Slipping from 4th to 5th gear

Occasionally in city traffic I have gone through the gears in S mode. Just because the logic in the truck is always trying to get into the highest gear possible as soon as possible. I find that annoying. Anyway, when performing manual shifting the shifts are normal. I also use S mode in the mountains and hold the transmission in S3 sometimes and definitely S4 when going up or downhill. All shifts are normal with no rise in RPM ever.
I think you are right, it might be time to go back to stock tune, or at least contact my tuner and see about the variables.

 

I'll try shifting through the gears on my way home from work. And I'll report back.

As for the tune. They came out with an update for it. So I'm going to try that and see if it goes fixes this issue. If it doesn't I'll have them set it back and try that.

But this weekend I'm going to check the trans oil level and color. And then go from there if I should change it or not.

 

I have not done the tune update, I think I am still on 9.0. I will wait for your results. My tuner comes to Sacramento from Reno, and it is an hour and a half drive for me to get to Sacramento.

 

I have had my 4runner for almost a year now. The one thing that I have noticed is that when I am at the top of a hill heading down and want to coast for better gas mileage while going down the hill, sometimes the transmission will stay in the lower gear and not change. Don't know if this is normal for these vehicles or not. My last car was a 2004 Pathfinder. It had 326,000 miles on it and the reason I bought the 4runner was because the transmission finally went out on the Pathfinder. After getting the 4runner, I still had the Pathfinder. It would only go in 1st and second gear. I would drive it to my nearby Home Depot whenever I needed to put large items in it. She still wanted to go!

 

This is normal. The computers are programmed to shift down the transmission on downhill when the computers see a certain amount of brake application. It would be considered a downhill "assist."

If you have cruise control engaged, it will do the same thing to prevent exceeding the set speed.

 

Thanks for the reply, but I never use cruise control and I am doing close to 60 mph with no brake applied. It just seemed like it was holding up from shifting.

 

Well today driving home from work it didn't slip in d. I did also shift through gears in s a couple times, and it shifted perfect.

I'll see if it does it on my way to work in the morning.

 

Brakes aren’t required as far as I can tell for the computer to hold a lower gear. It can sense a downhill condition probably only using throttle and speed.

Whether it holds the lower gear downhill is probably based on more than a few variables, possibly throttle position or rate of throttle position change, brake application or brake rate change, road grade, speed etc etc. And I’m willing to bet any threshold of any one of those variables can change adaptively depending on how you drive.

This exact thing…all these variables the ecu monitors, responds to, and changes adaptively…is what I think could be involved with the problems Hossler and 2toys are having with the throttle increase/hang problem. It’s just a suspicion, but maybe this possibility is the easiest and cheapest thing to eliminate before starting to go after the transmission.

 

Case in point......I drive down a hill every morning that's 1,500 ft to sea level in 4 miles.

When I first started descending this hill, I would be in 5th and riding the brakes the whole way. Then I started shifting back and forth between 5th and S4 in an effort to save my brakes. I realized I should just leave it in 5th and let the ECU learn my route. After a while (maybe a month or so) the ECU learned and now it downshifts on its own in all the areas that require it.

 

Sorry for reviving an older thread but...

My 2022 Pro is doing this also... 8500 miles and I've seen a flair of as much as 800 rpm on the 4-5 shift... always with the cruise on.

It doesn't happen every time and not as severe as an 800 rpm flair, but it does flair on cruise to some extent more often than not.

Anyone get this figured out?

Thanks!!

 

The term for that behavior is "shift flair". It is usually a symptom of valve body issues. A fluid change may help, it's due for one anyway.

 

The fluid should have been changed at 30k miles, don't forget we are modified and heavy. I am glad I regeared. I am at 23k miles at the moment, definitely fluid change is on the way at 30k miles

 

I believe it had something to do with the old tune I had. It hasn't happened since I got the updated tune.

 

I didn't realize that you had tampered with the transmission software. That can also be a source of shift flair as it affects the function of the valve body.

 

Joshua, which version do you have now? I think I am still on version 9, and it doesn't shift right sometimes into 5th.

 

If it only happens with cruise control on, then it’s unlikely to be a transmission problem.

It could be just poor cruise control logic. It may get better with use, if the ecu is adaptive to cruise behavior.

You could also try disabling the radar and just run in pure cruise control. If it doesn’t do it then, I’d blame the radar cruise logic.

 

Update your tune. I had the 9.0 and ever since I switched the shifting has got much better... ask for the kdmax 10.0.

 

Thank you Sir, I will do that.

 

Just drain and fill and don't change earlier than 30k or later than 100k. I think it's just trans profile. 4th and 5th are band overdrive so any demand at all will kick it into 3rd under load at any speed. I bought used and changed mine at 192k. I was getting torque convertor shutter especially in warmer to hot weather going into overdrive. I drained and filled, installed a really big transmission cooler and I haven't had any problems. Shutter disappeared. That said they downshift a little funny anyway. I run 4th in town and city a lot for easier braking, less shifting without any effect on mileage. I have changed higher mileage transmission fluid and have it go out because it's to slick. More mileage transmissions do better leaving the floating band material in it for better bite on clutches and bands. I'm not sure mine had ever been changed and they recommend not to over 100k, but I couldn't put that fluid back in good conscious. I did put a pint of old fluid in the new to keep material in it. As long as you don't flush it there will be material still in there. You only drain and fill about 4-6 quarts and not the entire 12 quarts or more. I do trans and antifreeze every 75k now and everything else every 100k. You don't have to do much and they will last anyway. I think mine had original plugs. They were 0.77 gap and supposed to be 0.44. Never missed a lick and 20+ mpg.

 

I run Pedal Commander in City minus 3 or 4 most days. Setting it too high makes it shift to much on light throttle and it's not a sports car. Even turned off mine seems to be slow down shifting using gas pedal to control shifting sometimes. Feels like you have to wait for it to go through 5th and 4th with a bump slowly sometimes.

 

It does it with the radar on or off... I've got to make a little trip today through the area that makes it act up so I'll play around with it and try to get more specifics.

Another point, I had 4 adults in it when it was acting up, I'll only have myself and my wife today so I'll see if it's better with less weight...

 

I think there's a lot more problems with the new technology. I would turn the radar off if you can. I saw guy on YouTube unplug the nanny systems at the master cylinder and apparently it turns everything off. The cruise is something else. Mine acts crazy and it's older system. There's a place on the interstate going into a curve slightly downhill and then there's a slight rise. Mine kicks down to 3rd going downhill into the curve and coming out of it. Hauling 4 people I would turn economy setting to power to change your shift profile and use 4th in town.

 

Then dealership is a must.

 

If your having this issue with 100% stock 4runner, then yes if your under warranty take it to the dealer.

But you never know what they'll say if you have oversized tires or other modifications that could cause wear on the drivetrain. But I resolved this issue in my 4r.