Manual shifting my 4Runner all the time

[lightspeed]

I have a new 2014 4Runner Limited -- very happy with it overall except I find the acceleration and hwy performance to be a bit sluggish.... however this is in large part due to the fact that I traded-in a more performance-oriented Infiniti G35 sports coupe 6-speed manual, with a higher power:weight ratio.... very different animal.

As a consequence, I have found to get the driving performance I want from the 4Runner, I am almost always in manual shift mode. I start off lights in 2nd gear habitually, and drive it as if I were driving a manual with no clutch.

When passing on the hwy I will drop to 4th gear to get in the power band I need. Only when cruising on the hwy is my transmission in automatic mode D (Drive).

Is this okay? Am I harming the transmission or overly stressing anything by this style of driving? My shift points are very smooth and well-before the RPM's get too high.

Is this common among 4Runner owners?

Thanks in advance for your comments, advice and experience.

 

[crackiswack]

I have a new 2014 4Runner Limited -- very happy with it overall except I find the acceleration and hwy performance to be a bit sluggish.... however this is in large part due to the fact that I traded-in a more performance-oriented Infiniti G35 sports coupe 6-speed manual, with a higher power:weight ratio.... very different animal.

As a consequence, I have found to get the driving performance I want from the 4Runner, I am almost always in manual shift mode. I start off lights in 2nd gear habitually, and drive it as if I were driving a manual with no clutch.

When passing on the hwy I will drop to 4th gear to get in the power band I need. Only when cruising on the hwy is my transmission in automatic mode D (Drive).

Is this okay? Am I harming the transmission or overly stressing anything by this style of driving? My shift points are very smooth and well-before the RPM's get too high.

Is this common among 4Runner owners?

Thanks in advance for your comments, advice and experience.

i came from a g35 coupe as well, you'll just get used to it. your mileage will probably suffer the most, but no harm should be done

 

[1000MPH]

I use manual off road or in the mountains going up or down hills, otherwise the skinny pedal shifts the gears just fine. Don't be afraid to push it.

 

[470SNC]

it wont do any harm unless youre really pushing the trans. Having no front sway bar on my FJ and my GX, you almost have to manually downshift for turns to keep it more stable.

 

[cbreze]

I manually downshift a lot and drive in 4th around town. I don't even use auto anymore, second nature to just put the lever over and leave it in 4th then down/up shift manually accordingly. FYI @ the OP, you don't need to go to auto mode to get it into fifth. You said you went back to auto for the higher highway speeds., Just up shift to "5".

 

[Intruder]

When passing on the hwy I will drop to 4th gear to get in the power band I need. Only when cruising on the hwy is my transmission in automatic mode D (Drive).

It takes a bit for the ECU to learn your driving. Do a search on "sluggish" and you'll find lots of threads describing the same thing. Don't be afraid to push that skinny pedal down. My 4Runner probably weighs a lot more than yours and I've gone from 90 to 150 in no time passing transport trucks and 5th wheels on the highway just by mashing the gas pedal. You'll never match the performance of a G35, but it does fine for what it is.

Starting from a red light you need to lose the drag racing mentality. I laugh every time someone in a sports sedan races me off the lights. If they need to beat a 6500lb truck to make themselves feel good then they probably don't have a lot going for them. And the way the lights in Calgary are timed, if you're accelerating hard you're just racing to the next red light. My truck already drinks a lot of dino juice, so I don't need to accelerate hard all the time to make it even worse.

 

[Antman]

I manually downshift a lot ....

You gotta watch that, in my experience.

I was downshifting a lot too- especially while towing my boat. 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and then just using the brakes to stop- just like i would do with a manual tranny. Why did I stop doing this?

Numbers don't lie! The Scanguage revealed that my downshifting practice was introducing A LOT of heat into the tranny that sometimes took several minutes to dissipate. Much bigger and faster temperature spikes than the tranny was seeing while accelerating, even up steep hills.

Heat is bad. I let the brakes deal with it now! They are more than up to the task and I would rather put the stress on components that are easy to replace.

My .02 FWIW.

 

[Greg_Canada]

I had to drive my old 3.4 99' like this because of the low hp/torque. I sold it with 250,000 miles on it and it drove great. My new 1GR taco does just fine, but sometimes i do shift into a lower gear manually so i don't have to wait for the tranny to downshift.

 

[homeyclaus]

You gotta watch that, in my experience.

I was downshifting a lot too- especially while towing my boat. 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and then just using the brakes to stop- just like i would do with a manual tranny. Why did I stop doing this?

Numbers don't lie! The Scanguage revealed that my downshifting practice was introducing A LOT of heat into the tranny that sometimes took several minutes to dissipate. Much bigger and faster temperature spikes than the tranny was seeing while accelerating, even up steep hills.

Heat is bad. I let the brakes deal with it now! They are more than up to the task and I would rather put the stress on components that are easy to replace.

My .02 FWIW.

So if you're not towing, it's as okay as okay gets on an internet forum. I downshifted mine with confidence, no issues with the transmission. I pulled a camper all over the east coast with my 4runner in 4th most of the way just because of the realities of the gearing and engine power band. The 1GR-FE is quite rev happy as is Toyota tradition, so the engine doesn't care much either.

Antman - did those transmission temp numbers still happen with your trans cooler?

 

[1engineer]

So if you're not towing, it's as okay as okay gets on an internet forum. I downshifted mine with confidence, no issues with the transmission. I pulled a camper all over the east coast with my 4runner in 4th most of the way just because of the realities of the gearing and engine power band. The 1GR-FE is quite rev happy as is Toyota tradition, so the engine doesn't care much either.

