V6 Engine/Tranny shift issues in 04 Highlander

Sorry in advance for the long post.

I am having problem with the shifting in my v6 5 speed highlander. I have
owned 2 previous toyotas: a 99 corolla LE and a 2000 Camry LE 4cyl. Both
cars have been perfect. Great gas milage, and good power thanks to a good
revving 4 cylinder engines and well matched fast and smooth shifting
transmissions.

Well, it was time to upsize, and the Highlander was the best fit for us.
Off the lot, the car ran fine. However, after a few thousand kilomtres,
the shifting became very bad. The problem is not the hesitation issue many
5 speed auto drivers are complaining about (although it does have that
problem too). The problem is the first/second gear shifts (and sometime
second/third) are very slow and rough. For example, as the car accelerates,
the computer decides that it is time to shift. Lets say it decides to shift
from first to second when the rpms hit 2500. Instead of quickly engaging
the gear, the car actually just stops accelerating without changing gears.
For up to a second, the car just hangs at that 2500 rpm, not accelerating or
decelerating. Then the car quickly dumps down into second gear with a
thump. This makes city driving a real pain in the ...

Now, I had the dealer reset the computer, and the rough shifts immediately
disappeared. All shifts came off as very smooth and quick. The car became
the pleasure to drive that we experienced during the test drive. However,
after a few thousand clicks, the rough shifting has returned. I do not
think that it is mechanical, since reseting the computer seems to fix it
(for a while). Just to make sure it wasn't bad driving habits, we drove it
very gently during the so called "training" period. I hope the experts in
this group may have some insight, but to me it seems to simply be a bug in
the software.

Toyota, you are letting me down. Its no fun paying $40,000 Canadian for an
SUV and then have the neighbour's KIA drives better. Most complaints are
about the hesitation issue on the 5 speed. Anyone have these slow and rough
shifts in their 5 speed car?

As an aside, I know that the car is fly by wire. In fact, the Toyota
enginees need to do some more adjustments to have the system emulate a real
throttle (and I'm not just talking about the hesitation issue). When on the
highway with the cruise control on, a normal car holds the gas pedal at the
throttle position for the speed you are going. If you wish to accelerate
with the cruise on, you would just depress the gas pedal a bit to accelerate
the car. Toyota did not do this with the gas pedal in the Highlander. If
the cruise is on and you press slightly on the pedal, nothing happens. This
is because when the cruise control is working, the gas pedal is in the
position of a fully closed throttle even though the "throttle" may be half
open. So depressing the gas pedal a little bit as you would in a "normal"
car does not accelerate the car as the computer is reading a throttle
position that is less than the currently set position, so nothing happens.
You have to keep pressing on the gas pedal until you reach the position
corresponding to the current throttle position before the car begins to
accelerate. How did this get by the beta testers?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

Jim B.

I test drove two 2004 Highlanders before deciding to buy a low mileage 2001
instead. The hesitation issue was my main concern.

I didn't drive enough to experience the full shifting issues you identified,
but I definitely noticed the hesitation. Both at initial and subsequent
acceleration.

My 2001 V6 with a four speed transmission drives like a dream with excellent
acceleration that one would expect. Too bad for Toyota as I was well
prepared to buy new and liked the Highlander.

You mentioned the car hangs for a second before shifting gears. We may be
talking about the same thing here as that is what I also considered
hesitation.

Why would Toyota put the five speed transmission and 'drive by wire' into
the Highlander and Sienna after all the problems it has had with the ES300
in recent years.

Murphy



"news.cogeco.ca" wrote in message

 > Sorry in advance for the long post.
 >
 > I am having problem with the shifting in my v6 5 speed highlander. I have
 > owned 2 previous toyotas: a 99 corolla LE and a 2000 Camry LE 4cyl. Both
 > cars have been perfect. Great gas milage, and good power thanks to a good
 > revving 4 cylinder engines and well matched fast and smooth shifting
 > transmissions.
 >
 > Well, it was time to upsize, and the Highlander was the best fit for us.
 > Off the lot, the car ran fine. However, after a few thousand kilomtres,
 > the shifting became very bad. The problem is not the hesitation issue
many
 > 5 speed auto drivers are complaining about (although it does have that
 > problem too). The problem is the first/second gear shifts (and sometime
 > second/third) are very slow and rough. For example, as the car
accelerates,
 > the computer decides that it is time to shift. Lets say it decides to
shift
 > from first to second when the rpms hit 2500. Instead of quickly engaging
 > the gear, the car actually just stops accelerating without changing gears.
 > For up to a second, the car just hangs at that 2500 rpm, not accelerating
or
 > decelerating. Then the car quickly dumps down into second gear with a
 > thump. This makes city driving a real pain in the ...
 >
 > Now, I had the dealer reset the computer, and the rough shifts immediately
 > disappeared. All shifts came off as very smooth and quick. The car
became
 > the pleasure to drive that we experienced during the test drive. However,
 > after a few thousand clicks, the rough shifting has returned. I do not
 > think that it is mechanical, since reseting the computer seems to fix it
 > (for a while). Just to make sure it wasn't bad driving habits, we drove
it
 > very gently during the so called "training" period. I hope the experts in
 > this group may have some insight, but to me it seems to simply be a bug in
 > the software.
 >
 > Toyota, you are letting me down. Its no fun paying $40,000 Canadian for
an
 > SUV and then have the neighbour's KIA drives better. Most complaints are
 > about the hesitation issue on the 5 speed. Anyone have these slow and
rough
 > shifts in their 5 speed car?
 >
 > As an aside, I know that the car is fly by wire. In fact, the Toyota
 > enginees need to do some more adjustments to have the system emulate a
real
 > throttle (and I'm not just talking about the hesitation issue). When on
the
 > highway with the cruise control on, a normal car holds the gas pedal at
the
 > throttle position for the speed you are going. If you wish to accelerate
 > with the cruise on, you would just depress the gas pedal a bit to
accelerate
 > the car. Toyota did not do this with the gas pedal in the Highlander. If
 > the cruise is on and you press slightly on the pedal, nothing happens.
This
 > is because when the cruise control is working, the gas pedal is in the
 > position of a fully closed throttle even though the "throttle" may be half
 > open. So depressing the gas pedal a little bit as you would in a "normal"
 > car does not accelerate the car as the computer is reading a throttle
 > position that is less than the currently set position, so nothing happens.
 > You have to keep pressing on the gas pedal until you reach the position
 > corresponding to the current throttle position before the car begins to
 > accelerate. How did this get by the beta testers?
 >
 > Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
 >
 > Jim B.
 >
 >