Tranny shifts differently from 1st to 2nd than any other gear shifts.

Ive noticed this since the day i bought my 3.4l auto tran taco. The shift it makes from 1st to 2nd always feels a bit funky and apparent compared to the other shifts it makes for 3rd and 4th. It's hard to explain exactly what it feels like, but it's almost like a surging feeling. Like im in one of those rubber band powered toy cars we played with as kids (or at least id did). Or it's almost as if it takes a second or 2 to shift. like a long drawn out shift. that ends with a little bit of a tug. It only does this from 1st to 2nd. Is this normal?

 

is your truck doing this when the engine is cold or all the time?

 

Electronic Shift Solenoid is bad

 

It does seem to do it a bit more when the tranny is cold and a bit more when the A/C is on high. The slower im accelerating, the more annoying it is.

shift solenoid you say eh? i wonder if i can get one of those from a junk yard. you would think that with the number of 96-00 trucks getting scrapped for rust, there'd be a huge surplus of spare parts but i guess toyota wants to make sure you can't get them, that's why they pay 150% kbb for the truck.

 

I have the same feeling with my truck so you're not alone. I've just gotten used to it

 

I've noticed the same thing, but it hasn't really bothered me too much. It seems a little more clunky then the other shifts, but I think its just my timing is off more than anything else. Good Luck

 

Mine is even and smooth across all gears. I agree with racerboy. Solenoid

 

It probably isn't the solenoid.... There's been many threads on this before. The 3.4 shifts like that when it is cold. It's electronically done to keep you in a lower gear to produce higher RPMs so the engine can warm up sooner. It happens to most of our trucks and it is nothing to worry about.

 

How expensive would a shift solenoid be and how difficult would it be to replace myself? If its not hard I can try it just to see.

The warm up theory makes sense. But 50% of the time it still does it at op temp.

 

cool thread, mine shifts from 1st to 2nd at about 2300 rpms on the first startup of the day. every other startup and every other shift is much lower rpms..unless I'm accelerating fast

 

My truck does the same thing but only when I first start going. Other than that it shifts just fine to me.

 

Nice thread.. & very helpful...mine actually jus went away after I did a major 60k tune up... I will however though get my Electronic Shift Solenoid checked out..

 

What did you do on the tune up?

 

Timing belt, transmission flush, spark plugs, etc... I have a buddy that works for Toyota, so he basically hooked me up..

 

Ah ok yea I did that minus the plugs. Did you change the coil packs?

 

Yeah, he changed them also...

 

I have 142XXX miles on my truck I think it is time to do the plugs, wires, and coils.