S4 Question

I will put this thread to bed.My bad for asking this question.
My post was a question concerning any thoughts on 100 mile run in 4th gear at 70-75 mph . My trans works fine . All gears work in D and S mode.It was a simple question of my truck in 4th gear long haul /freeway drive was done in error. ( It was in 4th gear on the dash screen) Wondering out loud if the trans was possibly stressed by the blunder.
In my driveway a Audi tiptronic. Not my first rodeo with S mode vehicles. FYI The Tip Tronic will allow you to smoke the trans if you are not paying attention.
I appreciate all the input.

My next few questions will be a real easy. Terra Grapplers or Wild Peaks and will they rub if I go +2 or how to remove a stain from the cement interior. lol

 

Welcome aboard.

 

The thread got sorta derailed with some misinfo about what S mode does, but as others have said, your trans will be fine. If you didn’t already have 4000 miles on the truck before this road trip, I’d be a little concerned about the break-in of your new engine (since Toyota says to vary the speed and rpms and try to avoid constant speeds/rpms for long stretches during the first 1000 miles). But you’re well past that, so I think the only damage that occurred was to your wallet with the excess gas that was burned.

While it is a gear limiter, S mode can absolutely also be used to shift manually. I use it all the time going up/down a mountain for work. On the way up, I use it to shift just as I would with a stick shift (and in my own experience, I even get better MPGs because I can downshift into say 3rd from 4th, without having to mash the gas like you normally would in auto mode to get into 3rd). I make my shifts in anticipation of what’s coming up, instead of letting the truck react to a hill or curve, etc… after it’s already begun. So I find it functions pretty much exactly as a manual, just without the clutch pedal. On the way down the mtn, I use the gears for engine braking to save my brakes, again, just as I would with a stick shift. Yes, S mode will automatically downshift if I’m in too high of a gear and the truck is starting to bog, but that’s rare with me because if I’m in S mode, I would have already downshifted manually by then 99%+ of the time.

 

If your truck does that, it is malfunctioning.

 

Well if so it does it well...i like it. Glad my transmission didn't work like the 2019 trd a buddy had. It did some funny things i can't get mine to do.

 

I assume you're referring to my post. I'm glad you like how the S mode works, but I don't see how what I posted in misinformation. The truck simply doesn't do what vast majority of S modes do on any other vehicle.
The reason it works going downhill is because you're limiting the highest gear the truck will shift to. This works on flat roads as well if your truck is in 6th and you put it in S4 it downshifts to 4th. At that point the truck will shift all around those 4 gears so it's nothing like a manual or even the Audi S mode OP has. Anyone coming from a normal Sport mode automatic like Audi's will quickly find the S mode in Tacoma frustrating as it doesn't work the same way at all.

Upshifting is even more frustrating. If you're in 3rd shift to S4, the truck may or may not shift from 3 to 4. The fact Tacoma has no display to show you what gear the truck is in confirms this isn't meant for manual shifting, the only way to know what gear the truck is in is to count it yourself and keep track that way (unless you're in S1)

 

In Post #13 you said that you can't understand how this transmission gets such bad PR but then a few posts later you are saying it was crap in your buddies Tacoma?

 

The transmission in my truck works fine,cspot on with the engines power output. A buddies trd not so. Whether something related to the engine output, or transmission it did some goofy things like seeming to slip into neutral going around a very slow corner, or shits a zillion times going up a long hill.
I keep thinking about this S6, and wonder why you'd ever need to use it when you can move the shifter having 6th gear in the D mode if wanted. S5, and below would be all thats really functional when towing anything.

 

I have come to the conclusion I wish my old IH Scout did not turn to rust . I needed a screw driver ,pliers and crescent wrench for my tool box.

 

Same for the old toyota 4x4 pickups back in the late 70's, especially their wolverine conversion where a big hammer was also helpful.

 

The misinfo I was referring to was from another person who was saying that S mode doesn’t have a 6th gear (which is either a problem with his truck or he’s confused about how it works), and also that the truck will shift above whatever “S” gear, which it will not.

