Tansmission jitters !!

[Jack Wruff]

My trans is weirding me out. Going up hills, it will hunt rapidly from OD to high and the same from high to 2nd. Has been doing this for 2000 miles and we're just on the last 350 mile leg of our holiday to get home and the CEL came on with the other two usual ABS lights.
Any help out there ??
Anyone experienced this before.
I did trans flush 4000 miles ago to Valvoline synth following the best method posted on this site after much deliberation and installed trans radiator with no problems.

 

[thegipper]

Start by finding out what the CEL light is on for.

Have you checked your tranny fluid level?

 

[alumarine]

What happens if you turn OD off?

 

[phattyduck]

What year is your 4Runner?

-Charlie

 

[3bears]

what year, how many miles, 2wd or 4wd. what codes ?

you said your coming back from a trip, how loaded, pulling a trailer?

you said you changed fluid and did a cooler, how about the filter. yes the filters on these are kind of a joke in my opinion, that's why I installed a magnafine filter in line to my cooler.

on many hills my t4r prefers to have OD off, and it has bee shown trans temps drop on hills with od off
ECT switch ? Not only does mine like OD off but ECT on when on hills

 

[gamefreakgc]

These transmissions will gear hunt even when everything is in good shape. Better to keep OD off during the duration of the climb, it's just easier.

Figure out that the codes are and go from there. My guess (and that's all we can help with at this point) is that the codes are engine related, not transmission and the ECU is pulling timing to protect itself. This translate into a loss of power up steeper climbs.

 

[Jack Wruff]

Thanks folks, all good clues to follow up. Silly me didn't take a code reader so will look into these in the morning. The last 350 miles home today was almost uneventful after dumping the codes by lifting the neg. Codes didn't show again. I didn't drop out of OD as that seemed to trigger the jitters by my observations from the past as the situation became worse. Hills were treated pleb wise, no shifting or buggering around with the gear stick. Just one time did it give a dose of the shudders. It's doesn't feel quite like a sudden death episode but it sure woke my wife up !!
I first noticed this sensation about a year ago. I really wasn't nasty and just felt like any other auto trans idiosyncrasy. That's mostly how I cared as it didn't worry me too much in the world of many car histories. But it is an issue now.
Thinking is that as the trans oil I changed out was pretty dark, it could be a spot of crud has landed on the seat of one of the valves in the tranny. I did install a microfilter when I did the radiator job BTW.
So, code cracking tomorrow. Maybe one of you will recognize some of these symptoms and offer up a path to follow.
I really like this car now that I've fixed the wandering steering problem by welding up the slip tube on the steering column. I can now drive 500 miles a day with no problem. Before, I was exhausted after 250 miles. And the Tundra brake upgrade is brilliant. I've seen many people having doubts and problems about this, mostly around bleeding the system. I eventually followed up a clue found in these pages which was to find a long gravel surfaced hill, drive down at 30 mph and slam on the brakes and make the ABS system function. I did this 10 times than bled the brakes again and all has been spot on ever since. Just the rear auto brake adjusters have been messed up by previous owner so they need a goosing to take some of the travel away. But they're brilliant. We did Glacier NP with all them hills, no fade, no shimmy, no problem.
Sorry for the ramble, just got home and unpacked. Time for a nap.

 

[VernySanders]

Thanks folks, all good clues to follow up. Silly me didn't take a code reader so will look into these in the morning. The last 350 miles home today was almost uneventful after dumping the codes by lifting the neg. Codes didn't show again. I didn't drop out of OD as that seemed to trigger the jitters by my observations from the past as the situation became worse. Hills were treated pleb wise, no shifting or buggering around with the gear stick. Just one time did it give a dose of the shudders. It's doesn't feel quite like a sudden death episode but it sure woke my wife up !!
I first noticed this sensation about a year ago. I really wasn't nasty and just felt like any other auto trans idiosyncrasy. That's mostly how I cared as it didn't worry me too much in the world of many car histories. But it is an issue now.
Thinking is that as the trans oil I changed out was pretty dark, it could be a spot of crud has landed on the seat of one of the valves in the tranny. I did install a microfilter when I did the radiator job BTW.
So, code cracking tomorrow. Maybe one of you will recognize some of these symptoms and offer up a path to follow.
I really like this car now that I've fixed the wandering steering problem by welding up the slip tube on the steering column. I can now drive 500 miles a day with no problem. Before, I was exhausted after 250 miles. And the Tundra brake upgrade is brilliant. I've seen many people having doubts and problems about this, mostly around bleeding the system. I eventually followed up a clue found in these pages which was to find a long gravel surfaced hill, drive down at 30 mph and slam on the brakes and make the ABS system function. I did this 10 times than bled the brakes again and all has been spot on ever since. Just the rear auto brake adjusters have been messed up by previous owner so they need a goosing to take some of the travel away. But they're brilliant. We did Glacier NP with all them hills, no fade, no shimmy, no problem.
Sorry for the ramble, just got home and unpacked. Time for a nap.

I would replace your trans filter with an OEM part if you didnt when you did the flush and then when you're topping off your fluid after dropping the pan to replace the filter I'd put in a bottle of Lucas oil transmission fix. Dont listen to the neigh sayers. I've got a thread about it. Worked absolutely amazing and if your trans filter is clogging up it could be starving the pump. Sounds like the beginning symptoms to what happened to mine. I changed the filter and boom. Even left dirty black fluid in it for 3500 miles to make sure it wouldnt start acting up again before investing in 4 gallons of Valvoline Maxlife ATF and doing a complete flush. I added two bottles of the Lucas at that time as I saw how the one bottle worked for me right off the bat when I changed my filter out. When they say you'll notice the results instantly they arent lying. Just my two cents. Btw I've got 6 or 7k on my trans after I did the filter swap and mine was horrible. Wouldnt even go into gear anymore unless I revved the crap out of it. They say it's a lifetime part but let's be honest unless the previous owner had immaculate preventative maintenance it's for sure not a life time part.