Hey, all you (auto) tranny experts. I have a question. I just noticed that in the mornings and after my xA has sat for several hours, that my car shifts firmly from 1st to second and when I am doing about 40-45 it will hold itself in 3rd for several minutes before it finally goes to 4th. This is not a problem caused by me horsing around with it, it just started acting this way right after hitting 14000 miles and after its one year birthday. And the only power adder on her right now is a K&N typhoon.

Does anyone have an idea what it is or have seen it? I am thinking of taking it to the local Toyota dealership, but want to know what I am up against first. I have seen it happen in Hondas and usually the tranny will start to go a short time later.

 

you have absolutely nothing to worry about
all it means is that your coolant temp is low (look at your gauges and the engine temp light will be blue)
it wont shift to fourth because your overdrive is disabled until your coolant temp is in an optimal range
if you pay attention to the coolant temp light next time you will notice you will be able to shift to fourth right after the blue light turns off
its just the cold weather thats causin it

 

in the summer time this shouldn't happen me thinks

 

ok thanks, i will look for that next time. usually in the mornings it is around 55-60 here. but, i think that i looked for it before in the afternoon after work and it is doing it everyday now and the temp outside is usually around 80 (yeah, it is a hot winter this year in fla).

 

try if the coolant lights off, it back to normal

 

your car will do it after its been sitting for a few hours
im not saying it will be for a long time, but it will do it

 

If you have any issues and have not tampered with your tranny, I say take it to a dealership to get it checked out. The trans is covered under the powertrain warranty which is 5yrs/60K miles. If there is a problem, they should fix it free of charge. If no problem is found, there should be no charge. Make sure that you tell the service advisor every detail of the problem that you're experiencing. Also, make sure that you keep the Repair Order, especially if there was no problem found. If you should encounter future problems, or god forbid, the tranny fails, you have documented proof to show that a previous problem existed and that it could have lead to further damage of the tranny.
If you encounter any problems with your vehicle, make use of your warranty...that's what it's there for. As long as it's not a wear-and-tear issue and you have not done any modifications that lead to a part failure, your vehicle will be covered under your remaining warranty period.