I've had my TC for almost 2 months now and have a little over 3000 miles on it. Every so often if I go to drive my car after its been sitting outside in the cold for 5-8 hrs at least and I when I accelerate it shifts all the way up to 3rd no problem (I have an automatic) then I'm hitting about 50mph its not shifting into 4th gear and the rpms are at 4500-5000 at least. Its reving pretty high and I cant figure out why. If I let up on the gas then it will shift to 4th, but if i continue to accelerate to see if it will shift and it doesn't . I'm not flooring it either... Really weird. I continue driving and its fine. It only does it once in a while though. Anyone else experience anything like this? I havent modded anything on my car, its all stock. Sorry if this is the wrong forum. Any help is appreciated. I will probably have the dealer check it out when I get my 1st oil change.

 

are you letting it warm up before you drive it?

 

the tranny wont shift into 4th till you are up to operating temp
its normal
its a saftey thing

 

even in a 5 speed?

 

That doesnt sound right. That it wont shift unless the car is up to temp. It should shift regardless. If i were you just take it in and have it inspected. Beware they will tell you If they dont expieriance the problem they wont fix it. Been there done that with toyota. I have an idiling problem that happens every now and then, took it 4 times still they wont do anything until they see it happen.

 

this kid aint too bright

 

I am typically leaving work when this occurs. So I go to my car, get in, start it up and back out. I go out to the road (which has a 55mph speed limit) and take off. Its done it twice this week so far. Today I was just testing to see if it would shift once I got to a higher speed and still stayed in 3rd even at about 75mph. I let off the gas and then I felt it shift at about 55-60mph as it was coasting down. I haven't heard of a trans not shifting into 4th for any safety reason, but that would be news to me.

 

Take it in honestly. Maybe if the car was cold it would go longer before shifting that i think i can understand. But not shifting for a longer time sounds really odd. Take it in it sounds to be not good. It's warrantied and you dont want something to happen while you drive to take it in for your own sake. It wont hurt, if they say nothing is wrong and it's normal then move on. If it keeps continuing to do that take it in again then call scion themselves.

 

I hate automatic trannys, they can be very finicky, thats why I only have manuals, plus they're more fun to drive

 

I agree! i have heard that manuals last longer. So i bought a 5 speed.

 

have you checked the fluid level?

 

you know now that you mention it, the same thing happened to me but only once.

 

manual is more fun to drive only when there's power i plan of getting a M3 in the future. :D

 

this is normal until the engine warms up (maybe 4-5miles).. it's done so the engine will operate at higher rpm's to warm the engine up quicker.. nothing wrong with it..

 

It's perfectly normal, happens to me all the time when I first start my engine, sometimes it locks out 3rd gear if I go too fast without letting it warm up first. It's a mechanism put in place to allow your engine to heat up faster (Higher sustained rpms, more heat generated, faster your engine heats up) Don't be too alarmed.

 

my maxima used to do that kinda ____, wouldnt shift correctly when it was cold (i mean cold, like 10 degrees and ____ - had synthetic fluid in it too, but the car has 150k miles on it so wgaf). anyways, take it to the dealer when its cold, tell em to fix it, if they dont, call corporate.

 

Well it didn't do it this morning on my way to work, but its in the garage all night, so its kept a bit warmer. I can't say how it will act in warmer weather since its been consistently cold the last 2 months. So some of you say its normal and some of you say its not. At least I'm not the only one having the issue. I should be taking it into the dealer next week for my oil change so hopefully they can tell me if its normal. Of course it won't exhibit the same behavior around them.

 

Check the owners manual. My 2002 olds has this "Feature" as well. It keeps the engine revs up to warm up the engine. In several of my previous cars the owners manual recommended putting the shift lever in low to accomplish the same thing. Now the computerized trannys do it for ya.

 

I concur with the above statement. I too was having this "issue" and was worried about it until I asked a lot of mechanic friends. It is perfectly normal for a car not to shift into 4th gear until it is warmed up. That means you should probably wait a couple of extra minutes so the car can warm up. Once i began letting my tC warm up, ive never had this problem again....its been about 4 months (including all winter months)

 

how long do you let it warm up?