Weird shuddering on brand new Tacoma when cruising down highway or climbing up hill

Lite throttle make sense. But does it do it in ECT?

 

Yes, noticed it first when on ECT (Spicy) and going up hill and keeping it at a steady 2700RPM.

 

Talk to tuners. This used to be a common occurrence on the original B03 ECU calibration.

 

Looks like you got your answer but just to throw in my experience too. I also had this happen specifically rolling in highway traffic doing about 40ish. I was only stepping slightly on the gas and felt it stutter. Found that it was an issue with my tune as well. I was able to recreate it and really figured out that you just have to push through and make the tune shift. Or switch the manual and shift that way. I'm hoping to re gear soon and see if that effects it at all.

 

Thank you for your helpful information. This forum can be intimidating sometimes and your assistance is pretty awesome. Keep ya'll posted on what I do to correct it.

 

I know it's too late for the op now, but maybe it helps to drive the truck first before you're going to purchase it. If something doesn't feel normal, don't be afraid to walk away, or mention it.

 

Definitly drove it before and didn’t notice anything like what it’s doing and this was my first new car purchase so I assumed since we can land people on the moon, automobile engineering for a brand new vehicle might be “dependable” out of the box.

 

My truck did some weird things about 100 miles after my OTT flash. I was driving up a long hill at about 55mph and around 2,500 RPM (not sure which gear) and the truck starting stumbling badly, almost like it was running out of gas. I left off the gas and it went away. Haven't been able to recreate it. My tuner says he never heard of that issue. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I doubt it. And in general the engine has not felt as smooth.
Overall the tune is still worth it; better power, better throttle, better shifting.
I have a "medium" throttle setting which I don't like and I plan to get it changed to the "light" setting. Maybe I'll wait for an updated version of OTT and hope some of these things smooth out.

 

2500 rpms is 4th gear. By letting the pedal off, you unlock the torque converter

 

Is the issue with low transmission fluid from the factory still a thing? I thought that was addressed by Toyota for newer models.

 

More like a myth.
I did check mine and it was within the tolerance.
The pump will tell you if you are low on the fluid.

 

2022 with 23,000km here. There was the occasional shudder since new, but after getting OTT done 3 weeks ago it’s unbearable. I can recreate it going up a slight grade between 90km/h and 110km/h. Feel like it’s missing terribly and it’s about to quit.

It’s also been exhibiting a few other glitchy drivability issues.

Scheduled to revert back to OEM tune soon.

 

oh yea, that fucking heat shield. i have two scars on my hand. one for each time i've tried to break the fill plug loose on the transmission.

 

There are many tacomas running these tunes with no problems. There have been many with shudder issues that a torque converter,tranny fluid replaced or new tranny installed that fixed the problem

 

I have a 2023 TRD Off Road with about 9000 miles stock no tune. I am having the same shudder issue. It is very slight and not sure most people would notice it. It drives me so crazy that I am not sure I will keep the truck if the dealer can't fix it. They will be looking at it this Monday June 19th. I have been told to mention to them about reflashing TSB and / or possibly resetting ECU maybe it is a learned behavior and needs to relearn. But the best description is that it feels like a manual that is in too high of a gear.

 

Well as far as I know it’s normal for rpm to go up when climbing hill, because the truck has to use more power to support weight plus speed, and also depends wether you were on cruise control which will definitely cause that rpm to go up, I get that on my Tacoma as well when climbing hill, all I do is lower cruise control speed by 1 mile or 2 depends how far is hill. And that fixes mine. Also many factors contribute to this, like oversized tires, lifts , wheel spacers, towing or heavy payload . Etc

 

the truck isnt downshifting with light throttle or steady throttle, in the higher gear selected via auto trans logic. these trucks "race" to get into 6th for epa/fuel economy... the truck seems to know it "needs" to downshift but, the shift logic, and throttle position "fight" one another, to see who's right. when this happens, you get the shudder. only real cure right now is to, drive in S4 or S5 under 60 - 65 mph (below 110km/h). I have heard swapping trans fluid to a "better" synthetic fluid helps or solves this but, I cannot confirm this. It seems some of us are really sensitive to the shudder, and cant stand it. I wish we could fix it 100%. good luck. Ski

 

having a 23 I doubt they will "reflash" or update your truck, as there are no updates at this time. understand resetting the learning, will make it "wonky" for awhile while it is learning again. and then unfortunately, it will, "relearn" your habits, and the trucks habits, and start doing the same exact thing, fairly soon. it may "fix it" for a little bit but, it will come back.

having them check for transmission shudder, and torque converter issue, may be a good/better suggestion as well. Ski

 

Great explanation, but sucks if this can't be fixed. Also, I have noticed it drives better with ECT on. Not sure if you should drive with ECT on all the time.

 

Been dealing with this since new, both with factory tune and OTT (lite and mild). Problem is worse with lite when the truck gets to 5th gear too early. Driving in mild helps with the 45 mph shudder but is less drivable at low speed like cruising around a parking lot when I'm at low speed, light throttle. I guess I need a tune with characteristic both.