will almost always bog and stutter for a second or so (which seems like several), accompanied by the dreaded high RPM downshift that puts you up against the steering wheel before slamming you back into the seat.

 

Yes Sir, there's alot of truth in this statement. This is my 3rd Toyota truck, and my other two were fantastic. I should have been more diligent instead of assuming this truck would be more of the same.

 

That sucks... Hope you find a resolution (maybe a tune).

Knew I couldn’t live with the auto after one short test drive. 3 pedals for me.

 

No, it was dry. Temp was around 50 degrees, it was a pleasant morning.

 

It happened to me a few times with wet pavement even in my 4Runner the damn traction control kicks in

 

Get a Pedal Commander. The problem isn't the transmission, at least not directly. The factory mapping for the throttle is not linear and can sometimes be unpredictable. PC makes it linear and also allows you to adjust the gain and sensitivity of the pedal. Best mod I ever did.

 

Same when it happened to me, twice. The road was bone dry. Damn thing just bogged down and wouldn't go.

 

Have you thought about re-gearing? I've heard that makes the transmission much more responsive. probably going to do that to mine. get some 4.88s

 

The truck definitely takes a while to downshift. I've switched lanes on the high way thinking I could just hit the gas pedal and I won't cause the vehicle in the other lane to hit his brakes. Alot of times not the case and I end up looking like an ass lol. I have a street similar to what you've described. Not a corner but more of a downhill. If I pull out of my street onto this main street and a car is coming down I need to either wait or mash the gas pedal because chances are the guy is coasting down the hill pretty quick. For the most part I think I've adjusted to the way the truck responds so I'm either using ECT or just adjusting my driving habits.

 

No apologies are in order, just don't loose your chit.

This is a learning transmission that will adjust to wear & tear or modifications. If you changed wheel and tires, well there it is.

Easy fix here though.

Start your truck and press the ECT power button, then Shift the transmission to S-4 and then to S-5 at the higher speeds (45-60) and that's it!

Your truck will eventually adjust and this procedure will no longer be required

Oh, and one more thing...Keep a clean pair of draws readily available at all times in the truck

Cheers