2006 Land Cruiser - need some help...

[sbechtold]

I'm experiencing a very intermittent problem with my 2006 Land Cruiser.
Mileage = 112,500
Original owner, serviced by the dealer every 5k miles

The problem:

When you put the auto transmission shifter into "D"rive the car acts like it's in neutral and will not move forward, or move forward very slowly, when you press on the accelerator pedal. This has happened 3 times in the last 6-9 months. My wife describes it as trying to get a manual transmission car to start off in 4th or 5th gear. It takes a long time to get up to speed.

Here is an example from yesterday:

Outside temperature ~50 degrees
Drove for 15-20 miles total - freeway and some city driving
Stopped once at ~10 miles for about 10 minutes - car was put in park and turned off
Started car and began driving again - no issues yet
Drove ~5 miles
Stopped and put car in park left motor running for ~2-4 minutes
Put car in drive
Step on gas pedal - engine revs slightly but car doesn't move - this is where the problem starts
Put car in park
Put car in drive
Step on gas pedal - engine revs and car begins to roll very slowly (like starting off in 4th or 5th gear in a manual transmission car)
As car picks up speed it responds to increased throttle pressure

When this problem has happened in the past and the car got up to speed everything would go back to normal. In otherwords, if we slowed down for a signal after the problem started and tried to get going again, things would be back to normal, the car would accelerate normally. Yesterday that wasn't the case... at every stop light on the ride home it felt like we were starting off in a higher gear. Even tried turning the car off/on yesterday and the problem persisted until we got home. Got the car home yesterday, parked it in the garage and today it's pefectly fine. Today, I drove the same exact route as yesterday and no issues.

Normally the transmission shifts smooth, responds to throttle position quickly, kicks down quickly under heavy acceleration, doesn't make any noise and doesn't exhibit any other symptoms beyond this problem happening 3 times. I connected my scangauge to the car and there were no codes stored. Also during my test today, I connected my scan gauge and the transmission fluid temperature ranged between 104-140 depending on where (uphill, downhill, freeway) I was driving.


Things we've noticed:

The problem has only happened after the car sits and idles for a short period of time and is fully warmed up after being driven for ~15-20 miles.
The problem does not happen when car is cold.
The outside temperature does not seem to be a factor.

I'm somewhat at a loss as to what might be the issue and was hoping that someone else might have seen something similar before I go an start replacing parts randomly to find the issue. I've got a buddy that runs the service department at the local Toyota dealership and I'm going to take it to him and have him flush the transmission as a first step.

Thoughts on what might be the problem?

 

[TXLX100]

I would have them check the battery first. Has it been jumped recently? It kind of sounds like a bad throttle body, but I think that comes with a trouble code/light. If it is a bad throttle body, I think you can buy the failed part, and versus the whole assembly. The dealer should be able to diagnose it quickly.

 

[sbechtold]

The battery is about 6 months old and has a full charge. I have not jump started the cruiser. Curious as to how jump starting the car might be related to this problem. I've read a lot of the TPS and APPS threads and while there are subtle similarities I haven't found anything that is a direct match to my issue. My initial thought was a transmission control module, a TPS or solenoid problem.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Does the engine run rough when it's doing it?

 

[TXLX100]

The battery is about 6 months old and has a full charge. I have not jump started the cruiser. Curious as to how jump starting the car might be related to this problem. I've read a lot of the TPS and APPS threads and while there are subtle similarities I haven't found anything that is a direct match to my issue. My initial thought was a transmission control module, a TPS or solenoid problem.

I've seen bad/low batteries cause cars to hesitate at low speed. I've also seen how cars act after they've been jumped backwards, it will break the main fuse often, but still have an intermittent connection causing all sorts of weird things.

It seems like the TPS/APPS/throttle body issues were on the earlier cruisers. It sounds like your vehicle is going into limp mode intermittently, but I think you'd definitely have warning lights if that were the case. I'm curious what trouble codes it has stored, if any.

