Sequential Shift is BACKWARDS!!!

[Dot Calm]

The 5th gen power basically sucks…. oops…. let me rephrase that: the engine mapping, shifting mapping, converter lock-up and drive-by-wire were designed by the Prius engineering team. Fuel mileage is cool bananas though.

One way to get this slug to move is using the ‘S’ sport mode and keeping the rpm’s in the happy zone. The problem is: the sequential shift is BACKWARDS!!!

A little history here: sequential shift is like the gearbox used on a motorcycle. To get to any gear, you must shift through each individual gear. In autos, this was first used in racing for faster shifting. And whether shifter karts, WRC or F1 (before paddle shifters) a downshift (under braking) is ALWAYS a bump forward and an upshift is ALWAYS a pull on the shift lever. Every auto manufacture (except Toyota) uses this shift configuration as adopted from racing.

If you have never owned another car/truck with sequential shift and never done any racing, you likely would just get used to the backward Toyota way. But, it drives me crazy. At every shift I have to tell myself it is backwards from normal, but my brain just doesn’t want to do it. I flat out can’t shift properly because it is 100% against common intuition.

So…. time to mod: It is simply a matter of swapping the pins on the plug for the switch that get pressed when you bump the shifter. If you can extract the pins, this is a simple 30-minute fix. But, I had trouble removing a pin and broke the wire :-( So, I had to cut and solder. I used a RJ45 connector, which worked great. So, now I get to shift like Sebastian Loeb in my slug of a 4R.

I broke the light green wire on this plug. The gray removed just fine. If you can swap these two wires you are done.


This is the other end of the plug. Both of these pins removed easily.


Solder, shrink tubing to extend the wire.


RJ45 with final connections. Now I just need to replace the '+' and '-' on the shift consol.

 

[harper7]

The 5th gen power basically sucks…. oops…. let me rephrase that: the engine mapping, shifting mapping, converter lock-up and drive-by-wire were designed by the Prius engineering team. Fuel mileage is cool bananas though.

One way to get this slug to move is using the ‘S’ sport mode and keeping the rpm’s in the happy zone. The problem is: the sequential shift is BACKWARDS!!!

A little history here: sequential shift is like the gearbox used on a motorcycle. To get to any gear, you must shift through each individual gear. In autos, this was first used in racing for faster shifting. And whether shifter karts, WRC or F1 (before paddle shifters) a downshift (under braking) is ALWAYS a bump forward and an upshift is ALWAYS a pull on the shift lever. Every auto manufacture (except Toyota) uses this shift configuration as adopted from racing.

If you have never owned another car/truck with sequential shift and never done any racing, you likely would just get used to the backward Toyota way. But, it drives me crazy. At every shift I have to tell myself it is backwards from normal, but my brain just doesn’t want to do it. I flat out can’t shift properly because it is 100% against common intuition.

So…. time to mod: It is simply a matter of swapping the pins on the plug for the switch that get pressed when you bump the shifter. If you can extract the pins, this is a simple 30-minute fix. But, I had trouble removing a pin and broke the wire :-( So, I had to cut and solder. I used a RJ45 connector, which worked great. So, now I get to shift like Sebastian Loeb in my slug of a 4R.

I broke one wire on this plug. The other removed just fine.
View attachment 75150

This is the other end of the plug. Both of these pins removed easily.
View attachment 75151

Solder, shrink tubing to extend the wire.
View attachment 75152

RJ45 with final connections. Now I just need to replace the '+' and '-' on the shift consol.
View attachment 75153

Never thought of that!Very cool mod and it did take some getting used to the "Toyota way" as my last car with the sequential was a M3 and as you stated the opposite way.Never liked or got used to the M3's paddle shifters as I grew up steering left handed with my right on the shifter with 4 and 5 speeds.

And also as you mentioned 270hp is plenty of power but designed to get good gas mileage and not put the power to the ground. Regearing fixes that! 4:56's and stock tires and you'll smoke them off !

Here's the M3 SMG shifter.............

 

[Dot Calm]

Here's the M3 SMG shifter.............

That's the way a bump shifter is supposed to be.

 

[alc9020]

That's a great mod. Which wire are you swapping? I see in the picture you have the shift block unbolted as well, do you have to do that in order to reach that connector? Thanks.

 

[4ShoreRunner]

This is awesome! I didn't like that it was backwards either - I had low hopes for this thread when I opened it. I was like great another dude complaining about something you can't fix. I stand corrected! Well done!

 

[1engineer]

Sorry dude. I have owned several inline shifted cars in the past such as a '70 Camaro with a vertigate shifter and others. I have also driven vehicles all over the world including left hand drive 3 speed on the column trucks. My dad had an old wrecker I used to drive that was a 16 speed with three levers and 3 different shift patterns. To each their own but it was no big deal to get in a Toyota 4Runner and look at the shift pattern and go "Huh. Toyota is mimicking an automatic console transmission shift" and start shifting. No problems at all.
I don't use the sport shift all that much but when I do I can have it floored and still have plenty of time to think what direction I need to move the lever to go faster. It's not a race car and I am not pretending I am going through turn three at Leguna Seca in a GT car.

