Does the transmission hunt for gear above 70 MPH?

[zznalg]

Hi All, It's been a long time since I was here. I'm considering a TRD Pro and read the following from a TRD Pro review at Motor Authority and am wondering if it's your experience:

"It didn’t take long on a highway road trip for my wife to demand I turn off cruise control. To keep momentum at over 70 mph the transmission constantly dropped from fifth to fourth gear and then back again. It’s grating. This occurred regardless of whether I was driving alone or with the family and luggage."

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

 

[FoxtrotRomeo]

The Pro has the same tranny as all auto 4 Runners.
Does it drop (change down) gears on some smaller inclines yes. Underpowered it is - by todays standards. Remember, our drive trains and bodies are a decade-plus old.

So, back to your you q - "...hunt above 70mph..." - depends on the road. I have a 2023 ORP - and its cruise control is a little wild. I think it is worse than the 2013 FJ Cruiser I sold a few years ago - and the FJ and 4R have the same bones.

 

[kenwilliams0803]

Yes. It does. On cruise. Use cruise or don't, it's your choice.

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[John in NC]

While using cruise, if I see a modest incline up ahead I feather in a little extra throttle to gain a few MPH to avoid this, by the time you get to the top of the incline you're back to your cruise speed (if you time it right). But yes it'll downshift on hills.

 

[zznalg]

Will it hunt around on flats in normal 75ish mph driving using cruise?

 

[02SE]

It should be fine, unless you find yourself driving into a strong headwind. Then it could shift in and out of overdrive.

 

[ejesauer]

Will it hunt around on flats in normal 75ish mph driving using cruise?

No; at least mine doesn't and I live in Kansas so we have the "flats" you speak of. It does in areas with a lot of hills and grades somewhat like others have said. It also depends on wind (it isn't exactly aerodynamic) your speeds, type of tire (the more aggressive, the more rolling resistance) AND how loaded down you are (weight, roof racks, etc).

We recently took it to the Ozarks in MO. On the smaller highways in the hills, it hunted a lot, but I've also had that happen driving every other vehicle I've taken through there. I always turn CC off going through that area.

 

[zznalg]

Thanks everyone. If I recall correctly, there used to be a transmission shifter position for "4" which would keep it out of overdrive. Does something like that still exist?

 

[mrblah]

flat ground, not really.

going up hill, you betcha.

big tires, armor, and weight will make it worse.

Regearing will solve most of the problems but still be present in some scenarios.

 

[nglayton]

Thanks everyone. If I recall correctly, there used to be a transmission shifter position for "4" which would keep it out of overdrive. Does something like that still exist?

Yes, you can still do this.

 

[kenwilliams0803]

Thanks everyone. If I recall correctly, there used to be a transmission shifter position for "4" which would keep it out of overdrive. Does something like that still exist?

Yes. Slap the shifter to the left to engage manual mode. If you are already in D on the highway, that will put it to "4".

Then you can manually control the gears by tapping the shifter forward or back.

Slap it back right again for Drive.

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[BlueHenT4R]

On cruise at 70, yes, it's going to downshift on a sufficient incline. But lord, it's a dream compared to the schizophrenic stock transmission tune on the 3rd gen Tacoma. That damn thing would change gears if a slight breeze hit it. I slapped a tune on it before it hit 2,000 miles. By contrast, I haven't felt any urge to tune the Runner.

 

[plummerg]

When ever I'm in an area of hills or inclines that cause more shifting than I like I just shift to the left into 4th. Works fine for me most of the time.

 

[YT-1300]

While using cruise, if I see a modest incline up ahead I feather in a little extra throttle to gain a few MPH to avoid this, by the time you get to the top of the incline you're back to your cruise speed (if you time it right). But yes it'll downshift on hills.

Yep...that's what I do too. It's the cruise control. I really noticed it heading west through South Dakota into a headwind, really long rolling hills. With the headwinds it was even reluctant to shift back to 5th after cresting hills too. When we tow the teardrop I won't use cruise and almost always keep it in "manual" 4.

 

[mbm112]

ECU/TCU tune can help alleviate the gear hunting


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[thatoneguy]

Upon buying my 2023 I almost immediately noticed how pessimistic the transmission is of the engine's ability to provide enough power at low RPM when using cruise control. If I'm in full control at 70mph, it'll stay in 5th gear on 3% grades or so, no problem. If cruise control is dictating things at 70mph, it downshifts at the first sign of any uphill. It's annoying enough that I don't use cruise control in slightly hilly areas--flats only. I am curious if trans behavior on cruise control was always like this, or if Toyota recalibrated stuff for 2020 to make it all work with the adaptive cruise control. Do 2010-2019's also exhibit this "downshift out of fifth on a 2% climb" behavior when the rig is totally stock?

 

[Forgetful]

Yup cruise control blows on this car with gear hunting and holding low gear too long. Doesn't matter the trim or year. Sucky sucky.

 

[Charles Bronson]

Our 2020 does this and is my biggest complaint with the truck. It's also the reason we had to remove the TRD Pro exhaust from the truck as the constant hunting induced massive and resonating cabin drone that was terrible on highway trips.

Even in early 2000s cars and trucks, this shifting behavior is not acceptable and is a well-known Toyota transmission logic tuning issue. When driving on the highway and without cruise control, the torque converter will unlock in 5th, thus allowing the truck to handle far steeper grades. With cruise control is engaged, the truck will downshift into 4th on almost any grade. Better yet, the thing will stay in 4th well past the grade and often times requires me to lightly stab the throttle to induce the upshift. What's really funny is when you hit just the right minor amount of grade and trans will go 4th-5th-4th-5th-4th-5th until you get out of the grade. My wife and kids use to think I was doing it myself and screwing with them.

How Toyota has not been able to remedy this absolutely awful shifting strategy and behavior is unacceptable.

If we're driving in hilly areas or areas with long grades, I often times just leave the truck 4th. It's a far more relaxed drive and at speeds below ~75mph running in 4th in areas such as these doesn't result in a measurable mpg impact.

 

[Charles Bronson]

Underpowered it is - by todays standards. Remember, our drive trains and bodies are a decade-plus old.

Power really isn't the issue with this truck. If Toyota would have simply dropped in their 8 speed auto which has been on the market since 2008, they could have remedied this shifting issue a decade ago plus the truck would be much quicker and would get 15-20% better mpgs.

Toyota is an ultra conservative brand that is totally risk adverse and typically 5 to 10 years behind in technology.

 

[baldrik78]

Living in Western Washington and driving in the Cascades quite often and before I switched to 35s, I always switched to S4 when trying to use cruise control. It is less wear and tear on the drive train to drive-train to run the engine a few RPMs high and alleviate the gear hunting on the transmission.

No that I'm on 35s, have yet to regear, and have an "empty" weight around 5200 lbs - I'm in S4 all the time. I don't even bother with overdrive - it won't stay there more than a minute or two even on the I-5.