I've had my 2005 V8 4runner SE for just over a year now and I love it. I've been using it for numerous things such as towing my camper, towing my girlfriends horse trailer, hauling tools, and hitting the odd mud puddle. (I made the thread about me getting stuck and having to be winched out..) Anyways, I've been having an issue with the tranny I think. I towed my girlfriends horses to a show today and I could smell a burnt smell when I hopped out of the truck after parking the trailer. Also, when I go to nail it to merge or pass someone the truck has a bit of hesitation...kinda surges for a couple seconds before launching. When I was stuck in a mud puddle I was trying to rock back and forth. The mud was so slick the wheel would spin just by being in park! I nailed it in drive, got frustrated and slammed it into park and it made a nasty grinding sound. I'm wondering if there is some damage done to the transmission? Like I mentioned if I put the pedal to the floor it hesitates for a second then decides to take off. That can't just be drive by wire can it?

When in doubt, take it to a transmission specialist. Or it may be time to do a hard reset and you need to pull your fuses and reset the learned driving habits in the ECU.

Try replacing the tranny fluid if you suspect if it was overheated, did you exceed your towing capacity?