 

[sbechtold]

Does the engine run rough when it's doing it?

No. No difference in how the engine runs when the problem occurs.

 

[sbechtold]

I've seen bad/low batteries cause cars to hesitate at low speed. I've also seen how cars act after they've been jumped backwards, it will break the main fuse often, but still have an intermittent connection causing all sorts of weird things.

It seems like the TPS/APPS/throttle body issues were on the earlier cruisers. It sounds like your vehicle is going into limp mode intermittently, but I think you'd definitely have warning lights if that were the case. I'm curious what trouble codes it has stored, if any.

Don't think this is battery related. I've experienced low battery charge problems on my FJ40, so I understand what your talking about.

When I checked for codes there were none stored. Now my scangauge may not be able to get all the codes, but once I get it to dealer I'm sure they will be able to pull things I cannot.

 

[sbechtold]

Got the land cruiser back from the dealer today. They found the code P2714 - Pressure control solenoid D performance or stuck off on the engine side. They dropped the trans pan and checked the solenoid and it checked out good at 5.6ohms (spec is 5.0-5.6ohms). There was no excessive metal shavings in the pan and the trans fluid was in OK condition. Cleaned the pan and did a complete fluid exchange of the ATF. My buddy wants me to drive it and if it happens again he said he will replace the solenoid. His hypothesis is that something caused the solenoid to become temporarily plugged.

I'm going to go do a little more research on this code now. If I find anything interesting I'll update this thread.

 

[Schmidty]

This happened to me earlier today. Mine is a 2006 LX. We ran up to store, came back to the house. I put the car in neutral for some dumb reason while the wife took the bags inside. When we left to head back out, she felt like she was in limp mode. I would have to floor it to get the car to go anywhere. It was as if she was in 4th or 5th gear. The engine felt sluggish, but was not idling rough. We went inside and did our shopping. When we came back out everything was fine. I hooked up the OBD II reader and the only recent code was the P2714. No active faults listed. I am going to take it out later and see if the symptoms are repeatable. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

[sbechtold]

Since having the transmission flushed back in 2013 I have not had this problem reoccur... however, now that I'm posting this I'm sure it will happen again. A trip to the dealer and a flush might be in your future.

 

[uHu]

First thing to check would be that the fluid level is actually checked with the engine running, and at operating temperature.
2nd - check the alignment of the gearshift (it's very easy)
3rd - throttle body and throttle position sensor

 

[2001LC]

I agree @uHu flushing is number one here. Regular flushing just makes senses to me.

I'm not a big fan of the dip-stick-less transmission in the 04+, or with long life ATF.

 

[04UZJ100]

Ensure all wiring harnesses to and from the transmission are not corroded. A lot of unexplained mechanical transmission problems are in fact related to a poor connection between the ECU and transmission, usually from corrosion or water ingress.

 

[hankinid]

I agree @uHu flushing is number one here. Regular flushing just makes senses to me.

I'm not a big fan of the dip-stick-less transmission in the 04+, or with long life ATF.

I translate "long-life ATF" as change every year.

Steve

 

[nothappening]

I just got the P2714 code after having my transmission serviced. I called the shop and they will start with checking the fluid, at the time I did not know about the code so I'll let them know on Monday. I'm wondering if some debris is clogging the solenoid.

My symptoms include: occasional slip when starting to accelerate from a brief stop, 2-3 times I've had strange tranny behavior when coming to a stop (like it forgets to shift and then does a quick double down shift). I also had the issue of the truck seeming like it was shifting from 1st straight to 5th gear, although this one happened only once and was resolved after restarting the vehicle.

Anyway, is the P2714 generally easily repairable? I'm not looking forward to potentially needing a replacement transmission after a few months of ownership.

 

[jerryb]

My symptoms include: occasional slip when starting to accelerate from a brief stop, 2-3 times I've had strange tranny behavior when coming to a stop (like it forgets to shift and then does a quick double down shift).

this is exactly what happens if the tranny fluid is low.