Transmission gear hunting

just did my first drain and fill at 14k miles and my gear hunting is gone for now. i was very surprised at how much better it shifted. i didn't expect any improvements but i was wrong. used this fluid:

https://www.idemitsulubricants.com/product/atf-type-tls-lv

 

I believe it is. Dramatic difference with ETC on.

 

Awesome. Thanks for letting me know. What kind of tune did you get soft, mild, or power per say?

 

i didn’t really request a type of tune itself. The tuner asked what modifications and plans were for the truck and went from there.

I did have a choice on throttle response. I originally asked for a medium throttle, and he warned me that with the stock tires many folks find it to abrupt.

i went with the Medium anyway, and after I left decided HE WAS RIGHT! Too touchy to crawl in a parking lot, kids school drop offs etc. I turned around, went back and he kindly reflashed for a stock throttle sensitivity.

 

I see. Guess i'll keep this in mind if i decide to get it. Overall how you liking it?

 

Im happy with it. There’s only so much anyone can do with the 3.5 - you have to acknowledge that’s it’s just a different drivetrain than the 4.0 (I’ve previously had a 2nd gen as well).

I’m happy with the 3rd gen and would do the tune again. Really makes this generation drivable.

 

^ this… I’ll second that. I had three 2nd gens, I do miss that drivetrain. I’ve got about 30K kms on my ‘21 now and only for the reasons I explained above (tune + 255’s) am I now enjoying it.

 

Thanks for the input. This is my first Taco and so far i love it. For me the gear hunting is what gets annoying so hopefully with this input I jump the wire to get the tune.

 

Get it tuned. Period. I hesitated for a while and read a ton of reviews about different tunes. I found a guy close to me who tuned it for my 33's and what a difference. Completely different truck. I upgraded to 4.88 gears and an AGM battery so he did another tune to adjust for the gears and to raise the charging voltage for the new battery. Awesome addition to the truck.

 

Apparently toyota got it right on some trucks. I have no issues at all with mine like others are whining about. Just spoke with a friend of mine this morning that works for our local water company. He just bought a new sr5 v6 and couldn't be happier the way his truck runs, and it has less than 1k miles on it. He did say driving the water companies fleet sr and sr5 tacoma's that were v6 auto's that some perform funky at times while others are very normal.

 

That makes me think transmission oil fill level...

 

This right here. My old 2019 had the shifting issue, and it significantly calmed down after about 5k miles. Granted, I bought the truck brand new, so this was the brand new ECU learning my driving style.

There's a good chance Toyota has an ECU update for the 2020's by now. Topping off the tranny fluid wouldn't hurt either. Might want to check around before you spend the cash on a tune

 

This is my take, especially after asking others I let drive my truck. There's two reasons a person might think it shifts perfectly:

1. you never spent much time driving a manual, so you're not really noticing the extra shifts, not in tune with the transmission

2. you always drive with a lead foot. It seems to shift fine when you give lots of gas

 

My truck is a 2021 and the shifting still sucked. Granted, this is a subjective thing. I also hear people whining all the time about the trucks not having any power. Mine is fine power wise. It's not my old Cummins but I didn't expect it to be. Regarding topping off transmission fluid, don't do it. These trucks don't have a dipstick and the process to check the level is a bit of a PITA. Have a shop with the proper equipment check the level or service the fluid if needed. I did mine at 30k as I tow a fair amount and use it off road a lot. I consider it cheap insurance to make that $7k transmission last as long as it can. YMMV.

 

This is correct. I just got my 2022 and am surprised how shifty it is. If I am being really light on the gas pedal, it really wants to upshift so fast and then if I need it little more gas, it goes right to a downshift. Just tons of shifting overall. The way around this is to turn on the ECT Power or just drive with a lead foot. It isn't soo shifty if I am driving with a lead foot.