Minor hesitation when shifting from 2-3

New Member. I have a '01 Tundra SR5 TRD 4x4 v8 with 115k miles.

I've been feeling minor hesitation when shifting from 2-3. The fluid doesn't look bad (not burnt/dark) but it looks too full.
I'm planning on swapping in a '04 transmission when I find a good deal but until them I'm looking for some ideas.

Should I try adding Lucas trans fix (even though it's already full) or should I drain and add new fluid with some Lucas trans fix?

 

Killer intro there, bud. We all love hearing about problems before substance, really makes us feel like you're gonna stick around after we give free advice!

I would properly check the trans fluid on level ground per the procedure outlined in your owner's manual to assess where it's at, fill-wise.

Overfilling anything is never a good thing - gas, oil, transmission - if it tests as overfull, drain the proper amount, drive around, assess level again.

At 115k your transmission is hardly even broken in unless it spent that 115k miles pulling around 8,000lb loads uphill both ways. I'd love to understand why the "upgrade"?

You never mentioned, does the hesitation 2->3 happen when cold only, or when cold and warm, or only warm? I ask because my '06 has slight hesitation 2->3 when cold. It barely has 70k miles on it. Slow shift seems to be a common observation for 1st gens.

 

We’re gonna need a better symptom than hesitation. Does it feel like dragging, or the trans holds high rpm before shifting. One is brakes, the other could be shift solonoids.

 

Do a full transmission fluid replace before anything else. Drain and fill, drive 100 miles, drain and fill, drive another 100, drain and fill, repeat until 12 quarts.

Or do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RumPXivBlk8&t=385s

I've personally done this on 2 tundra's that weren't shifting well and the new fluid fixed it right away.

Then add trans fix if needed.

 

Thanks for the responses! I'm not going anywhere. This place is a gold mine.

The hesitation happens when warm and cold. I wanted to upgrade because I heard the 01 trans has problems and I'd rather swap mine if it has problems instead of trying to fix it. I'm a rookie at this so I'm open to any ideas. I'll check the atf level again right now.

It seems like the trans holds high rpms before shifting. What would dragging feel like? I'm the 3rd owner and have had it since 101k miles.

 

My 01 sequoia has 291,746 miles on original transmission. My 01 tundra I sold to my nephew has 250k miles on the original transmission. Both shifted terribly when I got them and new fluid fixed it immediately.

The older transmission did have weak planetary gears, but it's not like they are ticking time bombs.

What do you mean by high rpms? Like how high?

 

Other than a mention this week in another thread about towing with the '00-'02 (I think?), which was immediately contested in its thread, I hadn't heard of specific notorious problems with the xmission in the 1st Gen. I think you may've been misinformed, but someone can correct me if I'm off.

I'm also 3rd owner on mine. I can tell you with 100% confidence sometimes my '06 feels like it's "stuck" in the 2k-3k RPM range when driving at slow speeds in the lower gears at the start of my trips.

I notice it most often when I'm leaving the house in the morning, and I've also noticed it when leaving parking lots, when the engine is technically warm after sitting for 5-30 minutes, but again, only at low speeds. I don't notice it when driving at low speed on the interstate in stop/go traffic for whatever reason.

Any time I've brought this up in the past, I was always told, basically, "Yeah, the shifting logic doesn't seem normal on these sometimes". I just accepted it for that. I'm not hearing or feeling any other weirdness. No hard shifts. No inablity to downshift when gunning it.

But I also don't lay into the pedal a lot. I know people who are really damn hard on their vehicles, basically gunning it out of every stop, as if they're going to get to their destination faster or something. That's not my style of driving and is exceptionally bad if done when cold, regardless who made it.

 

The other guy who responded asked if the hesitation felt like high rpms before shifting or dragging. It will run a little high before shifting to 3rd but nothing scary. Just noticeable.

 

I appreciate the information. Sounds like I just got a little excited about the idea of getting to swap a transmission. I guess I'll have to wait now. I'll change the fluid and let y'all know what happens.

 

If you're looking for a project, we can definitely give you plenty of things to work on!

Locker
Lift
Bigger tires and wheels
Auto dimming mirror
Stereo upgrade
Light bar
HID retrofit
Frame armor
Bumpers
Supercharger
Turbo
Twin turbo
Long travel kit
Engine swap to 5.7

 

Next thing on my list was a lift unless you guys recommend something else first. So far I've replaced the timing belt, water pump, pulleys, therm, pads, rotors, cylinder head seals, spark plug tube seals, rear view camera, stereo deck, led headlights and cabin. And it already has the 13wl calipers.

 

Sounds like you got all of the maintenance times taken care of!

What are your goals with the truck? Camping, towing, off roading, rock crawling.

