1kz auto Tranmission behaving stange

[Ifoo786]

Hi everyone .
i have 1996 prado with 1kzte intercooler. everything was going good but from last 2 3 days i am facing an issue with the gear shifting. at a constant speed like 80 90 gears keep skiping (downshifting and upshifting very randomly) i thought its due to O/D so i turned O/D off and no gear skipping. but today at around 30 kmph speed without O/D off same thing happened again. i am confused what is the possible reason for that ? its my 4X4 as i used to habe cars only. kindly help me

 

[KiwiBogan]

That actually sounds like normal behaviour if for example you're driving up a hill. Worse if you have people in the car, a heavier load/modifications and/or a trailer on the back. The 1KZ-TE is a pretty gutless motor for the size of the Prado IMO. Trying to maintain that speed up a hill with your foot down would often do what you say, especially if you're pushing the car as hard as it will go.

A simple thing you could try to improve it would be to disconnect the battery(s) for half and hour, reconnect them again and take the car for a hard drive like on a freeway or open road. In the same Prado of 2000 vintage, that process would "reset" and "relearn" the auto transmission shifting. I presume its the same for all auto Prados? That should at least improve the shifting down low, and possibly improve what you are experiencing. Any "issues" after that and you might start having to get into more serious with troubleshooting.

But my guess is it's fine and you just need to get used to driving a heavy diesel with slightly underpowered engine.

 

[OM617YOTA]

How long have you had the vehicle, and is this strange behavior of the last 2-3 days new or unusual?

 

[Ifoo786]

Problem solved : My mechenic suggested it was due to electronic grips which are connected to gearbox. cleaned the grips and the problem gone. gear shifting is smooth now