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Toyovibes

Toyovibes

2️⃣ Bronze
Hello all, recently found a 2021 Tacoma TRD 4x4 Off Road for what I thought was a decent price considering only 15K miles.

Tacoma came with what I think is a 3 inch King lift with reservoir's with OME add a leaf in the back (Medium weight I think).

Also came with Stealth Custom Series 17" wheels wrapped in Yokohama Geolandar G003's (285/70/17)

It does have a skid plate added around the transmission area (No brand I can see), Could be a cat shield but a buddy said it was definitely a transfer case skid plate.

This thing is soooo solid and ready to rock nd roll.

I LOVE IT, although I definitely see a tune in my near future because the transmission hunting is driving me crazy!!!!!

Please take a look at it and let me know your thoughts.
 

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To help with the “hunting” you might need to re-gear the diffs.
Also, because you’re a new driver to the truck, the transmission will need to learn your style of driving and adjust accordingly. Good luck and enjoy!
 
@Toyovibes, Definitely get a tune, any tune is probably good. I just got the OTT Tune Mild/Medium and am very happy with it. No more gear hunting, and more power in lower bands.

Mark
 
New member and new Tacoma owner. I had a ‘94 pick up before they became Tacomas and Tundras, and I loved that truck. My last car was a Ford Edge given to me by my godfather, and before that was a 6-speed manual Nissan Xterra. I share that because I am struggling with this notion of “transmission hunting,” which is a perfect description for what I see my transmission doing, especially when I’m traveling at highway speed in cruise control. I’m in northern New Mexico where the terrain is mountainous, and I have noticed that the transmission ping-pongs, shifting into overdrive for just a few seconds, and then shifts back down for a few more seconds before shifting back into overdrive for a few seconds, and then back down for a few seconds. Up and down. This goes on several times over the course of a few minutes, especially on a long incline, and it’s driving me nuts. My Ford seemed to stay just fine in overdrive as long as needed, but didn’t shift back-and-forth and ping-pong. So is this something that will change over time as this vehicle learns my driving style and terrain that I’m usually driving over? It’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, but I sure did expected better from Toyota. The transmission overall seems rather clunky and idles high and stays stuck in the lower gears when I’m pulling away from a stop.
 
Yeah, welcome to the club. Most of us that stick around in our Tacomas long enough get at least a tune, and many (myself included) regear. A tune should fix most of your issues.
 
Ah wait….. I did a little further research on this and understand now what you meant. Not an engine tuneup, but more of an electronic tune to the program that runs the transmission, correct?
 
yakherder said:
Ah wait….. I did a little further research on this and understand now what you meant. Not an engine tuneup, but more of an electronic tune to the program that runs the transmission, correct?
Click to expand...


It's more than just how the transmission operates.
Edit and modify tables for fuel, ignition, timing, shift points.
Basically trying to optimize how the engine makes the power and gets it to the ground.
Taking what Toyota created and optimizing it to be more efficient or just making it do what you want it to do within it's capabilities. Tweaking if there's changes to I/H/E or things like tire changes. Tells the ECU how to run everything together and compensate for those changes without losing performance. Increasing fuel efficiency, smoothing out the power curve for a more pleasant ride or more aggressive. Balance and control input (throttle) and how responsive to make everything else. Essentially all of that from a good tune. The goal of the tune/tuner is to make the truck better every way they can.

Sort of how your brain tells everything in your body how to function and also work together. Things like when to ease up or output maximum effort.
 
bonifacio said:
It's more than just how the transmission operates.
Edit and modify tables for fuel, ignition, timing, shift points.
Basically trying to optimize how the engine makes the power and gets it to the ground.
Taking what Toyota created and optimizing it to be more efficient or just making it do what you want it to do within it's capabilities. Tweaking if there's changes to I/H/E or things like tire changes. Tells the ECU how to run everything together and compensate for those changes without losing performance. Increasing fuel efficiency, smoothing out the power curve for a more pleasant ride or more aggressive. Balance and control input (throttle) and how responsive to make everything else. Essentially all of that from a good tune. The goal of the tune/tuner is to make the truck better every way they can.

Sort of how your brain tells everything in your body how to function and also work together. Things like when to ease up or output maximum effort.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that very thorough and clear explainer, Bonifacio. I’m looking into it more seriously, although with a 100K warranty, I don’t want to potentially do something to void it.
 
yakherder said:
Thanks for that very thorough and clear explainer, Bonifacio. I’m looking into it more seriously, although with a 100K warranty, I don’t want to potentially do something to void it.
Click to expand...
The tunes can't be detected and it's safe. It won't void your warranty.
If they do void it because of a tune, it's because you told them it was tuned and the service advisor is a dick head. It would have to be personal at that point. Even then the tune itself has to be the direct cause of the malfunction. It won't devoid anything else.

