13’ Tundra gets stuck in gear before warmup

My 13’ tundra with 239k gets stuck in gear before the trans warms up. This happens in the morning a block from my house while driving up hill. If I try to accelerate the rpms go up and down. I have to lift off the accelerator and then press it again while going uphill and it shifts. This only happens during first drive in the morning with the engine warmed up but the trans isn’t. I think my trans was flushed about 30k-40k miles ago.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

These trannies like being warm, but you still shouldn't be seeing this. Was your tranny flushed or drain and filled? Huge difference with that much miles. Also, how long before that was your last tranny fluid change?

 

When you say 'stuck in gear', which gear are you talking about. Both my '08 and '21 will hang out in 4th much longer than usual prior to shifting into 5th or 6th (both of which are OD gears in our trucks)... So, if it's hanging out in 4th a bit longer, it's not crazy unusal. The load and demand on the transmission increases when it shifts into one of the overdrive gears. This is reason you'll see converter temps move up and down quickly as the vehicle shifts in and out of OD (between 4th and 5th). Overdrive makes the engine more efficient by transferring the work load to the transmission (lower MPGs, etc.), but this increases workload on the transmission. I'm guessing the ECU is trying to avoid putting excessive stress on the transmission before it's warm enough to handle.

However, with all that being said, if it's significantly different w/no other changes (besides your fluid swap), then you may have an issue... Like MMC said, our trucks seem to have issue w/being 'flushed' after that many miles (particularly if that's the first time the fluid has been touched). Most of us try to do a series of drain and fills rather than a 'one n done' flush.

Hopefully though it's nothing. Also, it wouldn't hurt for you to put a code reader to it and see if you have anything pending that hasn't triggered any CELs, etc... if you do, make sure you scan 'all systems' and not just CEL or 'commond dash lights' (depending on the scanner)

 

I’m not too sure about all the trans flushes but I think it was done twice at my local Toyota service. I am the original owner and this problem started about 10-15k miles ago. The trans was flushed and fluid replaced well before this.
As for the gear getting stuck in it seems like 3rd or 4th gear. At one point I tried to manually shift it and 4th gear showed and it wouldn’t shift up or down.
This morning I had to lift of the accelerator to get it to up shift.
It’s due for an engine oil change in about 250 miles and may ask Toyota to flush the trans and change the fluid again.
At this point I’ll consider trying any advice to avoid a new truck payment.

 

More than likely it's a solenoid. I had similar issues with a solenoid where the transmission would 'slip' and I had to release the gas pedal and reengage for it to go. If you have a basic OBD2 reader and don't want to invest in a higher model, take it to autozone or O'reilly and they will run a full diagnostic for free99 and get you any pending codes you may have. If I remember correctly, it was Performance D stuck in off position which caused this and locked you out of higher gears.

 

Or more than likely it’s just not warmed up enough to call for the next shift. Both of my tundras did/do this when cold. Once warm, shifts normal.