This mod is not for me but at least you are not like a lot of guys and just complain about something instead of doing something about it so good job there. Maybe it's because I am left handed or something.

 

[thebwlife]

Never thought of that!Very cool mod and it did take some getting used to the "Toyota way" as my last car with the sequential was a M3 and as you stated the opposite way.Never liked or got used to the M3's paddle shifters as I grew up steering left handed with my right on the shifter with 4 and 5 speeds.

And also as you mentioned 270hp is plenty of power but designed to get good gas mileage and not put the power to the ground. Regearing fixes that! 4:56's and stock tires and you'll smoke them off !

Here's the M3 SMG shifter.............

So at 70mph what kinda RPM are you running with the 4.56's and tires?

 

[GrantK]

I don't think it's backwards at all. If you compare it to vehicles with a standard (non-sequential) center console shift the farther you move the shift back, the lower the gear.
P
R
N
D
2
1

 

[Dot Calm]

That's a great mod. Which wire are you swapping? I see in the picture you have the shift block unbolted as well, do you have to do that in order to reach that connector? Thanks.

Swap the light green and light gray wires on the harness female connector. On the switch side male connector the colors are different, but you don't need to access the plug unless you brake the wire like I did.

You can get to this connector by just removing the top trim piece. It is right below the sticker with the 'G' on it. No, you do not need to remove the shift housing. I did that because I broke the wire and had to get to the male connector.

 

[Dot Calm]

I don't think it's backwards at all. If you compare it to vehicles with a standard (non-sequential) center console shift the farther you move the shift back, the lower the gear.
P
R
N
D
2
1

If you use it like it is designed, i.e.- a bump shifter, it is backwards.

If you like the design, great, use it. If not, this is the fix.

 

[Antman]

I think it was intuitively backwards as well- nice job!

Now, if you can figure out how to make the + and - correspond correctly and look factory we will be having a arty:

 

[macntatsch]

Every auto manufacture (except Toyota) uses this shift configuration as adopted from racing.

I flat out can’t shift properly because it is 100% against common intuition.

I disagree... My first test drive in a BMW was a disaster as I was used to the backwards push to upshift and pull to downshift and managed to throw the salesman in to the dash with a poorly timed downshift! The Passat, Jetta and Montero I previously drove all had the backwards shifting. Porsche and Audi use the same pattern as did the Hyundai I just had as a rental.

 

[Dot Calm]

I think it was intuitively backwards as well- nice job!

Now, if you can figure out how to make the + and - correspond correctly and look factory we will be having a arty:

I will be working on the '+' '-' display this weekend and will post up my solution.

 

[westwind77]

I just press fwd thinking 'go, go, go', and pull back thinking 'whoa, whoa, whoa'. Then again I'm not driving a Ferrari so I just laugh at myself.

 

[1000MPH]

Instead of + and - mine goes to "11"
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EbVKWCpNFhY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[mtbnole]

it's not only a Toyota thing. My Acura TSX is the same way. it has always seemed backwards.

 

[jambo]

I don't think it's backwards at all. If you compare it to vehicles with a standard (non-sequential) center console shift the farther you move the shift back, the lower the gear.
P
R
N
D
2
1

All my previous cars were identical to Toyota . And actually in my mind it makes perfect sense, to go forward push the lever forward and to slow down pull back . Even airplanes use the same kind of thinking, whether it going nose down or spooling up all levers, control stick forward and slowing down using speed brake or reverse thrust everything is pulled back .

 

[Tallicon]

Not having driven a sequential shift before, I have no preference. However, I can understand how unnatural it would feel to push on a lever while you are being rocked back. That's if the 4runner had enough power to do so... Hahah

 

[Monkeymenno]

I will be working on the '+' '-' display this weekend and will post up my solution.

Here's an idea. I haven't had mine apart yet as it is being delivered in two weeks, but, if you can get the small 'T' shaped shift placard out and flipped it so the back was showing instead of the front depending on the way toyota painted the placard it may show correctly. The 'D', would be a vertical mirror image of itself and look identical as would the 'S' and the '-' between them. The '+' and '-' would be in the reverse positions and orientated correctly. It would entirely depend on whether the inside of the placard would look the same as what is outside now, but in theory it could work. I will be doing this mod myself over the next few weeks as I hated the S mode in the 4runner I test drove. I will post an update when I know more.

BTW, thanks a bunch Dot Calm for doing the leg work on this one. Much appreciated.:yo:

 

[ic0517]

I like the kind you have to push the clutch to the floor, but to each their own.