For the lift specifically, are you stock soils and rear leafs in good condition or do you want to replace those at the same time?

 

Is the hesitation when cold? Because that’s normal.

 

Sounds exactly what I've been experiencing. After many years dealing with finicky, problematic 4l60e's I was definitely suspecting the worst the first time I caught it happening. Happens most often when cold, but I've noticed it every now and again after the truck sits, but is still "warm".

Not gonna lie, I got one hell of a chuckle out of that one!

 

I've experienced it when warm but it's minor. I'm just in the mindset of trying to stay ahead of any potential problems and I don't mind doing the labor

 

Mainly camping and off-roading to get to camp spots and fishing spots.Nothing crazy as far as off-roading goes. I'm not sure what to look for regarding the condition of the coils and leafs. I took some photos for you.

 

Heh. That one shock bushing is fecked.

But really cool you got the OEM Bilsteins on there.

 

Welcome aboard sir! Trans questions are the hot topic this week. If you can't remedy your hesitation (most often caused by valve body or shift solenoid problems) with fluid changes, then you could keep your trans and rebuild with an IPT trans rebuild kit and valve body upgrade. That's the route I was planning if my 2000 transmission ever grenaded itself. Spoiler alert, it never did. I towed a very heavy travel trailer for years and some mild off roading with mildly over-sized tires when hunting. I did a drain and fill on the fluid every 50-75k miles.

https://www.importperformancetrans.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1785

https://www.importperformancetrans.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1791

 

Engine could be warm but transmission still cool. That's when it'll happen as it's keeping rpms up to warm the trans.

 

Coils and leafs look to be in really good shape! For lift options I'd go with new bilstein 5100s up front. They have a little clip on them you can adjust at the time of install to get a higher ride height. Rear Bilstein 5100 and an add a leaf either the 3 piece or a one piece. I'd recommend leaving the overload leaf in to get the full 1.5 lift they advertise.

Don't know if you've looked around much, but parts are backordered most places right now so you may be waiting a bit

 

I have looked around for the 5100s and the original 4600s but I've been leaning towards the 5100s. Unfortunately I just came out to my truck and noticed a power steering leak under the right front tire. My neighbor is a retire Toyota mechanic and he said I'm looking at replacing the entire rack. So it looks like I'll be holding off on the lift until I fix the power steering issue. If you have any advice in regards to my options, I would greatly appreciate them.

 

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

This is where it's leaking from.

 

Meh. Open it up, clean it out, let it dry and see if it does it again fairly quickly or not. Might just be a while of accumulation. At least that's how I'd treat it initially.

You can use thin zip ties to put the cover back on without the band.

 

Toyota racks are expensive ($500) but solid. Reman rack reviews are very hit and miss. Detroit axle makes on that is surprisingly inexpensive, some last years others blow up as soon as you pull it out of the box.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm having my mechanic diagnose the problem as I type this. I'm planning on fixing it but I need to know what to fix first.

 

Do you think I'll have to replace the entire rack like my neighbor said? He made it seem like it's something I probably shouldn't do alone. If I have a mechanic do it, what kind of $$ am I looking at?

 

Yeah, the rack's not serviceable. I think labor is about $500 depending on where you live. I haven't replaced a rack, but I replaced the bushings on the rack, it's not easy, but not terrible. You could do the rack yourself, the tricky part from what I've seen is keeping the rack aligned and bleeding the power steering fluid.

There's lots of YouTube videos on it, watch a few and see if you think it's something you can/want to tackle.

If you do replace the rack, might as well get new inner and outer tire rod ends. I used Moog and they've been fine for the year I've had them in.

You'll need an alignment after the work.

There's lots of YouTube videos on it, watch a few and see if you think it's something you can/want to tackle.

 

Welcome to the community! Check to make sure the bolts on the valve covers are torqued appropriately as there could be engine oil leaking from there as was the case in my scenario. If not, next I would consider removing the dust boot and inspecting the seal. The metal clamps (90080-46271 and 90080-46272) for the dust boots are cheap enough to replace.

If the leak is coming from the steering rack seal and is extremely minor I wouldn't be immediately too concerned as long as you monitor the reservoir's fluid level and keep a bottle of ATF in the truck.

A quick search reveals numerous threads on this topic one of which includes PDFs on how to disassemble and reassemble.
tundra steering rack leak 00-06
Replacement seals are affordable if you have the time and confidence to replace them with OEM vs buying an entirely new rack assembly or paying someone else to rebuild.
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/pag...ng_gear_link&diagram=&partNumbers=&pnc=45536A

Keep us posted!

 

Mine's had a slow leak going on 7 years now. Hasn't really gotten much worse unless I'm turning a lot in a parking lot.