Worst case scenario is if there's an update, the dealership might update software.
Not an issue, just inconvenient for some. It will overwrite the tune.
When there are updates a lot of dealerships don't bother flashing unless it's to remedy a specific complaint. Something you point out and they verify. One like the gear hunting. If the tech verifies that after you bring it up, they'll flash it. Some even will try to charge labor for the flash. Few do it complimentary.

Chances are they won't ever flash it.
If it does happen, just hit up the tuner and they will reflash.

Tuners like OTT and their authorized tuners seem to have a really good service. Once you pay for it, it's yours. They'll probably reflash for free.

I went with OTT. The truck drives completely different. Really is a completely different vehicle. Somehow it's more responsive, feels like it has more available power all around and gas mileage improved. A lot of people say stuff like this but it's all mental or they don't consider environment changes. I can positively say these things are true. Have a good amount of experience with different tunes, different vehicles, little bit of tuning and had access to a couple dynos.
 
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Wow, that’s great. A friend of mine who is really trying to steer me against it because of the warranty issue. But this gear hunting is driving me. Absolutely nuts, especially at highway speed and cruise control. It feels like the whole vehicle is a bit sluggish for a V-6, so it sounds like the tune is the way to go. And it looks like there’s an OTT dealer or tuner or whatever they would be called in Albuquerque, so that works out great! Thanks for all of your very helpful information. Much appreciated. I was getting unhappy about the thought of selling this brand new truck or trading it in on a Nissan or some other pick up that ran better. Sounds like the transmission isn’t necessarily a problem, but maybe the software that runs it, and it seems like a relatively easy fix. Why Toyota doesn’t do the fix themself, I don’t know. These cars are far smarter than I’ll ever be. L O L
 
yakherder said:
Wow, that’s great. A friend of mine who is really trying to steer me against it because of the warranty issue. But this gear hunting is driving me. Absolutely nuts, especially at highway speed and cruise control. It feels like the whole vehicle is a bit sluggish for a V-6, so it sounds like the tune is the way to go. And it looks like there’s an OTT dealer or tuner or whatever they would be called in Albuquerque, so that works out great! Thanks for all of your very helpful information. Much appreciated. I was getting unhappy about the thought of selling this brand new truck or trading it in on a Nissan or some other pick up that ran better. Sounds like the transmission isn’t necessarily a problem, but maybe the software that runs it, and it seems like a relatively easy fix. Why Toyota doesn’t do the fix themself, I don’t know. These cars are far smarter than I’ll ever be. L O L
Click to expand...
This is the reason almost all of us tune. You won't regret it. :)
 
yakherder said:
Wow, that’s great. A friend of mine who is really trying to steer me against it because of the warranty issue. But this gear hunting is driving me. Absolutely nuts, especially at highway speed and cruise control. It feels like the whole vehicle is a bit sluggish for a V-6, so it sounds like the tune is the way to go. And it looks like there’s an OTT dealer or tuner or whatever they would be called in Albuquerque, so that works out great! Thanks for all of your very helpful information. Much appreciated. I was getting unhappy about the thought of selling this brand new truck or trading it in on a Nissan or some other pick up that ran better. Sounds like the transmission isn’t necessarily a problem, but maybe the software that runs it, and it seems like a relatively easy fix. Why Toyota doesn’t do the fix themself, I don’t know. These cars are far smarter than I’ll ever be. L O L
Click to expand...

A lot of the whole advising against doing anything to the vehicles is not understanding or knowing how warranties work. Most people get the idea but don't know about the details. There's an entire law/act from the FTC about honoring warranties of vehicles with modifications. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
Basically people who think they know it all, but they actually don't know much of anything.

What year is yours? I know that 16-19 had the issue bad. Don't hear about much in the newer models. They updated the software on the older ones. Some say it fixed it. Some say it's still there. Might have just been a slight improvement. I suspect Toyota doesn't fix it completely due to the poor gearing choice of the Tacoma. 3.90 was just a bad choice. So there's only so much they can do while maintaining EPA requirements or some other legal limiting factor. Timing and shift points effect emissions. Maybe Tacomas just push it close and they leave things to keep a safe buffer to stay in compliance.
 
Good to know. I’ll share that with my friend who is a lot more of a car guy than I am (although he’s also more of a car snob than I am. He likes the Germans). Mine is 2023 SR5 with just less than 2000 miles on it. The issue seems to be getting less pronounced, at least in town. But we have a lot of variable terrain here in northern New Mexico, and when I’m at highway speed in cruise control, it ping-pongs between overdrive and the next gear. It will cycle through that several times in a minute as I’m going up a long incline. Sometimes even a short one. Like I said, it seems to be getting better, but it’s still noticeable. It also sometimes thunks into gear when I’m slowing down to go over a speed hump or have to brake suddenly. Overall, I like the pick up, but some of these responsiveness issues and transmission issues have been pushing me to a bit of a breaking point. I’m sure Nissan has the same troubles, but I had an Xterra for 12 years and didn’t have issues like this.
 
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