Bad transmission in my 2016 Tacoma anybody else have this?

I'm hoping someone here can help me problem solve this.

I bought my Tacoma brand new from the dealership in 2016. One of the first 3rd gen models available in my area.

Everything was OK at first but I noticed the gear hunting, and the surging get worse over time.
In 2019 I took it into the dealership and they updated the software. This made a big difference and the truck felt like new for a year or two.

After a while, I started to notice the surging again and then last winter at the end of a long cold snap, the surging got seemingly more noticeable. Also during the cold there is a very loud, high pitch noise that gets louder as I accelerate and goes to a smaller high pitched hum when I take my foot off the gas. Not sure if the surging and the noice are related, but they do seem to follow a similar timeline and the surging seems much worse when its cold. This could be coincidence or circumstantial, but I feel like it's worth mentioning.

The past two months (as temps have dropped again)...the surging is much worse and I sometimes struggle to get up to speed onto the highway. I took my truck to a local shop I trust and they said that the transmission is bad and needs to be completely replaced. They mentioned something about possibly losing hydraulic pressure or a bad gasket that could explain the correlation to the cold air getting in? I don't understand how my transmission works well enough to know how this works.

The shop recommended that I bring it to the dealership to see if they could look at the transmission. The dealership performed a "serviced the transmission". The dealership drove it and said that they noticed a bit of surging but nothing too bad. They said nothing other than that. When I picked it up, it seemed to be a bit better (on a warm day). Now we've had several cold days in a row and it's gotten much much worse.

When I try to accelerate, nothing happens and the rpms jump up to 3-4k. Then when I let off the gas, the rpms come down and it can catch up to itself. There's a jump/lurch and the vehicle starts to accelerate somewhat normally. This will happen at almost every time it tries to shift into gear as I'm driving.

My question is, does anyone have any idea on what this could be? If it is a bad transmission, has anybody else had a bad transmission from a 2016? I've searched everywhere and read a lot about the surging, but I can't find another example of a 3rd gen with a complete transmission replacement. Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

sounds like my old chevy after a transmission flush. replaced the valve body and all good.

 

Bring the truck to a reputable transmission shop in your area and have them diag it.

 

How many miles on it, and how often (If ever) did you do, or have done at a shop, a drain-n'- fill?

 

I agree with him 100%.
A reputable transmission shop is where you need to be .
Has anyone scanned for codes up to this point ?
The transmission will act exactly as you describe if the transmission is in limp mode . The computer does this to prevent further damage to the transmission
Scanning for codes is the first and most important part of diagnosing for problems with a computer controlled transmission

The first trucks off the lot back in 2016 were notorious for low transmission fluid resulting in many transmission failures .
Some newer Tacomas are still found to be low to this day .
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...be-low-on-fluid-directly-from-factory.405642/

Stay away from stealership unless you want to pay 5K .
1 burnt wire inside the transmission pan and the dealership will tell you the transmission is bad and has to be replaced -they dont fix transmission internals .
Transmission shops will replace that burnt wire saving you a lot of money
Wires do burn up , electrical connections also go bad . Water finds a way in .

 

Could be a few different things. A bad torque converter, bad clutches, bad pump, low fluid, or broken bands can cause all of this. Most of them can be diagnosed with the trans still in the truck. A good trans shop can tell you what's going on and if a simple torque converter swap will fix it or if you will need a complete trans rebuild.

 

Sounds like it's slipping to me

 

I would hope the dealership would have at least checked the fluid level...

 

What do you mean by “surging”? That’s not a word normally used to describe the behavior of a transmission.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm going to a transmission shop as my next step. I appreciate the input!

 

hey, please do remember to post back here and let us know what you find out. My hope is for a simple, small cheap fix

 

This is exactly what the transmission shop just told me. Said it seemed likely that there was not enough fluid for a while from the beginning. How is it possible that there wasn't a recall or alert over something like this?

 

I wish this were the case. Just got back from the transmission shop. Looks like it's going to be 4k for a new transmission. He said that his hunch is that the torque converter may be bad and the air pump is bad. Also have a P0765 shift solenoid D code likely due to metal shavings causing problems. Said that the transmission fluid was likely low from the beginning.

 

My bet is the diagnosis will be a full soft pack refresh and fluid of course.

I hope I'm wrong.

 

Put new transfluid in there. If it doesnt work and dealer said it is fine. Then trade it to the dealer. Lol. Sounds like the torque converter that this gen is having.

 

Hey John .
Dont know what to tell you dude . We tried hard to get a recall . We are seeing transmissions failures approx once a week due to the low fluid issue that started back in 2015.
. The low fluid issue was pushed very hard at Tacoma World when we discovered what was happening . Unfortunately , very few Tacoma owners belong to this website until they have problems . Not enough customers complained about the problem . Combine that low fluid problem with a software problem back in 2016 and you are going to have greif for sure .

 

How long does it take for serious problems to develop due to low ATF? I topped mine off at (10 oz low) around 25k. I've always had the lugging/surging/whatever sensation

 

So I've started to a process of trying to contact Toyota directly about this problem. I'm sure many others have before me. I'll keep y'all posted on any feedback/progress.

Today I spoke with a customer service rep who was extremely rude and told me that because I was out of the power train warranty this was my problem to deal with not theirs. She also said that since I haven't taken my truck to a dealership for service since 2017 they cannot help me at all. This is factually nowhere near true. I've taken it every 5k to my dealership up to 100k miles and since I moved out of town I've been taking it to a local shop. I also took it to my dealership in 2019 because of the issues I was having and they did a software update. Apparently Toyota can't see this in their system anywhere so she was extremely rude about how it's my fault for not taking it to the dealership (which isn't true).
She said her customer service manager can call me back within 1 to 2 business days. So that's where we are for now.

I'll keep y'all posted as I know more.

 

2023 TRD OR and first thing I did was check fluids. It is probably not a huge deal, but 1.25 QTs low for transmission and about a half quart low for each diff. Transfer case was spot on. The non existent dealer prep is astounding. They even scratched my hood.

 

Frustrating.