Just yesterday I fixed what little vibration (at speed) I had with 14,000 miles on my Tacoma......I put a set of 17" FJ knock-offs on it with the Bridgestone's!
I know this is drifting off topic but, since I have a 2x4 prerunner sport, I have the non-agressive treaded bridgestones and my truck is smooth as glass at any speed you choose. Do you suppose these trucks are overly sensitive to what type/brand of tires you have? Has anyone charted a graph to see if there is any corrilation to tires? This means nothing of course, but my previous experiances with BFG tires has been dismal to say the least...
Back to the tranny issue. Isn't this same 5-speed auto tranny used in the Tacoma's also used in other Toyota vehicles, and has been used for a few years now in other vehicles? If so, do those vehicles show the same operational symptoms and have the same owner complaints?
I discovered yesterday that the service manager has never entered a complaint into their database on my truck, even after 5 complaints.
So if Toyota has a real popular vehicle and there's only X number to deliver to the dealerships (a lot less than the demand) whch dealerships get the hot sellers first I wonder?
Hint: Think warranty work.
Ok...called Toyota Customer Care, and "unloaded" on the guy regarding my dealer. Told him the whole story about how the service guy has blown smoke up my a$$ for 10 weeks, with the promise that the solution for my truck would be here "next week". I have every conversation documented precisley, and can prove that the service dept. is not only inept, but have lied on documents to Toyota concerning certain issues. When you balance tires FIVE TIMES and can't get it right, there's something wrong. Especially when two of those five times the road force balance was performed by someone who wasn't even trained to use the machine (Hunter DSP9700). In addition, the service guy was "supposed" to list the times I complained on the computer database. He listed NOTHING. Here's my point....
I want to visit with a Toyota Engineer. I want them to tell me on an official record that this truck was specifically and purposely designed to vibrate incessantly from 50 mph to 75 mph, and shudder upon upshifting and down shifting from 2nd to 3rd. If they can't affirm those facts, then obviously these conditions are NOT NORMAL, and the techs paid to fix these vehicles should be able to do their job.
Bottom line...what is a motor vehicle held together with?....FASTNERS!
What is the worst enemy of objects assembled with fastners?...VIBRATION!!
Do you expect a bolt or nut to loosen on a cheap push mower? Of course, due to the constant vibration. But on a $28K truck that is touted for it's tough reliability such as Toyota? I think not.
I want to visit with a Toyota Engineer. I want them to tell me on an official record that this truck was specifically and purposely designed to vibrate incessantly from 50 mph to 75 mph, and shudder upon upshifting and down shifting from 2nd to 3rd. If they can't affirm those facts, then obviously these conditions are NOT NORMAL, and the techs paid to fix these vehicles should be able to do their job.
Well of course they aren't "designed" to do that ... should know that from the guys who say their 5-speed auto shifts good and smooth, etc.
Obviously, there are some trucks out there with specific issues and I agree that Toyota needs to figure out what's wrong with these particular trucks. It might be a simple fix, or it might be something like replacing the whole transmissions on problem trucks. Toyota should be able to figure out the best solution. "Should" ... that's the key word here.
Here's just a thought. Has anyone tried to disconnect their battery overnight (or however long it takes) to reset all the computers? Once the computers are re-powered they go through a "learning process".
Wonder if that might help the tranny shift better. Worth a try since it's a simple thing to do.
More speculation, but the SM who finally got my tires to balance out said he thought the problem might be in the driveshaft collar. Different car altogether, but he said he used to shim the bracket in Volvos to make it go away. Since it's only happening here in 2nd-3rd, it would seem more likely to me that it's internal to the transmission, but.... In any case, Toyota should stand behind it since half the reason we shell out extra $$$ for their product is for the quality and customer support.
I have taken my 06' 4x4 access cab taco in two times - the first time I was told nothing was wrong - they checked (at least they said they did) the drive shaft and cruise control - I complained about the cruise control varying as much as 6-7 miles an hour when in moderate hills(mainly going slower than disired speed at bottom of hill, and shifting down 1 to 2 times resulting in the engine racing), rough shifting, excessive shifting, apparent, significant slack in drivetrain, feeling a "thunk" when taking off and stopping after getting the truck back, I checked it out myself - I found significant slack in the spline joint in the rear drive shaft - a different service tech drove it - he felt the "thunk" when starting and stopping ( btw, one of the service writers told me that there was a problem with the spline shaft) and after talking with the tech, they agreed to replace the rear drive shaft - I just got the truck back today and so far, I am not feeling the "thunk", I am however, still feeling the rough shifting with up shifts as well as down shifts - dealer has not mentioned any TSB's
The wife and I finally noticed the vibration today, but it only happened twice, and only after taking off from a stop and driving right. This could be something completely different I suppose.
I had this same thing with my 2002 Silverado 2500HD, and was told to change the rear differential fluid. I put full synthetic in and the vibration went away. I'm going to put Amsoil 80w90 in my Taco when the oil arrives. I'll post the results.
Well...here's the latest. I called to make an appointment with the "Dis-Service" dept. at the dealer. Having called Toyota directly apparently lit a fire under the service dept., and they called me wanting to try and fix my truck the same day I spoke with Toyota. It's been 3 weeks since they called and I'm just now able to put the truck in, having been away on business and vacation. Anyway...when I callled to make an appt. the service guy (liar that he is) said to hold on, "we've got a guniea pig". He went on to explain that while I was away, another customer came in complaining of the exact same shudder and vibration issues that I had brought forth. He said that as of yesterday, they had worked on the other guy's truck for 2 days, and expected to have it 2 more days to isolate the problem, and that Toyota had assigned a field service guy to monitor the work.
Either they have finally gotten off their collective asses and went to work on the problem, or I'm getting more smoke blown up my ***.
So...stand-by.
Well...here's the latest. I called to make an appointment with the "Dis-Service" dept. at the dealer. Having called Toyota directly apparently lit a fire under the service dept., and they called me wanting to try and fix my truck the same day I spoke with Toyota. It's been 3 weeks since they called and I'm just now able to put the truck in, having been away on business and vacation. Anyway...when I callled to make an appt. the service guy (liar that he is) said to hold on, "we've got a guniea pig". He went on to explain that while I was away, another customer came in complaining of the exact same shudder and vibration issues that I had brought forth. He said that as of yesterday, they had worked on the other guy's truck for 2 days, and expected to have it 2 more days to isolate the problem, and that Toyota had assigned a field service guy to monitor the work.
Either they have finally gotten off their collective asses and went to work on the problem, or I'm getting more smoke blown up my ***.
So...stand-by.
Keep us posted. I get mine back tomorrow,(they've had it since Wed..) They "had it on the computer" and said "its normal." Hmm, doesn't downshift like that from 5th to 4th, etc....No fix for the windnoise either....Grrrr...
Yes, it is "normal"- it's doing exactly what it's programmed to do! Can the dealership fix it without toyota creating new flashprogramming?-no. Do you or I or a bunch other people like it? of course not. However, I guess I've run out of ideas as to how to get it changed by toyota. I feel the only chance is if some geek wants to sit down and completely rewrite the PCM software and then sell it online- then you'll need a method of downloading it into your truck. You will have to find an independant shop to do this as toyota dealers won't touch it with a ten foot pole! So, here are your options:
1. Learn to live with it.
2. Get rid of the truck.
3. Wait quietly until powertrain warranty is up on most of these trucks and some hacker gets really bored and creates software(mapping) that corrects this deficency- that means about 4 or more years from now.
Re: Toyota addresses Tacoma transmission
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