Since the cold weather has set in here in Michigan, I've noticed that, on first drive after my xB has been sitting for a while (over-night), that the last up-shift to 4th (autotrans), takes a long, long, long time. The first two shifts are fine and normal, it's just the last one into 4th. After I've driven the car for a while, it shifts normally. Took it to the dealer and explained the problem. The answer I got was that it was "normal" for this to happen in cold weather, that the trans had to get up to a certain temp (135 degrees) for the last shift to take place easily. I sure don't remember this happening last winter but I also have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast this morning.....

Anyway, is this dealer BS or is their answer a legitimate one? It doesn't sound right to me, but before I go off on the service department, I thought I'd ask here....

Thanks for any help....

 

mine did that this morning, for the first 2 minutes i drove it this morning. my solara did that with 3rd gear when it was cold too. I think it's a normal thing...

 

i dont drive autos so I dont know what to tell you

 

You should drive my tacoma, nothing like doing 4 grand at 40mph til it warms up enough to give me another gear as I live right off the interstate. I keep releasing the petal and reapplying pressure and it will drop me another gear.

Beats me why autotrannys do this, I can see it locking out od when its hot, but not cold.

I normally take my xb to 2 grand and wait for it to get to 40mph, I then let off the gas so it drops to 1500rpms and locks the torque converter then take it to 60.

 

Have you checked the fluid to make sure it's not low? I don't have an auto, but my 5-speed shifted like crap with the stock fluid until I changed it out for synthetic fluid.

 

check your owner's manual, it is probably normal.

when your engine is cold, it performs what is called an enrichement cycle, where it idles at higher rpms and shifts later to help the engine warm up so it can read all its sensors and operate in its designated parameters. there are many threads about this for the other scions "my scion takes longer to shift on until it warms up" blah blah.

 

Mine doesnt seem to do this.... Have you tried throwing it into sport mode and shifting into 4th?

 

Thanks for the responses, guys. Looks like it's a normal thing and I'll just live with it.

 

"Sport Mode" shouldn't be called what it is, it's basically an upper limit for the transmission, not really a gear selector. If you put it in 4th and start driving, it still goes through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, then 4th. It's not like the tiptronic you would find on sporty acuras or mitsubishis where it actually shifts into the gear you want it to shift into.

In other words, no, throwing it into S4 doesn't do anything at all.

 

First gen does this too if its cold

 

As a technician I can assure you that this is normal. The fluid of the transmission must get to operating temperature before it will shift into overdrive. This is a normal condition that happens on all Scions and Toyotas. So, needless to say the dealer is telling the truth.

 

Anyway to change this in my 97 blowned tacoma? Should I just let it sit a few minutes or just take it to 5 grand and let the tranny shift when it feels like it? I seriously work right off the interstate and 10pm at night its cold and it just refuses to shift so I just keep it at 4 grand doing 40mph waiting for it to drop a gear then take it to 60 and at 55 it drops another gear. Its running synth mobile tranny fluid.

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I know that as much as this sucks, really the only thing I could recommend is starting your vehicle about 5 minutes before you leave for work to let the transmission get to operating temp. In 14 years of working on Toyota vehicles, I have never seen a transmission go bad because of what you are doing.