vibration/rumble at 1300ish rpm and 7th gear

[coldtaco]

My hybrid has a vibration/rumble at around 1300rpm and 7th gear. Dealer first thought it was tires which we have decided it is not. To me it feels like the engine is lugging. Speed doesn't matter, it happens generally at around 35/45/55mph. Talking with a heavy vehicle mechanic friend about this says it sounds like a torque converter flutter, similar to chevy transmissions. If I go to manual mode and I can shift to 6th gear it does not duplicate. Seems like it is a programing issue caused by Toyota trying to get to the highest gear possible at any speed for emissions. If this is the case then it will be doubtful Toyota will do a programing update to fix this any time soon, unless they get a lot of complaints. Thinking of getting the OTT tune and see if this helps with this. I had this as soon as I left the dealership and has been doing it till now, 8500mi later. Now it doesn't happen a 100% of the time but it is pretty easy to duplicate if it isn't doing it.
The Car Care Nut on youtube seemed to have experienced something similar when he reviewed the Trailhunter.
Anyone else have this?

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[redlimitediforcemax]

Limited IForcemax here. I get the same lugging shudders when the rpms dip around 1500rpms on hwys, under load, low speed high gear cruising. In the early mornings its the worst for that first two shifts when the fluids are cold. It will shift 1-2, slam into 3 and lug/vibrate. It does this every time I first start driving. The day i drove it off the lot it did this too. I've learned if you leave it in sport or S2, it won't do it because the transmission won't try to get to the highest gear for mpg reasons. once it's warm it doesn't shift hard but the lugging is still there.

I had the OTT tune and it fixed that cold start shifting issue with the transmission tune. It didn't fix the lugging at high speed though, that I think is the torque converter which is mechanical.

 

[coldtaco]

thanks for the feedback. this will be my first full winter so will see how it goes with the hard shifting when the trans is still cold. don't like driving in sport mode since it doesn't want to down shift as soon as I want it to, like it's anticipating me wanting to stab the throttle at any time. eventually it will down shift as appropriate if staying at a constant speed. will ask the shop foreman today if he tested the torque converter.

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