Weird transmission behavior- 2025 Offroad

[mcsumn]

Have a 2025 TRD Off-road automatic and have been experiencing an intermittent issue with the transmission. When accelerating from a stop or very low speed, the truck will abruptly downshift, hesitate for a few seconds and slam into the next gear. It happened today, and the tires chirped when it finally upshifted. It seems to only happen when I'm pulling into traffic under half throttle or more. Is this normal behavior or a cause for concern? I've read that these transmissions exhibit weird behavior at times.

Thanks for your help.

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[maxx075]

Have you noticed that this is a consistent thing, or generally something when the engine is cold, like driving in the morning, or when it's parked for a while?

 

[mcsumn]

It's an intermittent issue, maybe occurring 4 or 5 times now. The first time it happened was a month ago (bought it in June). Each time it happened, the truck was warm and had been driven for a while.

 

[izzy]

I noticed on a short uphill on-ramp that the truck will occasionally unlock the torque converter in 2nd gear before shifting into 3rd. This makes the shift into 3rd pretty violent.

I can testify that it's not shifting and instead unlocking the torque converter with my ScanGauges current gear readout.

I've found the transmission shifts the smoothest if you let it gently get to third before romping on it. 4-5-6 are all pretty close ratio.

If you wait till 3rd, ideally with 1800RPM or more, it'll generally let the engine rev out, and bang out the 4-5-6 quickly and smoothly without any downshifting.

Sometimes before ramps I'll use S mode and lock it into 3rd gear, and then when it's time to accelerate, let it rev up to 2000RPM or so then bump the lever back into D and it'll use the horsepower and not lug the shit out of the engine lol

The AL80 is a good transmission, the issue here is the programming. A little bit of S mode brute force seems to do the trick

I think Toyota desperately tries to keep the engine from revving out, as consumers generally complain when their 4 banger vehicle makes 4 banger noises... but given this is a 2399cc turbo 4 in a 4500lb truck, it really needs to rev.

6th being 1:1 for context:

 

[MT-Taco]

Have a 2025 TRD Off-road automatic and have been experiencing an intermittent issue with the transmission. When accelerating from a stop or very low speed, the truck will abruptly downshift, hesitate for a few seconds and slam into the next gear. It happened today, and the tires chirped when it finally upshifted. It seems to only happen when I'm pulling into traffic under half throttle or more. Is this normal behavior or a cause for concern? I've read that these transmissions exhibit weird behavior at times.

Thanks for your help.

Definitely doesn’t sound normal, unfortunately you should take it to a dealership

 

[TacoFreak]

@mcsumn Dealers almost always blow you off when you try to get this kind of stuff fixed. They will drive your truck, say the problem could not be replicated and send you on your way. It can't hurt to try, particularly if it happens on a regular basis, but don't hold your breath.

My truck's transmission worked perfectly for the first 1k miles. Shifted erratically and generally like crap for the next 1k miles, and now it is fine again. These transmissions definitely exhibit some weird behavior and in other vehicles from both Toyota and Lexus. Good luck and keep us in the loop.

 

[Airborne]

How many miles are on your truck? While im far from a transmission expert or a mechanic. , i took the advice of a toyota master tech, his input was this…when i got my truck with 12 or so miles on it he suggested to leave the transmission in the normal mode for first 1000 miles, then after switch to “ECO “mode, for at least 500 miles, then switch to sport for 500 miles or so…..he said he felt it a good way to train or teach the transmission, ? Not sure the validity to this but i did it…..” knock wood all is smooth and going good for me at 9000 miles, like i say it may not mean anything and have no impact on my trans, but im happy right now……like the guys say its going to be tough getting dealer to replicate and acknowledge your symptoms because thats the new dealership experiance, i hope its not seriouse for you good luck
David

 

[mcsumn]

How many miles are on your truck? While im far from a transmission expert or a mechanic. , i took the advice of a toyota master tech, his input was this…when i got my truck with 12 or so miles on it he suggested to leave the transmission in the normal mode for first 1000 miles, then after switch to “ECO “mode, for at least 500 miles, then switch to sport for 500 miles or so…..he said he felt it a good way to train or teach the transmission, ? Not sure the validity to this but i did it…..” knock wood all is smooth and going good for me at 9000 miles, like i say it may not mean anything and have no impact on my trans, but im happy right now……like the guys say its going to be tough getting dealer to replicate and acknowledge your symptoms because thats the new dealership experiance, i hope its not seriouse for you good luck
David

It has a little over 12,000 miles.

Yeah, I recently discovered that the transmission learns your driving style. Looking back, I did baby the truck in the beginning. I'm wondering if it learned a more conservative driving style and doesn't know how to handle more aggressive driving? Hopefully that's the case.

 

[Yotota]

Not normal behavior, but these transmissions are proving to be weird and have some issues. (I'm dealing with a different issue)

A few tests you can try:

Shift the truck manually with the shift lever in "S" mode;
Put the truck in SPORT mode;
Put the truck in ECO mode;
Put the truck in TOW/HAUL mode;

In each setting, drive it normally. Then drive it aggressively. Then baby it. See what happens.

When an engine or transmission has an intermittent weird issue, I'll put it in SPORT mode and drive it aggressively for 10-15 minutes. The good old "Italian Tune-up" will either help, or exacerbate the issue, or do nothing. But either way it's fun. And it's still driving the truck as designed so it's not going to hurt anything.

 

[mcsumn]

Not normal behavior, but these transmissions are proving to be weird and have some issues. (I'm dealing with an issue right is too)

A few tests you can try:

Shift the truck manually with the shift lever in "S" mode;
Put the truck in SPORT mode;
Put the truck in ECO mode;
Put the truck in TOW/HAUL mode;

In each setting, drive it normally. Then drive it aggressively. Then baby it. See what happens.

When an engine or transmission has an intermittent weird issue, I'll put it in SPORT mode and drive it aggressively for 10-15 minutes. The good old "Italian Tune-up" will either help, or exacerbate the issue, or do nothing. But either way it's fun. And it's still driving the truck as designed so it's not going to hurt anything.

It happens in eco and sport mode. I'll play around with it and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions!

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