Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster. I've scoured mud for a similar issue and can't find any specific info.
My 1996 (201k miles) with the A343F has been shifting hard, inconsistently. It shifts very hard (RPM's drop suddenly, not just driveline slop) for the first 10 minutes or so of driving in every gear, then as time goes on it only shifts hard on the 2-3's and 3-4's. It will stay in gear for a normal amount of time, shift through all gears predictably, it does it when I manually shift or when I leave it in "D", it just shifts very hard. No TC issues, it's open when it needs to be open, it locks consistently at 50MPH.
The only other odd symptom is when slowing down to 5mph and then accelerating, it almost always uses 2nd gear and feels like it's almost slipping. It stays at the same 2k-ish RPM while accelerating from 5mph up to 20mph or so when it finally takes 3rd gear. Not sure if that's normal or if it's a symptom of something. It's pretty gutless taking off from a stop but I've chocked that up to the boat anchor that is under the hood instead of any TC problem. I've tried "2nd start" and it's noticeably different so I don't think it's taking off from a dead stop in 2nd. I have:
- Adjusted the kickdown/line pressure cable extensively, trying multiple different tightness levels. Still shifts hard when more loose; it just doesn't kick down without mashing the throttle. When tighter it shifts at an acceptable time, but the hard shifts still occur.
- Replaced the TPS with genuine Toyota and installed per FSM (also, Scangauge was reading 7% with no pedal and 70-ish% full throttle) (still happened before)
- Did the cooler flush method as outlined on here using Valvoline MaxLife Full Synthetic rev. compatible with DEX III, went through about 15 quarts and fluid was as clean as can be (still happened before the flush).
- Have not pulled the pan yet as I've been trying to track down if I need to replace any shift solenoids or anything else while I have it off. I have a new OEM filter ready to go in when I take it off.
- New transmission mount.
Any ideas on what could be causing the hard shifts? I've read all the solenoid threads I could find and it sounds like the consensus is that it will throw a code if that was the case.
Thank you for any and all advice!
My 1996 (201k miles) with the A343F has been shifting hard, inconsistently. It shifts very hard (RPM's drop suddenly, not just driveline slop) for the first 10 minutes or so of driving in every gear, then as time goes on it only shifts hard on the 2-3's and 3-4's. It will stay in gear for a normal amount of time, shift through all gears predictably, it does it when I manually shift or when I leave it in "D", it just shifts very hard. No TC issues, it's open when it needs to be open, it locks consistently at 50MPH.
The only other odd symptom is when slowing down to 5mph and then accelerating, it almost always uses 2nd gear and feels like it's almost slipping. It stays at the same 2k-ish RPM while accelerating from 5mph up to 20mph or so when it finally takes 3rd gear. Not sure if that's normal or if it's a symptom of something. It's pretty gutless taking off from a stop but I've chocked that up to the boat anchor that is under the hood instead of any TC problem. I've tried "2nd start" and it's noticeably different so I don't think it's taking off from a dead stop in 2nd. I have:
- Adjusted the kickdown/line pressure cable extensively, trying multiple different tightness levels. Still shifts hard when more loose; it just doesn't kick down without mashing the throttle. When tighter it shifts at an acceptable time, but the hard shifts still occur.
- Replaced the TPS with genuine Toyota and installed per FSM (also, Scangauge was reading 7% with no pedal and 70-ish% full throttle) (still happened before)
- Did the cooler flush method as outlined on here using Valvoline MaxLife Full Synthetic rev. compatible with DEX III, went through about 15 quarts and fluid was as clean as can be (still happened before the flush).
- Have not pulled the pan yet as I've been trying to track down if I need to replace any shift solenoids or anything else while I have it off. I have a new OEM filter ready to go in when I take it off.
- New transmission mount.
Any ideas on what could be causing the hard shifts? I've read all the solenoid threads I could find and it sounds like the consensus is that it will throw a code if that was the case.
Thank you for any and all advice!
