5th & 6th Generation (2002-2006 & 2007-2011)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 2002-2006 & 2007-2011
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
Can anyone provide an update on the current state of affairs with regard to the shift flare issue impacting the V6? I have deferred letting the dealer tinker with my car until I was confident they had a fix. Seems like they've had a number of TSBs that have garnered mix results.
I have 30k on the tranny and the the problem is no better, but fortunately no worse than when it presented at 1k. Any guidance on this would be appreciated.
The fix was to flash the computer to a later revision or to replace the transmission if it did not solve the problem. It apparently only occurred on early and mid year 07's and has not been reported by anyone here with a car built after the last TSB date in May, 07. The result of the flash is to hold the transmission in second gear a little longer when cold and also corrects an apparent downshift issue when slowing from 35 mph or so. I would offer that additional wear occurs every time the transmission flares, so it is in your best interest to run it past the dealer with your documentation of the problem and have them fix it at the earliest date. Since there have been no reported incidents of this occurring in anything built after May, 2007, I doubt there will be additional TSB's issued for this older model. The last one worked.
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2007 V6 Camry LE, Built TMMK 27 September 06
"People who think they know it all are particularly irritating to those of us who do."
1. So far, my 2008 SE V6 (October 2007 build) has been utterly flawless, though I'm only around 2,500 miles at this point.
2. Beyond the TSB flash, there's one other thing that doesn't get mentioned much, but seems to make a difference: Check the transmission fluid level. Seems like some flaring vehicles have been a little low on fluid. Make sure the fluid level is full.
You have up to 60 months/60,000 miles to get the TSB done if it applies to your VIN number.
Understand and quite true. But given that there is additional wear with each event, and only so much wear can occur prior to failure, is it better to correct the problem sooner or later? After all, with 59900 miles of flares, it might choose to fail at 65000, whereas an early repair might have saved the agony to, say, 150000 miles?? I wouldn't want my car to flare throughout the warranty period, hoping for a complete failure prior to 60k.
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2007 V6 Camry LE, Built TMMK 27 September 06
"People who think they know it all are particularly irritating to those of us who do."
Understand and quite true. But given that there is additional wear with each event, and only so much wear can occur prior to failure, is it better to correct the problem sooner or later? After all, with 59900 miles of flares, it might choose to fail at 65000, whereas an early repair might have saved the agony to, say, 150000 miles?? I wouldn't want my car to flare throughout the warranty period, hoping for a complete failure prior to 60k.
True, if a reflash fixes it but if it doesn't, he would have the transmission at 150,000 miles with only than 100,000 miles on it, if it was replaced at 50,000 miles.
i thought i remembered reading that the reflash was not the magic bullet we all thought it was going to be when that tsb came out and that replacement transmissions were still happening when the reflash was not successful in resolving the problem. is there a new tweak to this reflash or are they just doing the same thing they were doing last year?
i hate letting this car flare too and risking damage to the tranny, but at least i know what i'm getting now with the car. i remember many reports of failed tsb fixes and then having new transmissions put in that also had the same problem.
i guess the reason for my post was to find out if real progress had been made on fixing this problem or if it is still a luck of the draw if the tsb or transmission replacement fixes the problem.
No, there were no additional tweaks to the transmission. Within this news group I have attempted to keep up with this topic and I recall one owner who had the transmisssion flashed and then needed a transmission replacement because the flash failed. NOBODY has complained of a problem in a new car built since May, 07 when the TSB was published. Your options are to get the TSB applied and if it fails to resolve the problem to ask for a new transmission. If you let it go to 59000 miles and ask for the TSB and it solves the shift problem at that point, you have a lot of wear and risk an early transmission failure. If you let it go, the transmission might fail within the warranty period, but it might not. It makes no sense to sit and wait for something else to happen. Nothings going to happen. Get it fixed.
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2007 V6 Camry LE, Built TMMK 27 September 06
"People who think they know it all are particularly irritating to those of us who do."
Anyone know the TSB number offhand or have a link to the PDF? In my searches I've only come up with what appears to be one from January of 2007 and I've heard it's been updated.
Anyone know the TSB number offhand or have a link to the PDF? In my searches I've only come up with what appears to be one from January of 2007 and I've heard it's been updated.
Thanks in advance,
MunkyPuke
TC-007-07 for the Shift Flare. Orig. 5/17/07, Rev on 6/26/07 and 7/24/07 which added the effective VIN numbers.
thanks again for the encouragement on having the reflash done. i recently had it done and have had my first cold starts without a flare in almost a year and a half. nice to not have to shift to manual mode every morning to avoid the flare. not sure what the reflash did exactly, but the gear shifting is flawless. the added bonus is the sometimes slam into gear i experienced when accelerating from a coast has been eliminated as well.
besides some cosmetic growing pains with the first year of the new generation car, my only complaint has been the slipping of the the transmission. as a former acura tl owner, i can finally say that the camry is the superior car.
TC-007-07 for the Shift Flare. Orig. 5/17/07, Rev on 6/26/07 and 7/24/07 which added the effective VIN numbers.
TC-014-07 for Transaxle Fluid Level. 8/11/07.
Are these files available for free download in PDF format somewhere? I'd like to have them handy when I go to the dealership. I've tried searching to no avail. Thanks in advance!
i'm sorry to report that the flare is back. i had the reflash done and was flare free for almost a week. it's now back, but instead of predictably occurring each first shift from 3/4 after a cold soak, it's doing it randomly. ironically, the only time it doesn't do it is the first shift of the day. can't explain why it worked only temporarily. it seems that it would either fix it or it wouldn't.
i suppose i'm now in the position of not having a predictable flare for the dealer to observe. i'll take it back and see what they are willing to do to try to resolve it.
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