Hesitation, Now Low RPM after Battery Swap

scootermcrad

scootermcrad

Member
Hey guys! 2007 4 Runner, SR5, V6. 165K miles (ish). Sealed transmission. Vehicle has only been serviced by a dealer.

I saw a few things related to my issues doing a search here, but the situation was just different enough to inspire me to start a new thread.

First issue...
I've had a hesitation in my T4R since I bought it new in 2007. Weird hesitation from stop, almost like it can't find a gear. Very random and very difficult to repeat. So, I've always just considered this a "fly by wire" problem and nothing more.

Fast forward 7 years, I developed a rear seal leak on the transmission. Seal was replaced. No noticeable change in behavior with shifting or take off. Fast forward to early this year. Seal was weeping again. Toyota replace and says the seal was a "bad design" and they replaced it with a new and better seal. (Probably a BS explanation for screwing up the seal during installation) Presently, I'm starting to notice more hesitation in take-off if I need to take off quick in traffic, or something to that effect. Babying the throttle seems to prevent the issue, but i'm concerned this may be leading up to something bigger. It's like it can't find the gear and then it catches causing a sudden hook-up and tire churp. No warning lights on or anything like that.

When they replaced the seals, they said they of course topped it off. Could it be that they didn't? Since there's no dipstick I really don't have a way to check it. When I asked them about doing a flush and fill they said that they don't recommend it and if I did have it done it would be several hundred dollars.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Is my trans about to go south on me? Just low on fluid? Converter giving out?

Second Issue: (EDIT: Problem solved. THANKS!)
I've never had a rough idle problem. In fact it's always ran fantastic. Yesterday my battery decided it had enough (which I knew was coming). So I replaced it. 10 minutes in and out. It ran great before, but now it idles very low. I assumed the ECU just needed some time to find its way again, but it's been about 30+ miles worth of driving since yesterday and it's still idling on the rough side. Plugs still have another 15-20K left on them, so I don't think it's that. Especially being that it ran fine with the old battery right before I replaced it.

Could something have changed during the installation of the new battery that's not ECU related? Could the hook up of the battery have caused a surge in the system somehow? Again, no lights on the dash. Will there still be an event code that can be viewed? Thoughts?

Thanks for any help!

Cheers
S
 
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my only thought for your 'first issue' is to check the level. google the ATF exchange using cooling lines here on t4r, there's instructions there.

second issue thoughts: i have read it is recommended to let the ECU work at idle for ~15minutes after hooking power back up. *i guess* driving it right away screws with this calculation? i've had these issues since i cleaned the throttle body. never let it sit at idle and hoping it doesn't need reprogrammed.

in your shoes i would disconnect the battery for 15, reconnect, start and sit idle for 15. it will still take a few days to learn your driving habits, but after a week hopefully good to go.
 
You need to determine if your first issue is a trans related before going any further with it.

For the idle, clean the throttle body. Disconnecting the battery caused the ECM to lose the learned values, so now it has to relearn them....this doesn't usually go well if the throttle body is dirty. I've had them take an hour of running plus some driving to complete the relearn. Clean the T-body, disconnect the battery for 30 minutes, and try it again. Very well could be the cause of your hesitation too.
 
I'll +1 the ECU reset to solve the idle issue. Had the same problem when I replaced my 11 year old original Panasonic. It would also be good practice to make sure A/C is turned off before starting so the engine speed it's "learning" is without additional load.
 
Don't know about the 1st question but on the 2nd, it will take a little while to sort out the relearn process.
Can take a couple days.
Seems like for me its close to 10+/- starts and drives to get back to a normal idle.
Usually the driver side window, auto up/down, function stops working and seems to start working about the same time as the idle. In my experience.


Good luck with the transmission.
Some seem to think the fluid will last a million miles? A life time I guess.:repuke:
 
Haven't had the transmission issue, but I've had the same low idle issue going on with both my 4runner and Tacoma after the batteries were disconnected or swapped. Thought I had the 4runner fixed but it started doing it again to the point where I just watch my voltage drop from 13 to 12.4 or less while sitting at lights because the idle is too low to excite the alternator. I'll have to play with both this weekend and see if I can get them to idle right.
 
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the responses!

Good news is, the 2nd issue has cleared itself up. I guess I didn't give it enough time to re-learn everything. Seems to be idling just fine now. I would also guess that the throttle body could stand a good cleaning as well. That certainly never hurts.

For the first issue, it doesn't happen all the time. Maybe a couple times a week, or something. Trying to decide if I want to make more of an effort to try and recreate the hesitations. It's always been a bit annoying, but with it getting worse I just get concerned.

Thanks guys! Any additional info, thoughts, or experiences you can share on the transmission stuff would be helpful.
 
Hesitation makes me think about 02 sensors right away (upstream) and cleaning the air flow sensor. if its the transmission your leaning towards i would think the shifter solinoids may be the culprit
 
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super.secret said:
Hesitation makes me think about 02 sensors right away (upstream) and cleaning the air flow sensor. if its the transmission your leaning towards i would think the shifter solinoids may be the culprit
Click to expand...
Interesting that you say this, actually. I was thinking about the C02 sensors. I noticed that after the idle issue corrected itself and the computer caught up that "Issue #1" seems to be much more difficult to recreate. Maybe all this is computer related. Could also just be my imagination, being that I'm so focused on the issues, right now.

I'm trading this thing in next year. I want a 5th gen before they go away, so I really just need to make it to about this time next year. I'm really starting to see a lot of things starting to happen with this thing as it approaches 10 years old that are beyond what regular maintenance would prevent (LED's out, rear glass defroster starting to quit, weather stripping dry, rattling sky roof, heat/AC questionable, etc.). Baby on the way, so we gotta wait a bit. Just need this thing to hang on. It's been fantastic overall. It would suck for that trans to give up now.
 
on the hesitation and NO CEL my guess is the fuel system needs some injector cleaner. I do use techron in all my vehicles .have had no fuel delivery problems. injectors do get dirty and if they open improperly this issue you have can happen.

I also add 1 OZ of Marvel Mystery oil to the fuel to 10 gallons . works good to lube and reduce fuel system corrosion issues with the alcohol fuels used .

if it does get bad enough I would expect a p0300 code.
 
Quick update on this. I know I always appreciate people following up on their threads with bizarre issues and how they resolved them.

So as of now, I have basically stopped experiencing the hesitation issues. It happens once a great while, but not like it was. Shortly after experiencing these issues I got a small demonstration of how many "dummy lights" can be displayed. Resolving that problem (cleaned the battery terminals and tightened things up) seemed to make the problem go away. Probably related to traction control sensors and ABS, I suppose. Weirdness....

Anyway, every once in awhile I still get a slight hesitation like it can't find second gear and then it grabs, but it's pretty much always done that.

And with regards to the LE purchase, we are putting it off until next year, now that it seems the 2018 with continue with the 5th gen design. We just had a baby, so daycare costs sort of kill it this year too. HAHA! We'll see. Gonna' make this thing last as long as I need to. Still just an awesome vehicle. Just wish I didn't have so many LED's out and a skyroof that rattles for days...
 
same problem

I'm hoping somebody might have some different ideas as to what I can try next. I've tried everything that has been posted in this thread but have not had any success yet. I had disconnected the battery after changing the 02 sensors and that's when the trouble started. the idle went below 500 and my t4r is so sluggish when pulling out its unreal.no every once in awhile I'm getting a smell of gas. I've disconnected the battery for over 30 minutes and then let it idle for over an hour. I've cleaned the throttle body and repeated the process. I'm fresh out of ideas with the exception of going to a dealer and I really don't want to do that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks.
 
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