Antman - did those transmission temp numbers still happen with your trans cooler?

They only happen when you drive something that is "spruce mica."

 

[Antman]

Antman - did those transmission temp numbers still happen with your trans cooler?[/QUOTE]

First of all- Where the hell have you been? We've all been worried sick!:suspicious:

Second of all- I don't have an aftermarket tranny cooler.

 

[1engineer]

You gotta watch that, in my experience.

I was downshifting a lot too- especially while towing my boat. 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and then just using the brakes to stop- just like i would do with a manual tranny. Why did I stop doing this?

Numbers don't lie! The Scanguage revealed that my downshifting practice was introducing A LOT of heat into the tranny that sometimes took several minutes to dissipate. Much bigger and faster temperature spikes than the tranny was seeing while accelerating, even up steep hills.

Heat is bad. I let the brakes deal with it now! They are more than up to the task and I would rather put the stress on components that are easy to replace.

My .02 FWIW.

Antman is of course correct. When you brake, either using the transmission or brake calipers, you have to dissipate the energy that your vehicle in motion creates. Pretty much the only way a vehicle can get rid of that energy is convert it into heat, again, either through your transmission or through your brake rotors. Adding a transmission cooler helps to keep the heat away from the source but your brakes are already designed to get rid of the heat. Ever wondered why they make rotors so thick and out of steel? Yep.
One of these days we will have a decent vehicle that can take that braking energy and use it for something besides wasted heat. Say charging a battery or something....

 

[homeyclaus]

They only happen when you drive something that is "spruce mica."

You're jealous. Admit it. :roll:

 

[homeyclaus]

Antman - did those transmission temp numbers still happen with your trans cooler?

First of all- Where the hell have you been? We've all been worried sick!:suspicious:

Second of all- I don't have an aftermarket tranny cooler.

Where have I been? Remember the blond guy? He got much faster. And he has a little sister, she climbs stuff better than he did. I should take them to the next meet-and-greet so they can ... inspect ... everyone's mods again.

Speaking of which, there is no howto from you on how to solder a combination trans cooler and cup holder. You need that.

 

[Supermoney]

You probably floor it everywhere and drive it like a race car, I'd suggest getting a more performance oriented car as the 4Runner is not that at all.

 

[Intruder]

You gotta watch that, in my experience.

I was downshifting a lot too- especially while towing my boat. 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and then just using the brakes to stop- just like i would do with a manual tranny. Why did I stop doing this?

Numbers don't lie! The Scanguage revealed that my downshifting practice was introducing A LOT of heat into the tranny that sometimes took several minutes to dissipate. Much bigger and faster temperature spikes than the tranny was seeing while accelerating, even up steep hills.

Heat is bad. I let the brakes deal with it now! They are more than up to the task and I would rather put the stress on components that are easy to replace.

My .02 FWIW.

Yeah, the only time I downshift to slow down is in icy conditions (transmission heat isn't an issue then!) and off road on steep descents. In fact, I leave it in D 99% of the time unless I'm off road, then it stays in sport shift 100% of the time. Much better to use engine braking on a steep descent so you can keep control instead of skidding on loose rocks or dirt. Brake heat off road is also a major issue, and you don't want your brakes to fade when you really need them.

 

[cbreze]

You gotta watch that, in my experience.

I was downshifting a lot too- especially while towing my boat. 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, and then just using the brakes to stop- just like i would do with a manual tranny. Why did I stop doing this?

Numbers don't lie! The Scanguage revealed that my downshifting practice was introducing A LOT of heat into the tranny that sometimes took several minutes to dissipate. Much bigger and faster temperature spikes than the tranny was seeing while accelerating, even up steep hills.

Heat is bad. I let the brakes deal with it now! They are more than up to the task and I would rather put the stress on components that are easy to replace.

My .02 FWIW.

Thanks for the input. Interesting that downhill would create more heat than uphill.
So on a long downhill mountain grade running say between 3rd and 4th could be problematical from a heat standpoint. Did your scan gauge also show a significant heat increase when not towing extra weight? Now you have me wondering how long it would take for any significant temp increase to occur since once at the bottom it usually gets level for a while.
Thanks for the post.

 

[470SNC]

I regularly downshifted in my 07 FJC, lasted 152k miles until i traded her in with no tranny problems.

 

[Antman]

Thanks for the input. Interesting that downhill would create more heat than uphill.
So on a long downhill mountain grade running say between 3rd and 4th could be problematical from a heat standpoint. Did your scan gauge also show a significant heat increase when not towing extra weight? Now you have me wondering how long it would take for any significant temp increase to occur since once at the bottom it usually gets level for a while.
Thanks for the post.

The temp still will increase while not towing, but not nearly as much. I wouldn't consider it to be harmful to the transmission, but I prefer not to introduce more heat than necessary. Just be aware that you will be adding heat on those long downhills...

I kept an eye on the Scanguage while offroading and like [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION], I used manual mode the entire time in 4lo and the transmission never got over 170 that I observed.

Sometimes, towing in the summer, my transmission temps are downright scary, spikes over 220 IIRC! Things cool down quickly after the spikes so I'm not too concerned.

 

[IAmTodd]

[MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] I've seen the huge converter temp spikes as well on mine when engine braking. I've taken the same approach as you. Leave it in D and let the ECU and brakes do the work.

Temps still take a while to settle with an extra cooler.