Hey everyone,

I'm having a weird issue with my 2009 4Runner V6 Sport edition.

My transmission seems to be having issues shifting up after slowing down to make a turn. For example, as I'm coming out of a turn and I go to accelerate again, my 4runner revs abnormally high and then shifts. Its not a hard shift it just seems to not know to shift.

I have already had the fluid changed in the transmission and that did not help.

I have also noticed that my gas mileage has dropped a good amount in the last six months.

Could I have a transmission going out or could my Throttle Body Position sensor be going bad.

Please let me know if anyone else has had these issues and what the fix was.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Chris

I had a similar issue a few years ago -- don't panic, it may be something simple. Mine would appear to drop into neutral between shifting from 1 to 2, then S L A M hard into second.

Get yourself a can of DeOxit and a flashlight, and maybe a mirror or your cameraphone.

Disconnect the battery before you begin. This will allow the ECM's to reset anything they may have learned, and plus you're working with electrical stuff so it's a best practice.

Crawl under the vehicle under the driver's side, just around where the pedals are. Look at the side of the transmission and look for a white plug coming out of the transmission with a cable going upwards. CAREFULLY flip the lever and disconnect the connector, and pull it upwards. Look at the pins and see if you see a bunch of corrosion in there. I bet you do. This is where the transmission ECM connects to the valve body and tells the transmission how to do things. If you have corrosion, they're not talking back and forth very well. I will never understand why Toyota put such an important connector in such a vulnerable place.

Take the DeOxit spray and blast out the plug and the base. Wait maybe 20 minutes, then do it again. The pins are fragile, so don't go in there with a wire brush or a dremil to clean them.

After 2 or 3 rounds of spray-n-wait, let the pins dry for about an hour or so. You want it all to evaporate and leave the protectant behind. Smear a little dilectric grease on the seals so when you reconnect the connector, it keeps moisture out.

Reconnect everything and go for a ride. If everything works well, congratulate yourself for not spending thousands on a replacement transmission!

Let us know how it goes so the next person can search-n-learn.

Sounds like a good plan. I will try that this weekend!

Did this work for you?

When I first purchased my 06 two years ago it did the exact same thing.

This would happen if the turn was on a slight downhill grade, my foot would be off the gas going around the turn going maybe 10mph.
I would straighten out most of the way through the turn and get back on the gas. The engine would rev like it was in neutral, id back off the gas a little and the revs would drop right before i felt a clunk and a small lurch forward like the transmission finally engaged.

thought "its a 15 year old transmission" shrugged it off.
After a couple road trips, trails, and puddles, i haven't had the same thing happen again. Maybe knocked some corrosion loose??

Is there a trick to flipping this lever? I got under my car the other day to try this because I've been having a similar issue, but I couldn't get that lever to flip

yeah, the harness is a pita to remove., i have flipped it 2x now...more of luck than my knowing what i was doing...now am trying the 3rd time...it wudnt budge., you push it up...and it kinda releases, then you wiggle the harness connector to pull it out. i sprayed a lil wd40 on the harness to get it free the first time. but now..i discovered 1 of the cables on the harness is cut, so i definetly need to change out or repair the harness--- and only way now is to cut open the bottom. this video might help you in unplugging the harness as well..


Bad Toyota Transmission..Can We Fix It For Free? - YouTube

so bit the bullet and cut the slot inside the cabin..stuck a pin inside the cut connection, glued it and joined the cut cable to it. the persistent p09xxx error code went away and i got 2 new ones p0713 and p0748 am thinking my continued driving of the truck with the initial error code may have made the fluid dirty. so i intend to drain and refill and refill the fluid and see how it goes. will buy a new harness if am able to get the Tranny MIL stay off