I quoted your post not for misinfo, but because you said S mode is just a gear limiter, which I don’t agree with. I’ve had my truck for about a year and a half now, and my truck has never not upshifted or downshifted when I tell it to in S mode, except under 2 very specific conditions…

1) if I’m trying to manually upshift into say 3rd or 4th at like 5 mph or something and the truck knows that gear would not be practical and it would bog the engine down dramatically or stall out if it allowed that to happen (this never prevents me from shifting it like a manual in my normal driving tho, because I never try to shift into 3rd or 4th until I’m at a reasonable speed that those gears would make sense to use). I also have had several automatic cars with paddle shifters like my Subaru Outback that would actually stall if I was in too high of a gear, so I’m very familiar with other manual shifting systems on other cars. To me the Taco works pretty much the same way as my Outback did, except it just has the fail safe of not allowing the vehicle to stall or bog terribly when the driver shifts it obviously wrong. But again, that’s not an issue because I never personally find myself in the position of trying to use way too high of a gear in S mode. Or…

2) The only other circumstance where my truck won’t shift in S mode when I tell it to is if I’m going downhill at moderately low speed with ECT on and I’m trying to upshift into 5th or 6th. That’s because in ECT mode, it will not allow 5th gear or higher until after a certain MPH no matter what (which is around 55-60 mph IIRC). In the rare cases that that has happened to me, I simply turn ECT off and it will then shift into 5th or 6th immediately, even at lower speeds like 40 MPH. So except for these particular situations, the other 99.9% of the time I’m driving in S mode, it will upshift and downshift when I tell it to.

 

I do as well but not remotely close to a manual. You are still limited/restricted even on down shifts. The gear spread only really allows -/+ 1 gear at a given speed

 

No you didn't mess up your motor or transmission just by driving at speed in S4. I towed ~3000 lbs from Denver to Omaha and ran 70-75 Mph for about 8 hours in S4 without issue. I had a massive headwind and I-80 is flat so my stock TRD Sport was hunting a lot between 4th and the OD gears so I just left it in S4 at ~3.2K RPM and enjoyed 12mpg. Your rig is fine as long as she didn't red line it (which it sounds like she didn't). Remember, these 3.5 V6s hit peak horsepower around 5,200 RPM so they can and will rev that high - although I wouldn't keep it pegged over 5000 RPM for long.

My only advice would be to change the oil at 5K if you usually do 10k intervals. The service department at your dealer will say only change at 10k but the manual recommends 5K intervals if you tow or off-road a lot. Since you went a bit of distance between 3k and 4k RPM (perfectly acceptable), if it were me I would just plan on a 5k oil change interval for piece of mind. That is just me though. I drop the oil between 3k and 5k because oil is cheap and engines are expensive. Search for "Oil Change Interval" and you will find plenty of strong opinions on TW about intervals. Please DO NOT start a new oil change thread.

 

Maybe my truck’s software version is just different, but mine will allow downshifts at any speed I’ve tried. I have accidentally double tapped it and went into 2nd before at like 40 or 50 mph and my rpms shot way up and jerked me forward. I’m pretty sure mine will go into 1st at 90 mph and grenade the whole thing if I let it. But for normal everyday driving, and as long as I’m shifting it within reasonable speeds for the gears, mine will shift virtually the same as a manual just without the 3rd pedal.

 

Try it. Definitely won’t. It will just beep at you until you are in an allowable Speed/RPM range.

 

You’re gonna fit right in with that humor.

 

You wouldn’t. Setting S6 is like running on D. The S feature set is mostly for towing and locking out the overdrive gears (5th and 6th).

I guess if you are in mountainous or hilly areas it could be a useful speed control feature (engine braking).

 

My truck does basically the same in S mode going downhill using only the brake no gas...it'll say in the same S mode till i hit the gas petal....if the rpm are too high it'll upshift to the next gear. I'll agree its a weird transmission but it works well in this truck. I haven't experimented much with the ect mode, and s modes at the same time....just never like it when i tried. I use s mode a lot when going down long hills, saves on the rotors.

 

I was doing 85 in S4 yesterday. No upshift. RPMs were high, but quite fine and not close to redline. Perhaps OP is experiencing a UTS issue or ID-10-T related?

 

Older software must be different. No way would my truck hold S4 at 85 mph...it probably would in S5 except i could probably get a speeding ticket first.